In the heart of Woodside lies the freshest barber shop you’ve ever seen: Filthy Rich Barber Shop. Known for having its customers “Walk in Filthy, Come out Rich”, Filthy Rich Barber Shop is owned and run by Richard Mendoza, a young Filipino man, and is one of the most popular barber shops in New York City. Celebrities such as Flo Rida and Big Sean have gotten their haircuts at Filthy Rich Barber Shop, and its no shock given the hip, urban vibes coming from the shop. Rich has lived in Woodside all his life, and he has owned the shop for 10 years. His family is from a small Filipino town, but Rich was born in Hawaii and later moved to Woodside with his family. Filthy Rich has a very unique consumer base; there is no one single ethnicity which constitutes a majority of the clientele. Maybe about 10% are Filipino, so it can’t really be defined as a “mainly Filipino barber shop”.

When asking Rich about what got him into cutting hair, he simply said he loves it and has always loved it. Rich says he originally wanted to be an architect, but dropped out of college after one year; cutting hair is what he was meant to do. Rich bleeds and loves cutting hair, because “a pair of scissors can change someone’s life”.

Many small businesses are suffering in today’s society, so we asked Rich if he has noticed a decline in customers. Rich said that luckily he hasn’t really seen a decrease in business; owning a business is easy if you know what you’re doing, and the most important part of keeping up business? Satisfying customers. Rich feels as though there is no competition, because no other barber shop has the level of friendliness and customer satisfaction that Filthy Rich does. Rich is family with his employees, and he believes the most important thing you can do is build a relationship both with your customers and your co-workers.

Rich stressed the importance of joking around with customers and making them feel welcome in his shop. Passion is also a major contributing factor to his success. Talking to Rich just one time made it clear how passionate he is to cutting hair, and that is a quality that is difficult to find. He genuinely loves his practice, and it shows in his work and his attitude. Customers love Rich’s haircuts, but they also love Rich. He’s a genuine person and very easy to talk to, so people feel comfortable around him and his employees. Rich does not fear competition because he honestly doesn’t need to – his shop is so unique and welcoming that few can compare.

Customer satisfaction is not the only thing that keeps Filthy Rich successful. Rich believes that if you’re dope, your place will be dope – and this holds true with his business. The barber shop is a very unique experience, and Rich is a unique man. He’s tatted up, plays hip hop music in his shop, sends off strictly good vibes. He takes pride in his individuality, saying “I am unique in who I am; not Latin or black, but Asian.” He has pride in his Filipino heritage and believes it helps him stand out from others. Even in Woodside, with its large Asian population, Rich and his shop remain unique.

Filthy Rich’s success is unsurprising. Rich is Filipino, but his employees are from many different ethnic backgrounds. Rich and his employees are young, and the shop has a modern atmosphere; they play rap and hip hop and talk to the customers like peers. They have tattoos and piercings, and have a chess board and bottles of alcohol where people wait to get their haircuts. Rich is an Asian man in a highly Asian neighborhood, but Filthy Rich is not an “Asian shop” in any way; everything about the shop is unique and anyone feels welcome there.

Each of Rich’s eight employees in is a celebrity barber; NBA players, NYCFC athletes, BET celebrities, and famous musicians frequent Rich’s shop. Rich strongly believes in making superstars out of his barbers, because “you can’t be a superstar alone.” Rich also does a lot of networking to get the word out about his barber shop. The shop has its own Instagram and snapchat so that people can view Rich’s haircuts whenever they want – and so people can see all of his celebrity clients (if you were wondering who recently shaved Drake’s beard for his SNL appearance, look no further). Filthy Rich’s success can be attributed to many factors, but in the end it really comes down to Rich’s dedication and creativity in his practice.

However, Rich has not always seen such great success in his business. In 2003, Rich tried to open his barber shop but faced many obstacles. He struggled with making rent and getting enough business to keep him in business. After three years of struggling, the first shop failed and he took out loans to open up a new, better shop. After investing all that he could into his current business, he was able to become a great success. After 10 years of booming business, Rich now does pop-up barber shops in places like Hawaii, London, and Thailand. Filthy Rich is now expanding, as well – soon there will be a second location in Williamsburg, so Rich can spread his good vibes to even more people.

Shops such as Filthy Rich make Woodside seem like the ideal image of America, the melting pot, and in many ways it is. Woodside is a place where immigrants and people of any racial background can come together and share the area’s array of diverse foods and stores. There is a wide variety of ethnic restaurants including Thai hot pot, Dominican bakeries, and Irish pubs. However, the diversity of Woodside does not mean that everyone mingles peacefully – the area is home to many ethnic enclaves.

The demographic make-up of Woodside has changed greatly over time. According to Johns Hopkins University Press, the area was heavily German in the 1800s, and then became an extremely Irish neighborhood in the 1900s. The study from JHU states that in the 1930s, Woodside was 80% Irish. There are still traces of this Irish enclave in Woodside; there are a lot of Irish pubs, and many Irish families remain in the area. However, in the end of the 20^th century there was a huge shift in demographics. In the mid-late 1900s, there was a huge influx of Dominican immigrants which sparked a change in the community. After that, the population of immigrants and people of color changed drastically.

Above is a photo from 1980 of the building that Filthy Rich is currently located in. This is from a time when the neighborhood’s ethnic population was changing dramatically, and the population of people of color was increasing greatly. By 2006 when Richard Mendoza opened his shop, the neighborhood was very different than it was when this photo was taken.

