Barbershop celebrates 40 years in Old Town

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY- Bernie and Rita Moraga will celebrate the 40th anniversary of Bernie's Barbershop next month. The business has become a fixture on Ventura Boulevard in Old Town. Ask Bernie Moraga about the history of his barbershop and it's likely he'll hand you a worn brown photo album and offer you one of the chairs that line the right side of his shop.

Within the album's pages are the slightly yellowed newspaper clippings, the black and white family photos and the handwritten notes from customers that tell the 40-year story of Bernie's Men's Haircutting & Styling- better known as Bernie's Barbershop-on Ventura Boulevard in Old Town Camarillo.

The ever-affable Moraga and his wife of 42 years, Rita, who owns the Better Half Coiffures salon that occupies the back of the shop, will celebrate the 40th anniversary of Bernie's Barbershop on Oct. 15.

Since Moraga opened the onechair shop four decades earlier, the couple-high school sweethearts-have cut and shaped their business into an institution along the historic boulevard. The floor of the now four-chair shop--with salon--has seen the hair of two, three and in one instance, four generations of family members.

The barbershop has hosted its fair share of birthdays, baby showers and even a 1970s Japanese reality television show.

It also was the first barbershop in Camarillo to hire a female barber. Although common today, the hiring of Sheila Stowell in 1971 as a barber was a hot topic of coffee shop talk for the locals, as well as fodder for more than one article in the former Camarillo Daily News.

A few years later, in 1976, Bernie's again made the news when his wife opened her salon in the back half of the shop. She said a few of Moraga's customers questioned why he had opened the salon, but the two businesses soon developed a successful relationship.

"We have customers who come in and the wives get their hair cut here and the husbands get their hair cut there," Rita said. "It's kind of a family type thing."

Rita said that before she opened her salon, Moraga had other designs on the back of his shop.

"At one time, if we hadn't put the beauty shop in, he thought about putting in pool tables back here so while his customers waited they could shoot pool," Rita said.

Even though they work in the same shop, Rita said the past 30 years has been a happy partnership.

"We're together, but we're not," Rita said. "He's up in his section, and I'm back here. It really works well."

Moraga said the idea for the salon came from his daughter, Diana. His daughter now lives in Granada Hills with her husband and two children, Connor, 3, and Mikayla, 17 months.

From his very first customer- -longtime rancher Dick Daily-- to today, the shop has drawn folks from throughout Camarillo. Business has been so good, in fact, that Moraga said his barbershop became the first in the city to take customers' appointments.

Moraga said he never expected to make a career as a barber. When he first borrowed money from his father-in-law in 1966 to open the shop, Moraga said he thought he might work for a couple of months cutting hair and then return to school to earn a degree in accounting.

Those plans eventually changed when Moraga came to appreciate the friendships he was building at a job that he loved.

"There hasn't been a day that I can think of that I didn't want to come to work," Moraga said.

About 15 years ago, he took a side job as a real estate agent, selling homes in the area. He said most of his referrals come through the hundreds of customers who have their hair cut at the shop. For Moraga, building personal relationships has been the key to both professions.

To celebrate the shop's 40th, Rita said they plan to be sitting on the beach next month in Bora Bora.

"I was the youngest one on the boulevard, now I've been here the longest," Moraga said. "I don't have any plans to retire. Why would I? I'm doing what I love."

Bernie's Barbershop is at 2314 Ventura Blvd. For an appointment, call (805) 482-1718.