Silvia Estrada - Managing Venice Trim

When my dear friend and longtime hair stylist, Stephanie Hobgood, left to move to Oregon, I was bummed for many reasons, but one was certainly who was going to cut my hair now? A good friend and beloved Venetian, Silvia Estrada, manages Trim around the corner on Abbot Kinney. She always looks good and always has happy clients sitting there in her window station, so I thought I'd see if she could help me out. She not only really could, but it also gave us the chance to catch up and get to know each other even better.

Estrada was born in Guatemala, and is, as she says, "A proud immigrant". (And really ... we're ALL immigrants unless you're Native American. So there.) Her family came to California when she was three, and she's been here ever since. Estrada has done pretty much every job you can think of (Fashion, Dental assistant, Ball girl, Retail, Valet, Coffee barista, sold insurance ...) but the thing she always wanted to do was hair. She was always discouraged from it by her father, who didn't think she'd ever be able to make a living in that profession (because he always got cheap haircuts).

"My whole life I knew I belonged in Venice," says Estrada. "This is where the weirdos were, my people." Her Dad would bring here down to Venice on the weekends, and that began her love affair with this town, and made her sure that this was where she wanted to live - plus she loved Three's Company.

Estrada attended the Abbot Kinney Festival one year and had friends at the Trim salon on Abbot Kinney. They had a DJ going, and all the people were fun, and then owner Nik Falco told her that she needed to do hair. Her boss at the Insurance company had even been telling her that she needed to do something creative, so she quit, moved home to save money, and attended hair school in the nights while assisting at Trim during the days. One day after someone had quit, Falco told her it was time to get on the floor, and now she's been beautifying the people of Venice there on Abbot Kinney for 15 years. She is now also the manager, and says, "I love Trim. I owe Nik my life forever for helping me to make this happen."

Community is special to Estrada, as she has raised her son Kai here since he was born in 2009. She loves her local clients, watching them grow and have kids and share in the stories of our lives here in Venice. People move away and come back, and one of Estrada's favorite things is when she sees a familiar face show up from "Old Venice". "No amount of money can ever take away the reason why I fell in love with the old Venice. If you saw Venice through my eyes growing up, you'd know what I mean." I know exactly what she means. Fancy houses and greedy businesses can't take away the vibes that make Venice special. Estrada wanted to be sure to shout out Jesse Martinez for all of his hard work in creating and maintaining the Venice Skatepark, which her son Kai loves loves loves.

I get what Estrada meant when she said she loves running into friends from back in the day ... I feel that way every time I see her.

You too can get your hair done beautifully by Silvia Estrada at Trim by calling to make an appointment at #310-396-3330.