Mike Stobbe is a senior resident tattoo artist at Avalon Tattoo II on Adams Avenue in Normal Heights, San Diego, where he has worked since helping open the second-floor studio in 1998 after eight years at the original Avalon Tattoo in Pacific Beach. Stobbe began tattooing in 1990, giving him more than 35 years of continuous practice across old-school American traditional, color illustrative, black and grey, Japanese, and fine-line styles. The Adams Avenue personal-care corridor in 92116 connects body art to grooming — The Smoking Tiger Barbershop operates within the same block radius, serving clients who schedule barbering and tattoo sessions on the same day along the strip. Avalon Tattoo II was among the first custom tattoo studios in Southern California, and the shop's second-floor layout at 3039 Adams Avenue separates the working floor from street-level foot traffic. Stobbe's roster of fellow resident artists includes Jo Atwood, Craig Driscoll, and OG Flip Buchanan, each working in distinct style lanes that give walk-in clients access to multiple aesthetic directions without switching shops. His connection to San Diego's music scene runs deep — Stobbe tattooed more than 100 Rocket From the Crypt rocket logos on fans starting in 1993, and the shop has maintained a steady crossover with the local punk, garage, and surf rock community for three decades. The gallery-format walls inside Avalon II rotate original paintings and prints from resident artists, linking the tattoo practice to the fine-art exhibition model that Ashton Gallery at Art on 30th operates in a dedicated gallery format nearby. Stobbe takes consultations by phone and in person at the shop, working a Monday-through-Thursday schedule from his chair on Adams Avenue.