Long Beach Halloween Flash Tattoo: Daily Walk-Ins From 11 am

Port City Tattoo, at 4290 E Pacific Coast Highway on the Long Beach Traffic Circle, takes walk-ins seven days a week from 11 am to 8 pm, and that schedule holds on Saturday, October 31, 2026. A Halloween flash tattoo here is a walk-in job with clear house rules: the shop's own terms say walk-in availability depends on which artists are working and how busy the room is, every client needs government photo ID and must be 18, and prices are quoted only in the shop.

Port City Tattoo has been tattooing since 2011, and the Long Beach shop doubles as the company's headquarters. The business behind it, LB Tattoo Co. LLC, uses the Pacific Coast Highway storefront as its mailing address. The shop expanded to Costa Mesa in August 2014 and later added Santa Ana, and its website cites OC Weekly naming Port City the Best Tattoo Parlor in Orange County, adding that the Long Beach location upholds the same standards.

The Long Beach roster on the company's artists page mixes specialties more than a strict traditional shop would. Eli Morris works in black-and-gray realism, portraits and biomechanical pieces. Cole Stem leans toward traditional, art nouveau and minimal work. Cody Miller brings 21 years in American traditional and fine line, and Aaron Torres handles bold traditional, fine line and lettering. That spread matters on Halloween, when one walk-in wants a cartoon pumpkin and the next wants a shaded skull.

The clearest record of Port City doing seasonal flash is a Long Beach Post roundup of local Friday the 13th tattoo deals that fell in October. The paper listed the shop, under its Outer Traffic Circle address, running flash from 11 am to 8 pm with pre-selected designs and lots of Halloween-inspired concepts in the batch. The deal was walk-in only, unless you shared the shop's Instagram post and earned a fast pass to skip the line.

As of October 22, the shop has not published a 2026 Halloween flash event on its website, so plan on the regular walk-in system rather than a sale. The Long Beach page lists horror tattoos, skull tattoos, old school and traditional American among the styles the crew takes on, which covers a jack-o'-lantern, a bat or a grinning skull. The next Friday the 13th falls on November 13, 2026, the date to watch if you want a themed flash day.

Port City's terms, last updated August 20, 2026, are unusually specific. You must be 18, and the shop says it cannot tattoo a minor even with parental consent. Bring a valid government photo ID, which staff photograph for records. Anyone who appears drunk or high is turned away. The release form also asks about blood thinners, pregnancy and healing conditions, and false answers void the touch-up guarantee, so a pre-party Halloween cocktail before your session is a bad idea.

Pricing works face to face. The shop does not quote by phone, email, text or social media, because the artist needs to see the placement first, and you agree on the price before the needle starts. You approve the stencil in place, and any change after work begins is billed as new work, so check spelling on a date or name. Payment is due when the tattoo is finished, and completed work is not refundable.

Appointments run on a separate track from walk-ins. Some artists work by appointment only, and booking requires a non-refundable deposit set by the artist. Cancel with less than 24 hours' notice and the deposit is gone. You can reschedule once with 24 hours' notice and keep it, but a second reschedule forfeits it. Arriving within 15 minutes of your slot keeps the deposit safe, and later arrivals may get a shorter session.

Halloween lands on a Saturday this year, so the shop keeps its usual 11 am to 8 pm hours that day, along with Thursday, October 29 and Friday, October 30. The strongest move is to stand outside at 11 am on Thursday or Friday with a design picked from the wall or a screenshot ready, since walk-in slots depend on who is working. On Saturday itself, every costume-ready walk-in in the area is chasing the same handful of open chairs.

Skip the last-minute plan. Rolling up at 7:30 pm on Halloween with an 8 pm close leaves almost no room for drawing, stencil, tattooing and wrap. Also skip crossing the Traffic Circle on foot to save a parking spot. A 2024 Streetsblog piece describes the 1930s roundabout, with its 360-foot-wide inner island, as a place many drivers avoid and one even less loved by pedestrians and cyclists.

If the desk tells you no artist is free, the plan B is The Raven and The Wolves on the Promenade in Downtown Long Beach, a studio and fine art gallery co-owned by black-and-gray realist Carlos Torres. Its FAQ recommends appointments but says the team will take you if an artist is available, and the crew leans toward detailed realism. That makes it a better fit for a shaded horror portrait than for a quick cartoon pumpkin.

Recent Yelp reviews mirrored on Yahoo Local read like a neighborhood shop. A reviewer named Chris wrote in June 2026 that he has three tattoos from Benson and praised him for color work, punk and traditional. Amanda, in July 2026, called her foot piece by Cody better than she imagined. Eva, writing on October 6, 2026, said Damien did a great job, called the shop chill, and wrote about coming back for the next tattoo as soon as possible.

Loyal regulars and first-timers share the room. A reviewer named Harley wrote about a first visit to a shop that happens to sit next to the reviewer's ICAN program, and Sara said she followed Damien King from another shop six or seven years ago and that his work still looks nearly new. Her same review flags a bad experience with another artist, which is a fair reason to look at portfolios on the website before choosing who tattoos you.

Port City's aftercare page is specific enough to keep. After removing the bandage, wash with antibacterial soap, then apply a thin layer of Aquaphor or a tattoo ointment twice a day for three to four days, leaving the tattoo uncovered to breathe. After that, switch to fragrance-free lotion. Pools, lakes, salt water, hot tubs and tanning beds are off limits until healed, a rule worth taking seriously in a city built along the water.

Expect the tattoo to look healed in one to two weeks, though the site says full healing under the skin can take up to a month. Touch-ups are free within one month of the original session under normal healing, and the terms list sun, swimming, picking, gardening and pets during healing as damage that gets charged. Keep a fresh Halloween forearm piece out of the ocean and covered at outdoor parties.

With fresh ink under wrap, head a short drive west to Retro Row on 4th Street. Visit Long Beach describes more than 40 locally owned shops there selling vintage clothing, furniture, records, books and collectibles, which makes it an easy place to finish a costume. The restored 1920s-era Art Theatre of Long Beach anchors the strip with independent, foreign and first-run films, and Pigeon's Roller Skate Shop is a fun stop if your costume needs wheels.

Second Street in Belmont Shore, a short drive south, is the other natural detour. Alf's Body Art Studio sits above the street with a balcony that Visit Long Beach recommends for people-watching before or after an appointment, and it ran $80 flash in 2024 on Friday the 13th, so it is worth a look for future flash days. Belmont Shore's shops and restaurants also give a costumed group somewhere to walk without fighting the Traffic Circle.

Yelp and Yahoo Local list the storefront as 4290 Outer Traffic Circle, between Ximeno Way and Pacific Coast Highway, the same storefront the official site gives as its Pacific Coast Highway address. The shop sits where Pacific Coast Highway, Lakewood Boulevard and Los Coyotes Diagonal meet, so drivers should follow the outer ring of the circle and plan the turn before entering.

Pack a government photo ID and bring the exact Halloween image you want on your phone, since quotes happen in person. Payment is due when the tattoo is finished. Hours are Monday to Sunday, 11 am to 8 pm, including Saturday, October 31, 2026. The Santa Ana and Costa Mesa branches share the Port City name, but they sit in Orange County, so stay with the Long Beach chair for this trip.