One day in the life of COVID-19 across L.A. shows wrenching inequities – Los Angeles Times

Faro Tabaja, owner of Waves Barbershop & Boutique in Manhattan Beach, gives a haircut to Gene Geiser. Tabaja moved the barbers chair into the entry way to create a safer environment to cut hair due to the coronavirus outbreak.

(Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)

John Settles had just finished getting his hair cut. The Rancho Palos Verdes resident stepped out of the barbers chair and turned to check out the results. In the window of a nearby BMW.

Because the mirror at Waves Barbershop & Boutique is inside the tiny ocean view shop on Rosecrans Avenue. And the haircuts happen more or less outside, now that California is on its second COVID-19 shutdown and the only legal salon is an al fresco one.

Its hard to have a more Southern California experience than an open-air grooming session in tony Manhattan Beach, even with a late-season gloom and a slightly chilly ocean breeze.

VIDEO |

Cutting hair outside is the only way to go

That didnt stop Faro Tabaja, Waves owner, from flinging open the shops French doors first thing in the morning, dragging the shiny barbers chair to the very edge of the shop and placing it so the footrest and his clients feet stuck out of the storefront and over the sidewalk.

Men awaiting a much-needed trim cooled their heels in a pair of office chairs Tabaja had positioned across the sidewalk, hard by the parking meters. A surfer wetsuit peeled to his waist, board tucked under his arm headed to his car. A woman with pink hair strolled by with a pair of French bulldogs.

I have a mask on, Tabaja said as he snipped away at a clients salt-and-pepper locks. He has a mask on. Its a different life.

Two miles east on Rosecrans, in the Manhattan Marketplace strip mall, Posh Nails also was doing a brisk outdoor business. The seven sidewalk stations were full. Manicurists in full protective gear bent over clients hands, filing nails, scraping cuticles, brushing on polish.

RonAnn Myers of Hawthorne receives a pedicure from Hue Thi Nguyen, left, and a manicure from Tina Nguyen (no relation) right, in front of Posh Nails in Manhattan Beach.

(Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)

Women soaked their feet, pre-pedicure, in plastic-lined tubs. An armored car rumbled by, followed by a UPS truck. Where the outdoor nail salon ended, a half dozen shoppers lined up (six feet apart, of course) waiting to get into Helens Cycles.

VIDEO |

Nail salon opens for business outdoors

Jan and Hillary Rosenfeld were out for a late afternoon manicure, a little mother-daughter bonding before Hillary leaves for the University of Wisconsin. Jan has waited out the pandemic in her Manhattan Beach home, cooking, phoning distant relatives, picking up a new hobby or two.

But on this afternoon, she was really, really happy to be outside getting her nails done.

Its nice to be able to pamper yourself, she said, adjusting her slipping face mask. It feels like a little bit of normalcy.

Maria La Ganga

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One day in the life of COVID-19 across L.A. shows wrenching inequities - Los Angeles Times