In 1989 Lou Sciberras opened his second tattoo studio in Miami. Having fallen for Miami, Lou decided to play on local history by naming this studio Moon Over Miami Tattoo, what is now known as Tattoos by Lou’s North Miami Beach. Like all the other studio’s Lou had opened before it, the location was strategic move. Sitting on West Dixie Highway, across from the world famous “Criteria” recording studio, Lou welcomed rock stars from around the globe. Artists like AC/DC, Eric Clapton, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Aerosmith, and The Allman Brothers were just a few to lay down tracks across the street from Lou’s new studio. Being in such close proximity to Criteria, many a rock star walked through Lou’s doors to get tattoo, like Michael Stripe (REM), Greg Allman, Marilyn Manson, just to name a few.
When Lou opened the doors to Moon Over Miami Tattoo he did so with the great traditional tattoo artist Dave Gibson and Jim Snap, a war hero all around interesting guy. Lou and the staff enjoyed this extremely large studio with its three workstations in the front, a private tattoo room, a sterilization room, a needle making room, storage room, and a large lounge for the clients to enjoy as they waited. The lounge had all the latest flash (tattoo design sheets, for those that don’t know) by such artists as Jack Rudy, Paul Jeffries, Ken Cameron, and Dave Gibson.
The area around the West Dixie Highway location progressively went from bad to worse. There were gunfights in the parking lot, unrelated to the studio of course. One day Little Jay arrived at work to find a man, dead, in front of the studio. Looking to get the artists and clients out of this unsafe environment, in 1994 Lou decided it was time to move. The new location on the always-busy 167th Street made for a much better location. Although the location was great, the building was not well maintained and Lou struggled with roof, plumbing and electrical issues regularly.
After years of struggling with constant maintenance issues while trying to run a professional tattoo studio it was time to move. In 1998 we relocated to our current location at 456 NE 167th Street. The first artists to work in this new state of the art studio were Brady Beckman and Dick Magoo. You can still find Dicky here today.
Some of the many talented artists that have worked out of Tattoos by Lou North Miami Beach and Moon Over Miami Tattoo are: founder Lou Sciberras, owner Ken Cameron, Dave Gibson, Jim Snap, Mikey Harpool, Gentle Little Jay, Brady Beckman, Dicky Magoo, Ami James, Shae Cannon, Greg Christian, Lou "Spot", Professor Bob, Brian Nelson, Daniel Piedra, Roger Valdes, and Steve Wikert.