Being recognized by the city for decades of service to their Pacoima neighborhood feels long overdue for the Carter family.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, the city of Los Angeles honored Stylesville Barbershop & Beauty Salon with a landmark plaque memorializing its, \u201cpost-World War II development of the African American community in Pacoima.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Carter family gathered close relatives, years-long clients and friends for the big day. Bright purple and black balloons brought the shop to life, adding a festive touch to its faded paint and well-worn barber chairs. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe are marking and permanently protecting Stylesville and documenting its rightful place in history as the oldest Black-owned business in the city of Los Angeles,\u201d Councilmember Monica Rodriguez, who represents Pacoima, said in a speech. \u201cI\u2019m incredibly proud to be here to help celebrate this moment with the entire family, and with our proud community that wants to continue to uplift these voices each and every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Pacoima, Calif., Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025 – Councilmember Monica Rodriguez unveils a city landmark plaque at Stylesville Barbershop & Beauty Salon on Van Nuys Boulevard in Pacoima, Calif. on Saturday Oct. 11, 2025. The barbershop was first opened in 1957. (Jasmine Mendez\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
(Jasmine Mendez \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
First opened on Van Nuys Boulevard in 1957 by Freddie and Ollie Carter, Stylesville was the go-to spot for the latest hair styles during an era when the San Fernando Valley was heavily segregated<\/a>. Freddie was 28 at the time, and according to a story<\/a> in The Times, \u201cscores of black-owned businesses ran along the boulevard.\u201d <\/p>\n Ollie Carter, 94, still owns the shop, and Barron Ward, 63, who grew up in Pacoima in the \u201860s, said she gave him his first perm.<\/p>\n \u201cOh man, across the street in 1967, me and my brothers used to come here every single weekend. Freddie, the owner, used to sit us on this little wood thing to get a haircut,\u201d Ward said. \u201cMrs. Carter put a perm in my hair in \u201879. I had the perm and then I went bald after that, cut it off.\u201d<\/p>\n Like many who knew Freddie, Ward said he was always looking out for his people.<\/p>\n Ward, who owned multiple cars at one point, was called out by Freddie, who encouraged him to invest his money in property instead. <\/p>\n \u201cI love him for that,\u201d Ward said. <\/p>\n Fred and Ollie\u2019s daughter, Nella Carter, 75, said her parents moved the shop from across the street to its current location in 1977. The couple took over The Dew Drop Inn, a jukebox joint, and turned it into a beauty salon. As the years went by, the Carters purchased the building next door, turning it into a barbershop.<\/p>\n Lois Barnes, Carter\u2019s goddaughter, said her parents took her to the beauty salon countless times.<\/p>\n \u201cMy family came to Pacoima in 1952, when it was nothing but dirt roads and no streetlights,\u201d Barnes said. \u201cIt was easy to grow up here because we could be kids. You know, back that way, there were a lot of fruit trees, mountains where our parents would go jack rabbit hunting, and all kinds of stuff like that. It was really, really nice.\u201d<\/p>\n Barnes said her godparents were, \u201cinstrumental in building this whole community.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve always given to the community. When people couldn\u2019t afford to get their haircuts, food and stuff, they were always there for them,\u201d Barnes said. \u201cYou could see Freddie Carter just about anywhere doing anything for this city. That\u2019s what everybody says.\u201d<\/p>\n A picture of Freddie Carter inside the barbershop has a news clip in its corner from a 1987 L.A. Weekly article featuring Stylesville. <\/p>\n \u201cSince the 1890s, for black men new in town locating the right neighborhood barber to properly tend to your fade was more important than securing a subscription to a daily newspaper,\u201d the article by Lynell George read. \u201cNot just a place for a quick trim and shave, the corner barbershop served as an invaluable information pipeline. This central meeting became an ersatz social club for a group of regulars whose lively discussions ranged from current events to up-to-the-minute gossip.\u201d<\/p>\n Ronald Love, 78, from Pacoima, stopped by the shop everyday after school in the \u201950s, and fondly remembers, \u201cmeeting everybody.\u201d Darrell Morris Jr, 62, from Oxnard, still drives to the shop every weekend, and says Stylesville stands as a monument to the importance of Black preservation.<\/p>\n \u201cBeing a part of this community…there\u2019s no other place like it,\u201d Morris, who grew up in the house behind Stylesville, said. \u201cA lot of people come back here to visit, who still have homes here, some with sporadic businesses. It\u2019s reshaped the dynamic of how people get along.\u201d <\/p>\n Morris said he\u2019s seen all the changes Pacoima has gone through \u2014 including a demographic shift. <\/p>\n By the 1960s and \u201870s, tensions between the growing Latino population and Black residents erupted. In the 1980s, the Black population fell from 20% to 10%, according to The Times<\/a>. Today, Pacoima is about 90% Latino, according to United States Census data<\/a>. <\/p>\n