Sacramento’s independent barbershop scene is as variegated as the city itself. And they’re serving an important purpose that goes beyond grooming, according Anthony Giannotti, who owns three.

“Barbershops are one of the last standing places where community can come together, share ideas, tell some jokes, get to know a stranger, or even run into a friend,” says Giannotti. 

Giannotti opened his first barbershop in 2009, when he says there were less than 10 in the Sacramento grid. Now there are around 30 to 40, he estimates.

That includes Midtown Barbershop on J Street. The owner, Jason Dunn, also known as Skills, is a Sacramento native who grew up in Midtown. He has been operating the barbershop inside an off-the-street strip mall at 1812 J St. since September 2018.

The shop originally was a comedy club and later a florist, says Dunn, who is also an educator for Gibbs Grooming, offering around 50 men’s grooming products.

One of Sacramento’s most unique barbershops has long been Bottle & Barlow in the Warehouse Artist Lofts building, where you could get a cocktail and a cut from the same business. Earlier this year, Premier Barber Company took over the barbershop space. It’s still covered by Bottle & Barlow’s liquor license, so customers can order a drink for a discounted price before or after a haircut. 

Also in Midtown are the two 16th Street Gentlemen’s Cutlery shops, where Marcus Ervin and Fernando Perez manage a stylishly dressed crew.

“I would say our motto of the shop is making you feel at your best every time,” Ervin says. “I think probably our secret sauce is not only good haircuts, but just making the person feel good by being pampered. We’re cutting a lot of gentlemen, a lot of business professionals and some ladies as well.”

There’s also the Liberty Barbershop on 21st Street in Curtis Park, where customers can get a self-named “Holy-Cut” and are handed a bookmark Bible scripture when leaving.

“I see people smiling,” says Liberty owner Francisco J. “I see more people involved in their communities, in their life, with their family, with a lot of the religious aspects that I tell them – to love their family, to love God, you know, to love society, to love their nation, to love their country, to love everything about themselves.”

Speaking of smiling, down Fruitridge Blvd. is Smiley’s Barbershop, a 10-year-old business in a building that has been a barbershop for 60. “Our barbers all bring their own unique style to the shop,” owner Sean Christensen says. We have a wide variety of clientele, from old school to new school. I think the oldest client we have is like 96 and we get them all the way down to little babies.”

One of the most historic barbershops in Sacramento has to be Nisei Barbershop on 4th Street near P, located next to Nisei VFW Hall that’s part of the original Japantown area of Sacramento before it was redeveloped. The two-chair shop has been run for the past 19 years by the founder’s (Jack Umezu) grandson Cory Umezu.

The original Nisei Barbershop opened down the street as part of Sacramento’s Japantown area in 1950 before founder Jack Umezu moved it to 1505 4th St. in 1952, and it has remained as the area near 4th and P streets has been redeveloped around it.

Nisei owner Cory Umezu says that after he got his barber’s license, he worked there with his grandfather Jack Umezu for a couple of years, taking the business over when he retired.

Not many Sacramento barbers are older than Nisei Barbershop, but 90-year-old Vince Limon is an exception. He has operated his 21st Street one-chair barbershop near O Street for about 40 years.

Limon says it was an old “hole-in-the-wall” barbershop when he bought it, later buying the entire building. He also lives and rents out apartments in the building.

Limon can be often seen walking throughout the neighborhood, and says, “I still move around. I still got it going pretty good.”

Limon and barbers like him are the kind of old-school neighborhood pillars that are getting harder to find, says Giannotti of Butch & Screwball.

“With Elks, lodges and bowling leagues and all those kinds of places, and even with church attendance declining, all those traditional meeting places are kind of disappearing,” Giannotti says. “Bars and barbershops are kind of the last stand. Just get your hair cut at independent shops, even if it’s not mine. Support local barbers, man.”

–

Stay up to date on art and culture in the Capital Region: Follow @comstocksmag on Instagram!