StylesVille in Pacoima is the Oldest Black-Owned Barbershop in the SFV

Walking into StylesVille Barbershop and Beauty Salon in Pacoima is like traveling back in time. An antique-looking cash register sits near the front, well-worn barber chairs and faded furnishings fill the mirrored shop, and treasured old photos and memorabilia adorn every wall.

Like so many other Black-owned barbershops that have served Black communities across the country over multiple generations, StylesVille has served as a sanctuary – a place to congregate and connect, said Greg Carter Faucett, the lead barber and manager of the local barbershop.

At StylesVille, customers can expect good conversation, great advice and even a little good-natured trash talk (especially about sports) – in the barber chair, around the back pool table, or while sharing a barbecued meal gathered around one of the three grills in the parking lot.

Customers appreciate the reasonable prices and quality cuts and fades at the shop, which typically has old-school R&B playing on the speakers and a TV showing the latest news.

“People like coming here, and they keep coming back because the environment is what I want it to be – it’s open to everyone and it’s family-oriented,” said Faucett about StylesVille, which is the oldest Black-owned barbershop in the San Fernando Valley, according to the Los Angeles Conservancy. It’s also on track to be officially designated an African American landmark in LA.

Black History in Pacoima

StylesVille is located at 13161 Van Nuys Blvd. in Pacoima, in the heart of a predominantly Latino neighborhood – a community that was once mostly African American. The barbershop was established by Faucett’s maternal grandparents – the late Freddie Carter and his wife, Ollie Carter, who is 92 years old and long retired – and has been family-run for three generations. 

The origin of StylesVille can be traced back to Jefferson High School in Los Angeles, where Faucett’s grandparents first met and fell in love in the 10th grade – and they stayed together from that day forward.

 After marrying, they moved to Pacoima in the early 1950s and opened the barbershop across the street from its current location on June 28, 1957 – and it’s been in business ever since.

Faucett’s mother, Nella Carter, followed in her parents’ footsteps and joined the family trade. When they moved to their current location in 1977, she helped her mother run the beauty salon, which was built with its own entrance and a wall separating it from the barbershop – a throwback to 1970s state regulations requiring gender segregation. Though regulations changed, the wall remains.

Faucett, who picked up his first pair of haircutting shears when he was 10, helped out in the barbershop while growing up. He became a barber and officially joined the family business when he was 18 years old. He remembers many notable customers who came to the family barbershop over the years – Olympian Gail Devers, jazz musician Billy Eckstine and even Janet Jackson.

When Freddie and Ollie Carter both retired in the late 1990s, their daughter and Faucett took over the shop, but the first barber chair remained his grandfather’s until he passed away in 2004. 

“The first chair was always my grandfather’s – out of respect,” explained Faucett.

“I was blessed to have the two greatest grandparents anybody could want,” he said. “They were the best because of who they were, how they raised me, how they treated me and how they made me look at things in life. …To know them [was to know] some really good people.”  

Changing Demographics

Today – more than 66 years after StylesVille welcomed its first customer – Faucett works with up to three other barbers in the main shop. With his mother largely retired – she stays home to look after her ailing mother – the beauty salon his mother started at the same location is closed most days, but he hopes to get it going again.

The barbershop is surrounded by Latino businesses – with a panaderia (bakery) across the street, a botánica (selling herbs, remedies, spiritual cleansings and religious items) two doors down and lots of Mexican restaurants – but Faucett still feels at home in the community.

“Yeah, things have changed … today you see predominantly about 90% Latinos, and maybe 10% are Blacks and others,” he recalled. “Going back [decades] it was the complete opposite – mostly African Americans and 10% Latinos and everybody else. But it’s good – I’m good. It’s home.”

As the face of the community has shifted over time, so have the walk-in customers.

When longtime customer Joey Cova first walked into StylesVille as a teenager over 20 years ago, he wasn’t sure how he would feel, he admitted – Cova (who is Mexican-American) had never gone to a Black barber before. But Faucett made him feel welcome from day one.

“I wasn’t raised to be racist, so when I see anybody walk through the front door, they’re just another [customer] to me,” said Faucett, adding that he is always grateful for both new and longtime customers.

Over the years, the business has endured financial setbacks. During COVID, businesses considered “non essential” had to shut down altogether. 

“Like life, things always go up and down,” said Faucett.

“My grandfather always told me, ‘As long as [you’re] there at your business, you can make some money.’ If you’re not there, you can’t,” he said. “It’s about showing up – it’s as simple as that.” 

Everyone’s Favorite Barber

And if you show up, the customers will too, said Faucett. Some of his loyal customers who have moved away, travel from as far as the Antelope Valley to get their haircuts at StylesVille.

Darian Allen who lives in Mission Hills, has been going to the barbershop since he was a kid. Now 21 years old, Allen recently sat in the first chair getting a cut from Faucett, who gave him his first real haircut in that very same frayed but sanitized seat when he was about six years old.

“Greg has always kept it 100,” he recalled. “It’s like family here.”

Faucett agrees. He said his older customers are like his uncles or older brothers, and described the younger ones as his “little cousins.” 

“We’re one big happy family in my eyes – it’s not about the money to me,” said Faucett, adding with a laugh: “If I won the lottery tomorrow, I’d still show up to work the next day,” 

“What else would I do?” he continued. “This place gives me my daily shot of life.” 

A Historic Designation

The LA City Council approved a motion to support the nomination of StylesVille (and four other Los Angeles-area sites) for approval by the Cultural Heritage Commission as African American Historic Places in Los Angeles (AAHPLA). The nomination is expected to be approved.

In partnership with the Getty Conservation Institute, the goal of AAHPLA is to identify and celebrate the historic and cultural contributions of African Americans to the city’s heritage. StylesVille and the other anticipated honorees – the residence of Tom and Ethel Bradley; California Eagle offices; the First African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church; and Jewel’s Catch One – are expected to be honored with historic plaque presentations in March.

“I really wish my grandfather was alive to see this happen,” said Faucett, who said he feels both happy and honored about the impending recognition. 

But, he graciously added, “There’s really nothing spectacular about what my grandmother and grandfather did – they did what they were supposed to do, and it’s the same thing other people do every day: go to work and get things done.

“Now it’s my job to do what my grandparents would want me to do – to take care of [the business] and keep it going to keep the barbershop moving forward.”