San Francisco magic mushroom and tattoo enthusiasts gathered in SoMa on Oct. 14 for the first-ever Myco Tattoo Party—a secret celebration of psychedelics and mushroom-inspired flash tattoos.

The event was organized by magic mushroom cultivator Myco, who runs the Instagram account, Myco.Oakland.Inc. In recent years, Myco’s account has amassed an underground following in the Bay Area’s psychedelic scene, specifically for his pink-colored magic mushroom microdose capsules and fungi-inspired urban streetwear.

Myco said his inspiration for having an event—which combined a typical Friday the 13th flash tattoo event with psychedelic mushrooms—came a few months back while he was getting a tattoo from his cousin, Lance Trujillo, of South San Francisco, who was one of Saturday’s featured artists.

READ MORE: You Can Get Magic Mushroom Chocolates Over the Counter in San Francisco Now

Lance Trujillo, a South San Francisco tattoo artist, tattoos one of the partygoers at the secret Myco Tattoo Party on Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023. | Source: Enrique “Keaks42” Carpio

“It was something that was hella natural,” Myco said, who wouldn’t share his real name due to legal concerns with his mushroom-growing enterprise. “I was getting tatted and had this idea. In the months after, we talked about it and started piecing it together.”

Trujillo said he designed a portion of the flash tattoos, which ranged from wild mushrooms to his cousin’s Myco.Oakland logo, which was created out of inspiration of the city of Oakland’s interwoven tree and a mushroom cloud. In total, 15 people at the event got mushroom-inspired tattoos.

“It’s cool because I can put my own twist on it, get my art out there and give people what they want,” Trujillo said. “Some people just come to look at the vendors but then they see that tattoos are being done and it opens their eyes.”

READ MORE: San Francisco Has Effectively Decriminalized Magic Mushrooms. Now What?

A secret partygoer gets a Myco Oakland tattoo at the first annual Myco Tattoo Party in San Francisco on Oct. 14, 2023. | Source: Enrique “Keaks42” Carpio

Earlier in the afternoon, Trujillo tattooed an attendee with her first tattoo. He credited her desire to get a tattoo with the open-mindedness the event offered.

“She really liked it and was surprised that the pain level wasn’t what she thought it would be,” he said.

Both Brian Smith and Diana Aguirre were tattooed during the event and said they often microdose mushrooms and have both previously wanted to get mushroom-inspired tattoos.

“It’s been something that I’ve wanted to do for a while and it was a good environment for me to do it in,” Smith said. “The vibe was definitely, in my opinion, great because it wasn’t too crowded.”

For Aguirre, meeting other women in the mushroom community was one of the surprises she experienced during the event.

“It was interesting to see other girls too that are around the mushroom community that I didn’t know existed,” she said.

The format of the event, Myco said, was pulled from “seshs” which have grown popular among those in the cannabis community all along the West Coast.

“Seshs,” short for sessions, are a sort of intimate mercantile market. They are often advertised online, where cultivators and growers sell their products in hopes of expanding their brands by meeting their customers face to face—they can sometimes be held in secret locations to evade law enforcement or city officials.

Mushroom-inspired beanies were just some of the items sold at the first annual Myco Tattoo Party in San Francisco on Oct. 14, 2023. | Source: Enrique “Keaks42” Carpio

Saturday’s event, however, wasn’t meant to purely have that “sesh” feel, according to Myco.

“I wasn’t trying to have it be so uptight,” he said, acknowledging that a feeling of competition usually overshadows cannabis events. “There weren’t big ass bags of weed or anything like that and that’s a credit to the people involved.”

Smith said he’s been to “seshs” before but that the mushroom tattoo event wasn’t as pushy as its cannabis counterpart.

“I’ve never been to something that a mushroom company threw,” he said. “A lot of weed seshs and other cannabis events are really pushy but this was a vibe where you felt like you could just chill out.”

In addition to tattoos, party attendees had their choice of vendors selling desserts and cakes, freshly squeezed juices to exclusive Bathing Ape apparel from Japan.

Both Smith and Aguirre bought a microdose smoothie, sea moss, hash and some cheesecake desserts.

