> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Henna artists worried about becoming endangered species - URL: https://www.smdp.com/henna-artists-worried-about-becoming-endangered-species/ - Published: 2002-01-11T16:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-22T23:56:53.000Z - Author: Carolyn Sackariason - Tags: local, Promenade, #archive-import *Artists challenge city law* Henna artist Luke Chanthadara is facing jail time and a $1,000 fine for what he says was simply expressing himself, a right he has under the Constitution. Chanthadara was slapped with a misdemeanor ticket on the Third Street Promenade for operating without a business license on Jan. 4, after he performed Henna art on someone. He is contesting the ticket and is scheduled to appear in court Feb. 4. “I’m considered a criminal for being an artist,” he said. “From my standpoint, it’s a bad law but I will keep coming out here. I guess they really could throw the book at me.” The Santa Monica City Council voted 4-3 in October to ban Henna artists from the Third Street Promenade and the pier, saying some of the artists are posing a public safety risk. What’s more, some officials think the 5,000-year-old art form is not performance and therefore doesn’t fall under the city’s code for street performing. As a result, Henna is no longer a permissible activity within the city limits. “It’s a catch 22,” Chanthadara said Thursday. “(The city) won’t give you a license” but as an artist, he feels it’s his right to practice his art form. Henna is a non-permanent dye used for skin art. However, some artists use dangerous toxic chemicals such as “black Henna” or phenylenediamine, a hair dye, that can produce skin rashes and other complications. The black Henna is cheaper than traditional Henna dye, which is red and has been used for skin decorations and body art for thousands of years. The city was recently sued by someone who received a Henna tattoo after being told that it was temporary but it turned out to be permanent. As a result, the city staff advised the council to reconsider whether it wanted to permit these activities as a performance. Three Henna artists and Jerry Rubin, a community activist, held a press conference Thursday on the Promenade, asking for a revote of the council to reinstate Henna immediately. With reporters from three television news stations, the Daily Press and the Los Angeles Times looking on, the artists demonstrated their work on tourists. With the Santa Monica Police mall headquarters just feet away, the artists’ performances went on without incident. The artists and Rubin have formed “Supporters of Henna Artists’Right to Express” which is actively campaigning the city to lift the ban. They are gathering signatures to petition the council to reinstate the art form. Rubin also said the group is considering legal action against the city for violating their civil rights. They are soliciting attorneys to represent Chanthadara at his February court hearing, which Rubin says he has a right to a jury trial — if the issue goes that far. He hopes the city will drop the charges before then. In the meantime, the group will meet with representatives of the city’s arts commission, city officials and representatives from the Bayside District Corporation, which oversees the downtown area, to convince them Henna should stay. But the group may have a hard time convincing the four council members who voted for the ban to change their minds. “Hell, no I am not going to change my mind,” said Councilman Herb Katz, who thinks Henna is not a performance and is very much a public safety risk. “We, the city could very well be sued again... There’s no way we can consciously allow this.” ‘Performance’ issue debated Henna artists were on the brink of extinction about three years ago when the city considered banning them because the “tattooing” was becoming inappropriate in some officials’ eyes. Katz said portions of people’s bodies were exposed and people were lying on the sidewalks while artists performed on them. “I wanted to get rid of it when I was on (the Bayside District Corporation Board),” Katz said. “My mind was made up three years ago.” The artists were left alone after the then-city attorney advised the council that banning them could be a violation of their civil rights and suggested that Henna art is a performance. But the majority of the council agrees with current City Attorney Marcia Moutrie that it isn’t a performance and allowing them to perform “cosmetology” work on people opens the city up to liability. “The safety issue wasn’t what was motivating me but then I read the staff report and it convinced me,” said Councilman Ken Genser. “I really don’t think it’s a performance... but liability is another thing that supports my position.” Several artists put city officials on notice in 1999 that the so-called black Henna had surfaced in Santa Monica, yet they did nothing about it. “It’s part of Marcia Moutrie’s rationale that the means justify the ends,” said Brett Carr, an artists and filmmaker. “This being a violation of the ordinance and a misdemeanor is on the order of ridiculous.” The artists say the city has inaccurately stated the ancient Mehndi art form is a tattoo. They argue it’s a safe art form that is not regulated as a cosmetology service by the state. They have just as much right to perform on the mall as do the creative portrait artists, balloon clowns and artistic flower makers, they argue. What’s more, they argue that Henna is a tourism draw on the mall and is even identified in numerous tourism publications. “These artists are not able to work, put food on the table, pay rent... it’s unacceptable,” said Rubin. “There is politics involved but it would be disrespectful not to protect this ancient art form.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/011102-02_01.jpg) (Photo: Carolyn Sackariason/Daily Press) *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 11, 2002.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/011102.pdf?ref=smdp.com)