Back to the Old Neighborhood

Why a salon on Canyon Road?

Patrick: It started when I was her father’s caretaker. He and I would talk all the time about doing a barbershop on Canyon Road. He would tell me about how there used to be a barbershop and we’d talk about how nice it would be to create another shop like the old one. After he passed, I always kept that in my head. And finally we decided that we were going to make the move and open one.

Judith: A barbershop represents community and neighborhoods, historically. The one we opened is actually in an old ice cream shop my father started. I was young, nine or ten, and he created a friendly ice cream shop here in this space, this beautiful space.

One thing he and my mother instilled in their children was hard work. And I’m grateful that he instilled such value in all his children because I feel like anything that we do, we put 150% into it, no matter what it is. But there was always a sense of happiness and joy in here, always.

I remember working there as a child, we really got to know our neighbors. People would stop in, driving home on their way to work or just strolling the street in the afternoon. We had our regulars and it was fun. It was fun to get little tips when you were young.

Do you remember when change came to this neighborhood?

J: I would say probably like mid to late ‘80s. There was a shift and all of the sudden there were no more families. I mean, this was a neighborhood of families for 300 years.

I remember everybody knew everybody. And one of the greatest things was come 5:00, you could smell all the different scents from all the different kitchens. And then you could hear all the different moms calling for all the different kids. Time for dinner!

Was it hard to open a salon here?

J: Yeah, when we tried to get our license, they were like, no.

P: Salons are not allowed on Canyon Road.

J: I would go to the city probably three times a week, trying to talk to the right people, and I would always get a different answer. Finally, the way that we were able to get through it all is opening up the doorway so it connects fully with our home. So it’s a live-work business. And it just so happens that the live-work is situated on Canyon Road.

It’s interesting you came back to Canyon Road to start this.

P: It was like a full circle because her family had the ice cream shop here, and I wanted something special for her because I was kind of on the fence whether or not to open up a salon and spa, with all of the responsibilities. But I thought it would be amazing for her.

J: I can’t remember which of Patrick’s clients it was who gave us the cutest little compliment. He said he was very happy that we were here on Canyon Road. And he said you guys are like an ornament here on Canyon Road.

What’s the origin of the name KloverStar?

J: St. Patrick’s Day. Patrick was born St. Patrick’s Day. Hence the name Patrick. So he’s like that little lucky clover.

On our first date, there was a meteor shower that had happened the night before. We thought we were going to see the meteor shower, but it actually happened the night before. So we went up near the Four Seasons at 2:00 in the morning to see the meteors. But all there were were the remnants of the shower, just stars falling.

And so we were sitting in Patrick’s car with the sun roof open and the stars were falling, like everywhere. And hence, he kind of put a nickname to me and started calling me J Star. So I feel like I’m his lucky star. He’s my lucky clover. And then one day, we were dreaming about this salon, and I text him something, with an emoji of a clover and a star. And he was like, that’s it. That’s it. Clover Star.

P: She’s my shining star.

J: If you look in the middle of the word clover, there’s the word love. What we bring into this space is love. And there was already my family’s love in here. It’s deeply rooted in this place. I feel my father’s presence, like, very strong right now.