“To be honest with you the tattoo was enticing. The fact it was about 100 bucks,” Smith said.

Lance Trujillo, a South San Francisco tattoo artist, tattoos one of the partygoers with a Myco Oakland flash tattoo at a secret magic mushroom tattoo party in San Francisco on Oct. 14. | Source: Enrique “Keaks42” Carpio

Myco said he is hoping to make the flash tattoo party an annual event, although he expressed interest in possibly moving the location across the bridge to Oakland or even Los Angeles if he can get local brands he knows to sponsor it.

His goal? To bring together the “headiest” people in the cannabis and psychedelic communities together in the same room.

“Trying to just link everyone together at one spot,” he said, adding that he still has somewhat of a clandestine aura of semi-anonymity attached to his name since most people don’t know what his appearance is.

While San Francisco and Oakland have essentially decriminalized psychedelics like magic mushrooms, it is still classified as a Schedule I controlled substance federally in addition to California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoing the most recent statewide decriminalization bill introduced by San Francisco State Sen. Scott Wiener.

Newsom’s recent decision isn’t worrying Myco as he doesn’t see decriminalization and legalization turning mushrooms into the next “cash crop.”

“I don’t think it matters. Right now it is bad to get into the mushroom game. It doesn’t make sense. There’s a lot of people who failed or are currently failing in the cannabis industry trying to go into mushrooms,” he said. “You can only eat so many mushrooms before you’re burnt out.”

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Among Americans of European decent, tattoos were strongly associated with the military, starting around the time of the Civil War. In 1891, tattooer and inventor Samuel O’Reilly received a patent for the first electric tattoo machine. It modified Thomas Edison’s electric pen, replacing the pen with a needle that stored ink.

Before O’Reilly’s machine, tattoo artists punctured the skin two to three times per second. The new machine had a motor that drove the needle up and down, increasing the perforation rate to 50 times per second and revolutionizing tattooing.

Thomas Edison’s patent for the electric pen.

In the early 20th century, tattoos were still largely seen on people outside of mainstream society: soldiers, sailors and some circus performers who showed off their heavily tattooed bodies to enthralled crowds.

And because tattoos were so connected to the military, the designs were often nostalgic. Soldiers would get the names of people they wanted to remember inked on their skin — mothers, daughters and girlfriends. Or, they’d get designs that over time came to symbolize specific things. The swallow, for example, meant that a sailor had traveled over 5,000 nautical miles.

This style of tattooing grew into what is now known as American traditional. It has two recognizable design features: First, the tattoos use bright, saturated colors like yellow, red and green, with black for shading. Primary colors stay clear and eye-catching over a person’s whole lifetime.

Second, American traditional tattoos have easily identifiable designs and motifs like hearts, skulls, anchors, roses and other kinds of flowers. Over time this visual vocabulary became common enough that tattoo artists would display the most popular designs in their shops, called “flash.”

During World War II, soldiers poured into San Francisco before shipping out to the Pacific theater. Many stopped into local tattoo shops and inked familiar flash tattoos on themselves as reminders of home.

Tattoo artist Kyra Monterrosa points to a sheet of flash tattoos she designed for a 415 Day event at Rebel Gallery in San Francisco’s Bayview neighborhood. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)

And during the war, American soldiers came in contact with people from all over the world. They would have seen tattoos on people in Japan and the Pacific Islands, and they may even have gotten more tattoos while deployed. When the war finally ended, Americans didn’t want to return to the way things had been. Society was poised for some major social changes.

Counterculture movements make tattoos mainstream

“In the decades after World War II, and particularly after 1960, we see a spread of tattoo culture throughout popular culture in the US,” said Nina Jablonski, a professor of anthropology at Pennsylvania State University and author of the book “Skin: A natural history.” “It becomes not necessarily legitimized, but much more popular.”

People were still getting American traditional flash tattoos, but now they were associated with countercultural movements.

In the Bay Area, women were challenging the beauty norms of the day as part of the women’s liberation movement. Janis Joplin famously showed off her tattoo on The Tonight Show, done by San Francisco tattoo artist Lyle Tuttle.

