BIOTECH ORGANIC ART TATTOO & PIERCING

Biotech owner Dusty Hill has a master's degree in microbiology and was a research scientist for 18 years before he became a full-time tattoo and piercing artist. In one form or another "precision sterile tissue work is the only thing I've ever done," he says.

A tattooed friend of ours describes Hill's shop as looking like an operating room. Biotech draws a white-collar crowd. "Most of my clients have a college degree," Hill says. Though tattoos are the most time-consuming, piercings are more common.

"One of my most heavily pierced clients is a pharmacist," Hill says. "He has 88 genital piercings."

At least he's never far away from the aspirin.

Runners-up: Saint Tattoo, Tye Dye Tattoo Inc.