Bay Area
Oakland’s Historic Hair Salon: Legacy, Resilience, and the Beacon of Community Care
In the heart of Oakland’s 14th Street, a timeless beauty and care institution, the Style-Rite Beauty Salon, stands as a testament to resilience, community, and innovation.
By Jonathan Fitness Jones
In the heart of Oakland’s 14th Street, a timeless beauty and care institution, the Style-Rite Beauty Salon, stands as a testament to resilience, community, and innovation.
For over seven decades, this Black-owned business has not only seen the changes wrought by the civil rights movement, weathered storms of economic upheaval, illness during the pandemic but has also transformed into a beacon of overall care, transcending the boundaries of hair treatment to embrace the full spectrum of human well-being.
Founded in 1950 by the trailblazing Isaiah and Gladys Randolph, the salon was built from the ground as Isaiah saw the need for his wife Gladys to pursue her career in hair care and provide for her children, George, Gwen and Sharon while working from home.
This salon has seen four generations of clients walk through its doors. Today, Gladys’s granddaughter, Stacy Hogg-Stewart, carries on her legacy with a vision that extends far beyond hairstyling.
