Barber takes Larchmont to Fairfax Avenue
NEIGHBORHOOD RETAIL on Fairfax Avenue is the new setting for the Larchmont Barber Shop — originally “on the Boulevard” since the 1920s.
You can take the barber out of Larchmont, but you can’t take the soul of Larchmont out of his shop.
Construction on his Larchmont building (he was one of the 14 shops in the former Lipson Building, now behind a construction wall) and high rents elsewhere on the street (despite the nearly 30 vacancies) forced owner Jorge Hilario to close up the 90-plus years Larchmont business in December.
But the Larchmont Barber Shop lives on — now nearer to the Miracle Mile than Larchmont, but still close by — at 401 1/2 S. Fairfax Ave. (near the corner of Fourth Street).
Hilario took over the Larchmont shop in 2013, following the death of former owner Jerry Cottone, who had taken over the shop from his father, Vince. The Cottones ran the shop for close to 60 years.
According to Hilario, he has been very much back in business since last month, although there may be a little fine-tuning still to come with the interior decorating. But, during a visit there on a recent Saturday morning, the space certainly had the feel of a traditional neighborhood barber shop.
THEN: Larchmont Chronicle publisher John Welborne photographed with William LaBombard, both getting Saturday morning trims at the original shop on Larchmont in 2017.
NOW: Owner Jorge Hilario and barber Cesar Vasquez give trims in the new Larchmont Barber Shop — with many artifacts from Larchmont, but now on Fairfax Avenue — in 2021.
Category: People