Sara V prepares to retire

Wednesday: The last haircut

Every five or six weeks, I make a little notation on my calendar: "Sara V -- 6 p.m."

It's my reminder to go see Sara Van Houten and get my hair cut. After this week, though, someone else is going to be working the scissors around my head. Sara is retiring.

Best as we can figure out, she's been cutting my hair for 10 years, maybe even 11. It started shortly after she and her husband Bob moved to Oregon and she began working at a salon that was two doors away from where my wife and a business partner had opened their personal training gym on Northeast Fremont Street in the Beaumont-Wilshire neighborhood.

In the ensuing years, Sara would move her business five times, most recently to the basement of her home and then to a shop in the back yard of a neighbor's home just down the street. The neighbor recently sold her home and will be moving in August, so the loss of that location forced the issue of retirement. Health issues and a desire to be closer to their kids and grandkids in Arizona also factored into it. Understandable, of course. And I hope they find a buyer soon for their lovely home so they can move back to Phoenix.

Sara with her beloved DeVille

Sara does a great job on my hair, but it's more than her skill with a comb and scissors that accounts for my loyalty as a customer. She's a lot of fun to talk to, whether we're trading stories about family, ragging on politicians, or chatting about food and sports (she play golfs and loves NASCAR).

I also appreciate that she quickly became involved in community affairs as a member of the Hollywood Boosters, serving many times as organizer of the annual Veterans Day parade along Sandy Boulevard. In that role, she'd twist arms, bend ears and make calls until she got U.S. senators and congressmen to participate along with mayors and city council members. In other words, she's not easily dissuaded from her goal.

I've enjoyed my friendship over the past decade with Sara V, a hair stylist and conversationalist extraordinaire. Here's hoping that she finds contentment and joy, along with plenty of sunshine, in the next phase of her life.