American tattoo culture is ripe for change

Ed Hardy at a tattoo convention in Sacramento circa 1980. (Manfred Kohrs/Wikimedia Commons)

It was during the explosion of interest in tattooing in the 1960s and ’70s that a guy named Ed Hardy popped onto the scene. Hardy was first and foremost an artist. He graduated from the San Francisco Art Institute with a degree in printmaking in 1967 and was offered a scholarship to continue his studies at Yale.

One day he decided to get a tattoo. While he was there, his tattooer, a guy named Phil Sparrow, showed him a book that changed the course of his life.

“He brought a book out and it was Japanese bodysuit tattooing,” said Mary Joy Scott, owner of Raven Eye Tattoo in San Francisco’s Richmond district and a student of Hardy. “When Ed saw that, he decided to leave behind the whole art world and become a tattooer.”

Mary Joy Scott stands in front of Raven Eye Tattoo, a shop she opened in early 2021 in San Francisco’s Richmond District. (Sebastian Mino-Bucheli/KQED)

Japanese bodysuits are complex, subtly shaded and beautiful. They cover the body in a way Hardy had never seen before. He wanted to know more about how Japanese tattoo artists created those effects, so he turned down the Yale scholarship and moved to Japan to study for five months with tattoo master Kazuo Oguri, sometimes known as Horihide.

Over thousands of years, Japanese tattoo artists have developed techniques using a bamboo stick, called a tebori, that has several needles grouped on one end. The tebori allows the artist to create much more complicated designs than were common at that time in the US

An example of classical Japanese tattooing circa 1875. (Kusakabe Kimbei/Wikimedia Commons)

“There are multiple sharp needles that are dipped in some kind of a pigment and then tapped into the skin,” said Jablonski, of Pennsylvania State University. “These needles are in groups so you can get lines, you can get dots. Very complex designs can be made.”

With American traditional tattooing, a person collects individual designs over a lifetime, slowly covering the body. Japanese traditional, on the other hand, is about one idea or scene taking over the entire body.

Ed Hardy took the two styles and blended them. He opened a shop called Realistic Tattoo in San Francisco in 1974. He became known for custom tattoos — images designed specifically for a client, often referencing something personal in their life. Custom tattoos are often bigger than flash and complexly shaded like the Japanese style, although they don’t often cover the majority of the body the way a Japanese bodysuit does.

People loved the idea of ​​custom tattoos, even making special trips to the city to get inked by Hardy.

“Ed Hardy basically spoke to that interest in not only bringing these new design elements, but personalizing them,” Jablonski said. “‘I want to express what’s in your heart, what you aspire to.'”

These days, Ed Hardy is better known for his clothing designs than for his impact on tattoo culture, but make no mistake — he was a founder. Many of the tattoos you see on people walking around today are the direct legacy of his vision.

We’d love to see your custom tattoos! Take a picture and share it with us on Twitter, tagging @oallenprice or using the hashtag #BayCurious. Be sure to tell us what the tattoo means to you.

The post Are You Inked? How a San Francisco Tattoo Artist Modified the Trade appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Below is a list of the best and leading tattoo artists in San Francisco. To help you find the best tattoo artists near you in San Francisco, we’ve compiled our own list based on this list of rating points.

San Francisco’s Best Tattoo Artists:

The top rated tattoo artists in San Francisco are:

• Black Serum Tattoo – offers bespoke tattoos with a full range of accessories and clothing
• Moth and Dagger Tattoo Studio – has a team of talented and creative tattoo artists who offer a one-of-a-kind tattoo experience
• Mission Ink Tattoo and Piercing – a team of tattoo artists and body modification professionals
• Dream Masters Custom Tattoos – was founded in 2006 and expanded to San Francisco in 2010
• Castro Tattoo – provides high quality tattoo services with bilingual artists ready to turn clients’ featured designs into reality

Black serum tattoo

Black Serum Tattoo offers bespoke tattoos with a full range of accessories and clothing. The tattoo artists specialize in etching, dot work, minimal line art and blackwork style tattoos. In addition, they offer an enjoyable tattoo experience with highly qualified professionals. They want to create a culture of upscale fine art tattoos. In addition, Brucios is the owner of the black serum, which specializes in fine blackwork and custom linework. His masterpieces also revolve around copperplate engravings and medieval illustrations. He has been studying and applying his knowledge for more than 30 years.

