The Liberty Boys & Scollay Square

The history of tattooing in Boston is inextricably intertwined with the long, colorful life and abrupt demise of the city’s iconic Scollay Square. From their low-rent shops above and below storefronts in the Square, Ed Liberty and his sons plied their trade through the tattooing booms and busts of the Great Depression, World War II, the Cold War, and urban renewal.