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When Bert Rodriguez began his career as a tattoo artist in 1961, John F. Kennedy was president, a gallon of gas cost 31 cents and getting tattooed in the United States was still considered a distasteful practice.

“The artwork and the whole nature of it was crude,” said Rodriguez, 65, a Tucsonan who started out giving tats to his army buddies on paydays. “They were more for sailors and tough guys.”

Times have certainly changed.

Over the last 46 years, the art of tattooing has blossomed from society’s ugly duckling into a multimillion-dollar industry.

According to a 2007 survey by the Pew Research Center, 36 percent of people ages 18-25 and 40 percent of those ages 26-40 reported having at least one tattoo.

Three of the most popular shows on The Learning Channel center on tattoo shops: “Miami Ink,” “London Ink” and “L.A. Ink,” and tattoo artists such as Chris Garver and Kat Von D have become national celebrities.

Some of the biggest stars in Tucson reveal prominent body art regularly at McKale Center, where tattoos have become almost de rigueur on the UA men’s basketball team.

And it’s not hard to find a place to get inked. The Dex phone book lists more than 30 tattoo shops in town, from the South Side to the Catalina Foothills.

Rodriguez, owner of Bert’s Classic Tattoo, Downtown, says the local popularity of tattooing made it possible for him to put together this weekend’s “Tucson Tattoos and Blues” show.