Tulsa’s early tattoo studios: what the records actually show
Asking for Tulsa's first tattoo studio sounds simple until the word “first” needs a definition. Does it mean the earliest person tattooing locally, the earliest named business, the first licensed establishment or the oldest shop still operating? Those questions require different evidence and may produce different answers.
The available sources identify important early names without settling an absolute citywide ranking. Two particularly useful leads are Just Another Hole in Broken Arrow and Electric Eye in Tulsa. Their records show how a business history and an artist's working history can overlap without becoming the same thing.
A studio in the contemporary news
A May 11, 2006 Associated Press report, preserved in The Edmond Sun, identifies Brandon Mull as a tattoo artist at Just Another Hole Body Arts Studio in Broken Arrow. It places him among artists advocating professional licensing as Oklahoma changed its law. This is a contemporary report connecting a named artist, business and municipality. The Edmond Sun, page 5.
The studio's own website traces its service to the Tulsa/Broken Arrow community to 2001. That is useful as the business's account of its history. It should remain distinguishable from an independently verified date for its first tattoo license. Just Another Hole: About.
Together, the sources establish more than an undated directory listing. They still do not establish that no earlier tattoo business existed elsewhere in the area.
Electric Eye in an artist's recollection
In his 2018 oral-history interview, Mull places his work at Electric Eye in Tulsa between June 2006 and June 2009. He identifies November 1, 2006 as the licensing date and discusses his preceding work at Just Another Hole. These dates are attributed recollections in a university archive, rather than a reproduced licensing register. OSU interview transcript, page 23.
The difference between June and November is historically interesting. It shows why a timeline needs to identify the kind of event being dated. An artist's account of joining or establishing a workplace does not necessarily identify the date on which every regulated activity could legally begin.
Why a current address cannot fill every gap
A studio name can continue while its location, staff or ownership changes. A current website is useful for learning what a business says about itself now. It should not be used to attach today's address to a photograph or event from decades earlier without supporting evidence.
The same principle applies to municipal names. Broken Arrow is part of the Tulsa metropolitan area, but a Broken Arrow record does not become a Tulsa city record merely because someone searches for “Tulsa tattoo studios.” Preserving that distinction makes the account more accurate and gives each community its place.
Building a stronger early-studio timeline
A convincing priority claim would require comparing records across businesses, not finding one memorable opening story. Dated advertisements, directories, permits and photographs could establish overlapping activity. Interviews could explain moves, partnerships and temporary locations that the documents leave unclear.
For now, the defensible story is one of documented early participants rather than a crowned first shop. Just Another Hole and Electric Eye provide specific starting points for that research. Their value does not depend on winning an unsupported contest over who preceded everyone else; they help show how the local tattoo community became visible in the surviving record.