Press
Apollo Tattoo Studio in the News
Reporters, producers and editors come to Apollo for the same reason our clients do: there is a real studio behind the claims, on Main Street in Santa Monica, with named practitioners who can speak on the record. This page collects the coverage we can point to — 6 verified placements, each linked to the original article. If you're working on a story, the press contact is at the bottom of the page.
Why journalists call us
What Apollo can actually speak to
Apollo is a working tattoo and piercing studio at 2625 Main St. in Santa Monica, open seven days a week and rated 4.9 stars across 623 Google reviews. Blue Mason has been tattooing since 2007 and opened the studio in 2023. That combination — a long practitioner history plus a live, high-volume shop — is why we get asked to comment rather than just be listed.
The specific ground we can cover on the record, with a named human attached to every answer:
- Piercing safety and technique. Our senior piercers carry Fakir-lineage certification and work needle-only — never a piercing gun, which cannot be sterilised and crushes cartilage. That's a concrete, checkable practice difference, and it's the question consumer reporters ask most. Piercing services.
- Body jewellery and materials. Implant-grade titanium (ASTM F-136), niobium, and solid 14k/18k gold, including a stocked BVLA gold collection. We can explain what "hypoallergenic" does and doesn't mean, and why initial jewellery is sized long for swelling. Jewellery · BVLA shop.
- Kids' and family ear piercing. A subject the mall-kiosk industry has muddied badly. We can walk through consent, anatomy, aftercare and why gun piercing is the wrong tool. Kids & family piercing.
- Tattoo craft and aftercare. Fine line and single-needle work, cover-ups, healing timelines, and what actually goes wrong with a tattoo. Tattoo services · Fine line.
- Running a studio in Los Angeles. Licensing, county health inspection, sterilisation workflow, and what a client should look for when they walk into an unfamiliar shop. About the studio.
Studio features
Coverage that names the studio
Articles below name The Apollo Tattoo & Piercing Studio directly. Each link goes to the article on the outlet's own site — we don't host reprints.
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Saweetie & Jadon Sancho Hit Tattoo Shop, Soccer Star Gets Her Middle Name Inked
TMZ Hip Hop obtained images of Saweetie and Jadon hitting up The Apollo Tattoo & Piercing Studio in Santa Monica this summer
National entertainment coverage of a celebrity tattoo done in our Santa Monica chair — the studio is named directly in the report.
Read it at TMZ -
The Art of Fine Lines: Why Choosing the Right Tattoo Artist Matters
one of tattooing’s great modern artists and one of its most acclaimed studios: Blue Mason and The Apollo Tattoo Studio
A piece on how to pick a fine-line tattoo artist, built around founder Blue Mason and the standards we hold at Apollo.
Read it at The Los Angeles Tribune -
The Apollo Tattoo Studio is Inking a Legacy
Blue Mason is an award-winning tattoo artist and a master with ink.
LA Weekly on the studio's founding vision for body art — subtitled “How this Artist is Developing a Vision for the Future of Body Art.”
Read it at LA Weekly -
Apollo Tattoo Studio: An Artistic Revolution Awaits
Introducing The Apollo Tattoo Studio, a groundbreaking venture designed to redefine the world of body art.
A launch write-up by contributor Chris Mitchelle on the studio's Greek-mythology naming and its approach to body art.
Medium blocks automated requests (HTTP 403); the article opens normally in a browser.
Read it at Medium
Recognition
Third-party awards
Independent listings that named Apollo. The wording in each card is the awarding body's own, not ours.
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Best Tattoo Shop in Santa Monica, California 2024
Recognized as the leading Tattoo Shop in Santa Monica, achieving a quality score of 95%+ and representing the top 1% of American businesses.
An independent awards listing naming The Apollo Tattoo Studio the 2024 winner for Santa Monica. The wording above is the awarding body's own.
Read it at Quality Business Awards
Founder coverage
Profiles of Blue Mason
Coverage of Apollo's founder. Where a piece pre-dates the studio and doesn't name it, we say so on the card rather than implying it was about Apollo.
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Blue Mason – A Tattoo Artist for All
Rather than simply seeing himself as just opening a tattoo parlor and a business, he describes what he does to improve the way people see themselves.
A long-form profile of Blue Mason — how a 2007 career change led him into tattooing and into running a studio.
Profiles founder Blue Mason. Published before Apollo opened, so the studio is not named in the article.
Read it at Eyes on Hollywood
How this page is maintained
Only what we can show you
Every item above was opened and checked before it was published here, and each card links to the article on the publisher's own domain so you can read the whole thing rather than our excerpt. Quotes are verbatim. Dates are the outlet's stated publication dates. Where a piece covers our founder but doesn't name the studio, the card says that plainly instead of blurring it into studio coverage.
Things we have been told about but cannot yet link to are not listed. If a mention exists and we simply haven't found the live URL, it stays off this page until we do — an unverifiable claim is worth less than an honest gap. If you've written about Apollo and don't see it here, send us the link and we'll add it.
For reporters & producers
Press & media inquiries
We answer press email. If you need a source for a tattoo or body-piercing story, a quote on deadline, or access to shoot in a working studio, contact us directly — you'll reach the studio, not an agency.
Email (preferred)
Put “Press inquiry” in the subject line and include your outlet and deadline.
Studio
2625 Main St., Santa Monica, CA 90405
On-site interviews and filming by arrangement — contact the studio first.
What we can provide
- Named, attributable sources — founder Blue Mason on tattooing and studio operations, and our Fakir-certified senior piercers on piercing technique, anatomy and healing. Meet the team.
- Original photography of the studio and of our own healed work, cleared for editorial use on request. We don't send stock.
- On-camera and on-mic availability in Santa Monica, including demonstration of needle-only piercing procedure and sterile setup.
- Background and fact-checking — if you have a claim about tattooing or piercing you want sanity-checked, we'll tell you straight, including when the answer is "that's not how it works."
Fact sheet
- Business name
- The Apollo Tattoo & Piercing Studio
- Location
- 2625 Main St., Santa Monica, CA 90405
- Founded
- 2023 (founder Blue Mason tattooing since 2007)
- Services
- Custom tattooing, body piercing, fine body jewellery
- Piercing credentials
- Fakir-lineage certified senior piercers; needle-only, no piercing guns
- Jewellery
- Implant-grade titanium (ASTM F-136), niobium, solid 14k/18k gold, BVLA
- Rating
- 4.9 stars across 623 Google reviews — read the reviews
- Hours
- Mon–Sun, 8:00 AM – 8:00 PM
Not a reporter? Come get tattooed.
Walk-in friendly seven days a week, and consultations are $100.
Book a consultation