Fun City Tattoo keeps legacy alive in the East Village

Fun City Tattoo owners “Big Steve” Pedone (top) and Maxx Starr (bottom).

Photo courtesy of Fun City Tattoo

One of New York City’s oldest tattoo shops is continuing to thrive.

Situated now in the East Village, Fun City Tattoo’s roots date back to the 1970s when Jonathan Shaw started tattooing in his Bowery basement. At the time, tattooing wasn’t legal in Manhattan, so Shaw got creative with his business.

Eventually, after some law changes, Shaw was able to move the establishment to a storefront on Macdougal Street in the 1980s, before moving to its current home on St. Marks Place in 1989.

The shop is currently owned by “Big Steve” Pedone, a tattoo artist with 15 years of experience, and Maxx Starr, a New York City-based artist and entrepreneur.

“I worked for Jonathan and I started working at the shop in 2000, I was 21 years old. Jonathan approached me about buying the shop from him. I was like, hell no, I’m not doing that because I would have screwed it up,” recalled Pedone. “I was getting tattooed in the Lower East Side of a shop called Daredevil and I had mentioned to the owners of Daredevil, Michelle Miles and Brad Fink that he wanted to sell the shop. I actually brokered the deal between Michelle and Brad and Jonathan, and they bought the shop and then I worked for them for about 10 years.”

Later on, Miles and Fink approached Pedone about buying the shop again years later, and after some convincing from his wife, this time Pedone was more receptive, but didn’t want to do it alone.

“I had approached Mac because I didn’t want to do it myself. I’d known Max for almost 10 years,” said Pedone. “We ended up buying the shop in 2013 from Michelle and Brad and that’s where we’re at now. We’ve had it for about 10 years now.”

Those who step into Fun City Tattoo can feel why the shop has lasted as long as it has. Pedone and Starr pride themselves on bringing in tattoo artists who keep things fun while providing a service,…