Products:

Tattoo artist

Location:

Address: 310 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA 94103
Telephone: (415) -909-9437
Website: blackserum.com

Reviews:

“Really the most pleasant tattoo parlor I’ve ever been to! In all honesty, the space was beautiful – super inviting and the decorating was an experience in itself. Our time at Black Serum was more than comfortable and there were COVID logs in place so everyone could stay and feel safe. I’m looking forward to getting my next piece here. ”- Bri Quinn

Moth and dagger tattoo studio

Moth and Dagger Tattoo Studio has a team of talented and creative tattoo artists who offer a one-of-a-kind tattoo experience. They use state of the art equipment to provide the best services in the area. In addition, they listen to the planned design of the customers. They make sure they fully replicate what they want. Mario Delgado created non-traditional tattoos that range from realism, cover-up, and illustrative styles. April Marino also runs the salon and works with Mario on the designs. The tattoo artists also create timeless works of art for different people of different origins.

Products:

Tattoo artist

Location:

Address: 610 Bush Street, San Francisco, CA 94108,
Telephone: (415) -834-5127
Website: mothanddaggertattoo.com

Reviews:

“I took a walk and went by and turned around. Joe was sitting there and I asked if he could bring me in. He did. I’m from Alaska, that was something special to me. The next day I went in and got another one. I will visit Joe again one day. I love what he does and I’m pretty picky. ”- Amanda Attla

Mission Ink Tattoo and Piercing

Mission Ink Tattoo and Piercing consists of a team of tattoo artists and body modification professionals. They have years of experience and create creative body art. In addition, they have different areas of expertise. Bruno Corvalan can be reached from Tuesday to Saturday. his work includes various portrait and non-traditional designs. Guilherme Assumpcao specializes in creating black, gray and floral design tattoos. In addition, Indy creates tattoos with cross hatches, mandalas and fine lines. She also loves to tattoo animals. There are other body modification artists who deliver less painful piercings.

Products:

Tattoo artist, piercing

Location:

Address: 2440 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94110
Telephone: (415) -400-5785
Website: missioninksf.com

Reviews:

“I had a great experience here! The studio was clean and the staff was amazing. The prices are reasonable and very worthwhile for the quality of the work. Greetings to G for giving me a great tattoo. I look forward to coming back for more tattoos. ”- Jasmin G.

Dream Masters Custom Tattoos

Dream Masters Custom Tattoos was founded in 2006 and expanded to San Francisco in 2010. The tattoo parlor is committed to providing high quality tattoos and unparalleled customer service. In addition, they offer in-depth advice to avoid tattoo regrets. They also offer a draft version of the preferred tattoo. A picture of the client is added for a full vision session. In addition, they are constantly communicating with customers to get to know them better. It will help them understand the tattoo they want. You want to offer a tattoo that symbolizes a meaningful experience.

Products:

Tattoo artist

Location:

Address: 228 Columbus Ave, San Francisco, CA 94133
Telephone: (415) -277-7204
Website: dream-masters.com

Reviews:

“You took the time to work through a rough idea and come up with a creative plan. That was all the other tattoo shops had missed. The entire staff is friendly, the shop is super clean and their ideas and artistic skills are incredible. ”- Markus Czirban

Castro tattoo

Castro Tattoo provides high quality tattoo services with bilingual artists ready to turn clients’ featured designs into reality. The studio is LGBTQ + and POC friendly. In addition, there are 6 tattoo artists with different specialties available. Haley Adams, the owner of the studio, specializes in realism and colorful designs. Samantha Sue started tattooing in 2006. She creates tattoo designs with plants, animals and cartoons. Her designs also include portraits, watercolors, and psychedelics. In addition, Ian Reynolds only uses black ink, which enhances tattoo designs. Kristy and Jess designs revolve around floral and animal related designs. Meg uses the personal experiences of the customers.

