June 30, 2016

Meet Montrose Hairstylist: Patti Thomas Harmon

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Patti Thomas Harmon.

Patti, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?

I started by attending Barber College in old town Pasadena. I graduated the top student in the school’s history and won an award for Men’s Haircuts. I then went to work in a Men’s Hair Styling Salon in Montrose. I worked there for 4 years and then opened my first studio in the same area.

After 15 years of working by myself, I decided to venture out and work at some of the other local hair salons. I worked at Cutters, Ambiance, Apropos, Monet, The Great Escape, and Scissors Palace. I attended many workshops and International Hair Shows and sill do. After getting my first website in the 1990’s I started to meet many of the stylists of the world. I have gotten acquainted with people like Ted Gibson, Nick Arrojo, Mike Karg, Joe Plunkett, Marco Palusi and many others. After being in the hair business for over 25 years, I was asked to buy the Men’s Hair Styling Salon I first started at in Montrose.

So in 2008 my husband Phil and I remodeled the old salon and made it our own. I have run this salon now for 8 years. We were voted Best Barber shop on City Search Los Angeles. The view is spectacular of the mountains above Los Angeles. We brought the studio floor down to the concrete, using copper as the backsplash, and I upgraded the 50 year old Takara Belmont Barber chairs with the help of an antique car restorer. I am making use of the craftsman tool boxes as well. We have some leaded glass finishes. Free parking, Wi-Fi, coffee or tea. I only use the best products by L’Oreal Professional. Come in listen to some great music while you get your hair done.

Let’s dig a little deeper into your story. What was the hardest time you’ve had?

A couple of decades ago, I invested into an infomercial. The return on our money was based on how well the product sold. It sold great, so we got our money back quickly. After reinvesting for 2nd time, my husband decided to quit his job at NASA and become a vested partner in the infomercial company, which he did. We had them checked out by the Attorney General’s office and they said no problem with this company. A few months and hundreds of thousands of dollars (our life savings) we saw our partner on America’s Most Wanted TV show. Shortly after that my husband tried to get our money back. The company had moved to Chula Vista and was now being run by a group in Mexico. My husband got detained by the Mexicans, he was not let go. While he was detained by the Mexicans (mafia) we were contacted by the FBI about our investment. My husband got away and we packed up our things and went away to visit family in Northern California. When we got back, we had to figure out what to do. We filed bankruptcy and lost our home and his pension from NASA. We moved to a house near my work. I had closed up my shop I had for 15 years, and went to work at other salons. This took a toll on us. I was let go from several salons. Things didn’t get any better. We had each other and our health.

In 2007 my old employer decided to ask me to return to the shop I now own. I really didn’t want to work for him in a shop that was 45 years old and had no improvements. I decided to ask if I could buy the shop from him and fix the place up with some inheritance my husband received from his mother’s death. Paul the original owner said yes. He was 70 years old then and wanted to work for a few more years and then retire. We agreed to a price of $15,000. And any improvement money used would go against the balance I owed him. We spent $25,000 on improvements. I tried to tell Paul, but there didn’t seem a good time to tell him that the lighting, flooring, paint and fresh furnishings cost so much. I continued to pay Paul $100.00 every week for 2 years hoping that he would be pleased with my paying him all that money. It came time to renew our lease and he refused to help me and my husband. He hired a lawyer to kick me out of the shop I had spent so much money on and had me locked out. I hired a lawyer also, well we came to an agreement that I would pay Paul an additional $6500.00 and he would take one of our hair cutting stations. I borrowed the money to pay him and when the money was received by his lawyer, Paul and his family had me arrested for Financial Elder abuse. I had proof that this was not the case and I was released immediately.

Since this all happened in 2010, we decided on more improvements and try to hire people, which I did. We hired so many that we decided to expand, which we did, with a loan from friends. We had so many stylists that wanted to come, I really felt blessed. For a few years we worked hard for our stylists, making sure things worked well for all of them. Until last October when one of my stylists after 6 years of working with me took 3 other stylists with her to open her own salon up the street. They gave me one day’s notice. Well we were devastated. Our dream of owning a big beautiful salon were crushed. I couldn’t keep the expansion unit open so we closed back down to just the original salon. During this change I lost by death 10 of my clients.

So we are still open and now I am working harder than ever to maintain. I am 60 years old thinking about retirement eventually with no house, no pension. I can tell you this is a long and horrible story. There have only been a few moments when I really thought I am really going to make it. My career was really taking the right path. That is right now. I don’t have the stress. I love my clients and my little studio. I have two very nice older stylists working part time with me. We laugh and have a great time together.

Wow…that’s an incredible story. Given all this, what are your plans for the future?

I think as far as my future plans are to stay happy and to save up for my hopeful retirement. No looking back. I think any big changes I look forward to be having a cold drink on a beach somewhere.

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