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Rolando Sierra and Victor Peralta behind the ‘Nixon’ chair.
The San Manuel Barbershop, a stable business in the community since the 1950s, has been sold. In January, Greg and Marie Luna sold the barbershop. The new owners in partnership are Rolando Sierra, his wife, Kaylee, and Victor Peralta.
Rolando and Kaylee grew up in San Manuel and graduated from San Manuel High School. Victor grew up in Mammoth and graduated from Hayden High School. Rolando and Victor will be the barbers. Kaylee handles the licensing and legal stuff.
Rolando has been cutting hair for years but really got interested in his early high school years. He began experimenting with designs on his friends and family. He had eight nephews so got a lot of practice. Victor has been cutting hair for a year. They are both graduates of Hollywood Barber School. Rolando said that business has been good so far.
“People feel good knowing there is someone in San Manuel to cut their hair and they do not have to go to Tucson,” said Rolando.
The San Manuel Barbershop will now be known as Tri Comm Blends. The name first came from a class project where students had to put a business proposal together complete with a physical address, square footage, equipment and a name. Rolando wanted to include the entire Tri-Community and “Blends” is a barber term. It will keep the original equipment and mining memorabilia. This includes the original Koken barber chairs from 1954 including the one that President Richard Nixon sat in while getting his haircut back in the 1960s. The mining artifacts were collected by Greg Luna over the years.
“We are trying to keep everything original in the building,” said Rolando.
Cutting a design into a young man’s hair.
These barbers can cut all styles of hair from fancy designs to free style. Rolando said he recently cut the logo design from the NBA Golden State Warriors into someone’s hair. The barbershop is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Walk ins are welcome and appointments can be made by texting or calling Rolando at 520-235-5925 or if he is unavailable contact Kaylee at 520-222-4763. They are also on Facebook.
With the name change, this brings to an end the longest continuous business with the same name and location in San Manuel besides the San Manuel Miner.
The San Manuel Barbershop c. 1950 or 1960
The barbershop has been around since 1954. In December 1953, the Miner newspaper reported the first manager and barber was Tom Blank. In January 1954, they received their equipment and opened for business. The shop ran its first ad in the San Manuel Miner in March 1954, announcing that they had two barbers, Tom Blank and Ray Gonzalez.
Although it is an end of an era, it is a beginning of another. You can still get your hair cut locally and explore a little mining past and the future at Tri Comm Blends.
John Hernandez lives in Oracle. He is retired and enjoys writing and traveling. He is active in the Oracle Historical Society. He covers numerous public events, researches historical features and writes business/artist profiles.
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