Tattooed by Martin Hildebrandt. This image is from an original cabinet card in the Daredevil Museum collection. — Tattooed by Martin Hildebrandt. This image is from an original cabinet card in the Daredevil Museum collection.

New York's First Professional Tattooer

January 11, 2016

Martin Hildebrandt was listed as tattooing in New York City as early as 1859. He tattooed the first "tattooed ladies" that exhibited on the Bowery and opened the first permanent place of business for tattooing in the United States.

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Happy Halloween! Here’s some ghosts from Daredevil past! We’ve still got some spooky specials with some walk in spots available. Head on in! Noon to 8pm And don’t forgot TOMORROW you can win A $500 OR $250 DAREDEVIL GIFT CARD at our Liberty Costume Contest with @cityreliquary in honor of the book launch for “Liberty the Tattooed Lady” by @daredevilmichelle costume or no costume we hope we see you at the party tomorrow to grab a copy of the book. The event will be emcee’d by comedian @murrayhill and our special guest judge is “The Voice of the Subway” Bernie Wagenblast! Tickets are $10 and cover entry into the contest if you will be participating.

Daredevil Tattoo Museum

The Daredevil Tattoo Museum is part of our tattoo shop. The museum collection is free to visit, there is no admission Fee. We feature artifacts from the early roots of modern tattooing focusing on the history of tattooing in NYC. We are also always interested in tattoo artifacts related to the history of tattooing espscially related to New York City. Please contact us if you have something you would like to donate or sell. Donations may qualify as charitable deductions for federal income tax purposes.