According to the ACS, the white population in Woodside dropped from 59.2% in 1990 to 39.2% in 2010. The Asian and Pacific Islander population also increased by about 13% to reach 36%. Now, the white and Asian population in the area is almost equal. Of the Asian population, it is 28.1% Chinese, 15.7% Indian, 14.9% Filipino, and 13.9% Bengali. The high Filipino population explains the area along Roosevelt Avenue called “Little Manila.” This ethnic enclave has become home to a massive Filipino population and a variety of Filipino owned restaurants, cafes, and grocery stores. It is not surprising that Richard Mendoza and his family live in the area, as it is the home of Little Manila.

However, Asians only make up about a third of the neighborhoods population, which is why Filthy Rich is not an “Asian shop”. The remaining population is highly white and Latino (37.6% and 34.4%, respectively), and the remainder is a mixture of other races. This diversity is clear in many parts of Woodside, while other areas of the neighborhood seem to be dominated by one race or ethnicity. The map below shows the communities of color in Woodside as a whole. The map shows that some parts of Woodside are more white than the others – this is due to the ethnic enclaves in the area.

Despite the existence of enclaves and the unequal distribution of races, many places such as Filthy Rich act as a mingling spot for people of all races. The shop does not have one race or ethnicity that dominates the clientele, making it a perfect representation of the larger neighborhood.

The ethnic diversity of Woodside definitely contributes to Filthy Rich’s success; the shop appeals to a very large audience, and the diversity of the neighborhood brings in a wide range of customers. Woodside is the ideal location for a shop such as Filthy Rich with an owner who is the son of Asian immigrants, yet still appeals to other races through its atmosphere and other employees. Filthy Rich brings people of every ethnicity together, as does the neighborhood in which it resides.

After visiting Rich’s barber shop, we were curious whether or not the wild popularity surrounding the store had something to do with the demographics of the neighborhood. So, we took it upon ourselves to do some research. The median age of the population in the neighborhood for men is 37.2, while the median age for women is 36.4. Not to imply that older residents of the community can’t appreciate a “fresh cut”, but given the rich, urban, hip vibes surrounding Filthy Rich, we decided to research elsewhere. Being only college students, still well in our teens, we felt as though the environment Rich Mendoza was trying to evoke was targeted towards a certain age group: anywhere from under 18 to mid 20’s. The under-18 male population in the area was last accounted for being at 14,278, a solid 18.274% of the 78,132 men living in Woodside. The 18-34 age male population is significantly larger: at 23,438, this represents 29.998% of the male population. Together, the two youngest demographic categories make up 48.272% of the male population, nearly half.

Although the majority of Rich’s customers are male, that’s not to say that absolutely no women come to the shop looking for a haircut from Filthy Rich. Two of Rich’s token employees, Kazz and Vanessa, are female and most of the time, they are the ones catering to the girls who walk into the store. So, to understand exactly which demographic Filthy Rich’s female customers come from, we decided to do a little more research on the female population in Woodside. The female population in Woodside is reported at being 3,539, while the under-18 female population is 930 — not a significantly large number, but standing at 26.279% , it accounts for a large percentage of the neighborhood’s female population. Meanwhile, the female population for the age group of 18-34 is 975, or rather 27.55% of the female community in Woodside. Together, this sums up to 53.829%, more than half of the female populace in Woodside accounted for in the two youngest demographics.

Another factor we decided to take a look at was the population of color; Woodside is primarily known for being home to people of Asian origin, but we wanted to see whether or not this meant most of Rich’s customers were Asian, or if Rich really was serious when he said he cuts hair for people of all colors and all ethnic backgrounds. The total population in Woodside area is 7,179, of which 2,869 of those people, or 39,964%, are asian alone.241 people are African American, which constitutes only 3.357% of the population. 502 people are of “Other” race, which is 6.993% of the total population, and 3,389 people are white, which makes up the majority of the population at 47.207%. When we walked into Filthy Rich, we found the majority of the people there getting haircuts were hispanic or latino of some kind, so we chose to take a look at that demographic. The total population in Woodside being Hispanic or Latino happens to be 3,404, or 47.416% Given the large percentage of the population that this accounts for, it’s safe to assume that a large portion of Filthy Rich’s success comes from the overwhelming young and hispanic/ asian demographic in the neighborhood. Appealing to a younger crowd, Filthy Rich barber shop is located right where it is both needed and wanted.

The question that we think about now is: Well, what now? Filthy Rich has become an iconic store in Woodside, inviting in people from all 5 boroughs and various states as well. So, it’s safe to wonder what the shop owner, Richard Mendoza, plans on doing now? Well, we asked Rich and luckily now you won’t have to travel all the way to woodside on the 7 train to get a “fresh” cut from Filthy Rich. Opening up a second location in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Rich is looking to expand his shop to make nice haircuts more accessible to the public. Asking him where he wants to go from there, he said he wasn’t sure, he was just going one step at a time. But luckily, next time Drake wants to shave his beard, he’s not just restricted to the small, urban spot on 63rd Street and Woodside. No — now, he has options.

• “Infoshare Online”. Infoshare.org. N.p., 2016. Web. 29 May 2016.
• “OASIS Map”. Oasisnyc.net. N.p., 2016. Web. 29 May 2016.
• NYC Municipal Archives Gallery. 2016. Web. 29 May 2016.
• “Total Population, 2014.” Map. Social Explorer, n.d. Web. 31 May 22:48:03 EST 2016 (Based on data from U.S. Census Bureau)
• *Any uncredited photos are from the Filthy Rich instagram, with permission