Tattoo Parlor Near Me on Divisadero Since 1992: Everlasting Tattoo

Everlasting Tattoo works out of 813 Divisadero Street, in NoPa, and its homepage puts the house policy in capital letters: walk-ins welcome, doors at 1 pm, close at 7 pm. It is a tattoo parlor that has carried the same name since 1992, does tattoos only with no piercing counter, and will not touch anyone under 18. The phone number, is the same line Hoodline printed for the shop back in 2014.

The first Everlasting opened in 1992 on McAllister Street between Lyon and Central, a few blocks from where it sits now. Its original owner was a die-hard Willy Wonka fan who named the place after the Everlasting Gobstoppers from the film. When Mike Davis took over the business, he kept the established name and moved the shop to 813 Divisadero, a move Hoodline dated to roughly 2000 in its 2014 profile of the shop.

Davis did not hire a contractor for the new space. He had spent years working on houses, so he gutted the storefront and built out the whole interior himself. In a 2020 Hoodline piece on the Divisadero block, he said he owns the shop outright, which kept him out of rent negotiations during the pandemic shutdown. That ownership is one quiet reason Everlasting outlasted so many neighbors on this stretch of NoPa.

Mike Davis is a working oil painter as well as a tattooer. He learned to paint as a theatrical scenic artist, and when Hoodline pressed him for a genre he reluctantly picked pop surrealism. Several of his canvases hang inside the shop, so the waiting area doubles as a small gallery, and Hi-Fructose magazine ran a studio visit on his painting series A Blind Man's Journey in 2014. Expect large figurative pieces on the walls rather than rows of framed flash sheets.

Davis also has firm lines about what leaves the chair. He told Hoodline he will not tattoo a swastika and will not tattoo anyone's face, adding that he did not think anyone else in the shop would either. If a client asks for something the artists think is a bad idea, they try to counsel the person toward a better version. He framed the whole operation as keeping some weirdness alive in a city he felt was becoming vanilla.

The official site lists five resident artists: Mike Davis, Owen Miller, Cesar Valdivia, who signs his gallery page as lil' Cesar, Brian Wall and Joey Delarosa. Jonathan Montavlo and Joe Kelly appear as regular guests, and other visiting tattooers are announced on the shop's Instagram, @everlastingtattoo813. Hoodline described the setup as a co-op in which the artists pay for chair time, so each person runs a separate book and booking email.

Each artist has a gallery page with a direct address, and that is where a custom project starts. Davis takes booking by email or by phone through the shop; Owen Miller, Cesar Valdivia, Joey Delarosa and Joe Kelly list email only. Pick the artist from the gallery first and the shop second; the co-op setup means each person runs a separate calendar. Pricing, Davis told Hoodline, depends on the hours a piece takes, and in 2014 a busy week meant 30 to 50 tattoos.

The FAQ answers the walk-in question with a plain yes, with one caveat: a large group should phone the shop first so there are enough artists free to cover everyone. Hours on the homepage read open all week, 1 pm to 7 pm, with earlier and later times available by appointment. That second clause matters for anyone booking a long session, since a multi-hour sleeve sitting that starts at 3 pm would run past the 7 pm close.

Payment trips up first-timers more than anything else here. Everlasting does not take credit cards; it accepts digital payment depending on the artist, so ask your tattooer which app they use or bring cash. The age rule is stricter than at some studios: California requires you to be 18, and the FAQ adds no exceptions and no parental consent. Bring a government ID, because nobody gets tattooed on a promise of a birthday next month.

For a first tattoo, the shop recommends emailing the artist you want to work with through the links on their gallery page and setting up a consultation. If you have no idea who fits your idea yet, the FAQ says to call or stop in with questions. Spend ten minutes on the five gallery pages first; Davis's page includes a full dragon sleeve, while each of the other residents shows a distinct portfolio you can hold up against your reference image.

Healing takes about two weeks, and the written aftercare is unusually specific. Take the bandage off after 2 to 5 hours, wash with fragrance-free soap and warm water, and pat dry with a clean towel. A thin layer of Lubriderm, Eucerin, Aveeno or Aquaphor once or twice a day is enough; over-applying makes the tattoo weep. Stay out of the sun, pools, saunas and bathtubs for 2 weeks, though showering is fine.

The doors open at 1 pm, and that first hour is the best window for a walk-in because the artists have not yet filled the afternoon with appointments. Arriving at 6 pm with a palm-sized idea is a gamble with a 7 pm close. Skip the gym and hot yoga plans for the next few days too; the FAQ warns that sweat and gym bacteria are bad news for a fresh tattoo, which is an open wound.

If you also want a piercing, Everlasting is the wrong stop, because the FAQ says tattoos only. Head to Mom's Body Shop on Haight Street in the Upper Haight instead, a tattoo and piercing studio that has served the neighborhood since 1998. Its site lists hours of 12 pm to 12 am Sunday through Thursday and 12 pm to 1 am Friday and Saturday, which also makes it the fallback when Everlasting has already closed for the night.

Everlasting sits on the 24 Divisadero bus line, and the 5 Fulton stops at the south end of the same block, so you can arrive without fighting for parking on a busy commercial street. Cross Fulton heading south on Divisadero and you reach The Mill, the bakery and coffee bar known for thick slices of house-baked toast, which makes a good spot to sketch out placement while you wait on an artist's reply.

From there, Alamo Square starts two blocks east along Fulton, at Scott Street. The park's eastern edge on Steiner Street faces the Painted Ladies, the row of Victorian houses that shows up on every postcard of the city, and the hilltop lawn gives you a view toward downtown. Plan the walk before the session, not after; with fresh ink and a two-week sun ban, an hour on an exposed hill is a poor idea.

Address: 813 Divisadero Street, San Francisco, CA 94115. The contact page lists hours of 1 pm to 7 pm Tuesday through Saturday, while the homepage says open all week at the same 1 pm to 7 pm, with earlier and later times by appointment. That makes Tuesday to Saturday the safe days for a walk-in; Sunday and Monday are the less certain bet.

Rules worth carrying in your head: walk-ins welcome, large groups phone first, tattoos only, no credit cards, 18 and over with no parental consent. Bring cash for the tattoo and the tip, since cards are not taken at the counter, and bring the email thread with your artist if you booked a custom piece. The 24 Divisadero bus stops close to the door, which beats circling for street parking on a weekend afternoon.