Products:

Tattoo artist

Location:

Address: 3991 17th St, San Francisco, CA 94114
Phone: (415) -701-1970
Website: www.castrotattoo.com

Reviews:

“Haley Adams is AMAZING, she did a custom father daughter tattoo for me and it was amazing. I would definitely recommend Haley to anyone wanting a tattoo. ”- Matt Akeson

Jeanie Burford is a reporter for Kev’s Best. After graduating from UCLA, Amy did an internship at a local radio station and worked as a beat reporter and producer. Jeanie has also worked as a columnist for The Brookings Register. Amy covers business and community events for Kev’s Best.

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At MX3 Fitness, Kevin Mcspadden was one of the first clients to train indoors on Monday morning. He hasn’t been to a gym since March.

We haven’t seen the following in San Francisco in 6 months: Someone working out in a gym! This is allowed from today – but no group classes. Just one on one training or an individual training. And the gym can only allow 10% of its capacity inside for the time being. pic.twitter.com/tJcGUiGn2J

– Amy Hollyfield (@amyhollyfield) September 14, 2020
“It feels good,” he said between bench presses.

The owner of MX3 Fitness is thrilled to see people back in the house. He had set up an outdoor area for customers while waiting for the city’s permission to open inside. The outdoor exercise room worked fine until smoke covered the city.

“We can’t ignore the air quality, can we? It was really difficult. We’ve had so many outdoor cancellations for our outdoor gym over the past week. So it’s nice to have that other option. But it’s also nice to know.” “The rain is coming. And we’re finally back inside,” said co-owner Dave Karraker.

San Francisco only allows a limited number of people in the gyms and only for one-on-one personal training or individual training. Group fitness classes are still not allowed, leaving some large fitness chains closed.

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“Group fitness is still not allowed indoors. So don’t expect to go to your Barry’s boot camp or spin classes just yet. For now, only one-on-one personal training and then individual training is allowed indoors. We expect that . ” Change in the coming months as we do better as a city on our COVID-19 response, but right now it’s only those limited services at 10%, “Karraker said.

He said this new facility was great for his business, but he was fine with the larger training facilities.

“It’s very difficult right now for the big box gyms because they have these huge leases they sit on and 10% doesn’t help them. But 10% for a small neighborhood gym really helps being a little bit outside / doing a little bit inside – can help pay the rent, “Karraker said.

WATCH: This is what San Francisco’s indoor gym looks like amid the pandemic

His personal trainers were fully booked on Monday, an indication that many San Franciscans are ready to be back.

“Everyone I know in my community has always wanted to go to the gym. It’s one of the two things they talk about – going to restaurants and going back to the gym. I think it’s good and important.” Mcspadden said.

Some salon and gym owners, like Karraker, said they will continue to provide outdoor service to customers who are uncomfortable with being indoors with others.

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Tracy Chavez owns Eye Candy SF. She crossed Union Street with a sign in her hand and was thrilled to be reopening her beauty salon.

“So happy to be back, so happy to be able to open again. I’m really excited,” she said. “I’m really looking forward to everyone coming back and I’ve missed everyone so much. It’s been a busy year but we’re going through.”

Chavez had to move in with her family because she couldn’t afford to stay where she lived.

The salon is now set up to keep the recommended number of clients at a distance, and Chavez complies with the requirements by wearing a mask, face shield, and specialized clothing.

Tracy Stanwick is another salon owner eager to reopen.

“It’s been stressful, but we’re all happy. It’s also a relief for our customers,” said Stanwick. The first customer of the day has already been served in her salon.

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“Months and months and months. I’m so happy to be here,” said the customer.

Everyone told us the city had waited too long for it to reopen.

Danielle Rabkin, owner of Cross Fit Golden Gate, agrees.

“We saw counties like San Diego and Los Angeles reopen, but San Francisco, which had much better metrics, stayed closed and that was really hard to see.

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Gyms may only be opened with a capacity of 10%. Rabkin says the majority of her clients, young tech professionals, have moved out of town.

“I don’t know if I can recover from six months of closure but I’m going to fight like hell, I sure will try,” Rabkin said.

Hotels were also allowed to attract tourists for the first time today. Still, some hotels decided to wait a few days, knowing that few people would be willing to visit San Francisco under these conditions.

INTERACTIVE: Here’s the reopening status of each county in the Bay Area

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