West Fresno barber shop honored as Small Business Owner of the Year by Assemblymember Juan Arambula
In what would appear as a normal house, complete with a porch, black screen door and green lawn, at the corner of Fresno and Jones streets in West Fresno sits a barber shop with over forty years of history and service. In a time where the recession has forced numerous local businesses to close down, Mr. Pete Oliver opened Mr. Fro’s Barber Shop nearly four decades ago, and continues to operate to this day.
On Thursday, July 15, Assemblymember Juan Arambula paid tribute to Mr. Oliver for his years of business and dedication to promoting the well-being of the local economy.
In addition to managing the barber shop over the decades, Mr. Oliver still found time to start and operate an excavation business, a bail bonds service, and grow crops such as black eye peas, greens, okra, and corn on his farm. “Mr. Oliver deserves special recognition,” stated the Assemblymember, “because he is a true local entrepreneur.”
[pullquote_right]Mr. Oliver deserves special recognition because he is a true local entrepreneur.”[/pullquote_right]Having come from four generations of barbering, Mr. Oliver has future plans to hand the shop down to his son who will continue the barbering business.
Over the years, the barber shop has become a place where many West Fresno citizens come together for the talk of the day while getting an old fashioned trim. It was also the place where Mr. Oliver met his wife decades ago.
“Barbering is a good living,” says Mr. Oliver, “it is hard work, and if you have the gift of gab, you get to meet people, and make a decent living.”
A glimpse inside Mr. Fro’s Barber Shop.
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Friend and colleague, Fred Tom, presenting a framed illustration of the barber shop to Mr. Pete Oliver.
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Mr. Pete Oliver at work on a customer.
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Mr. Fro’s Barber Shop located in West Fresno, at the corner of Fresno and Jones streets.
In 2006, over 25 youth began participating in weekly after-school writing workshops where they congregated in the hallway of a two-story building in West Fresno and learned the essentials of creating media and telling their stories. The group evolved over the next five years and is now proudly recognized as The kNOw Youth Media.
Through our program, we create opportunities for our youth participants, who in turn create long-term positive change in their communities. Our approach weaves youth development and youth media innovation to produce our biannual youth publication, multimedia projects, and community forums.
The kNOw began as a project of New America Media, which was the country’s first and largest national collaboration and advocate of 2000 ethnic news organizations. In 2018 The kNOw became a project of Youth Leadership Institute.
