Steve Marcus
Cecia Alvarado, left, Nevada State Director for Mi Familia Vota, and Erica Mosca, Executive Director of Leaders in Training, arrive for a press conference with Governor Steve Sisolak, second from left, and Paul Madrid, one of the shopkeepers, at Eastside Cutters Tuesday, August 24, 2021. Molly Forgey, the governors’ communications director, takes center stage. The event was part of the Democratic National Committees’ Build Back Better bus tour that stopped at the barber shop.
Tuesday, August 24, 2021 | 3:46 pm
Last year Paul Madrid wasn’t sure if his Eastside Cutters barbershop would survive the financial chaos caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Today the shop has expanded and restored 90% of its business.
Governor Steve Sisolak and Las Vegas Councilor Olivia Diaz visited the east Las Vegas store this morning as part of a Democratic National Committee campaign to announce President Joe Biden’s agenda for President Joe Biden’s economic recovery.
“We are dealing with a one-time pandemic,” said Sisolak. “We have to take this opportunity to invest in our communities, in our state, to make it better.”
Nevada has allocated about $ 100 million federal funding to help small businesses stay open during the pandemic and help meet essentials like rent and payroll. Madrid said federal funds helped keep the hair salon afloat through the Small Business Administration’s paycheck protection program.
Earlier this year, Nevada accepted $ 2.7 billion in federal coronavirus aid as part of Biden’s Build Back Better agenda.
“I can tell you we felt the effects of COVID-19 here on the east side,” said Diaz, a Democrat who represents the station where the hair salon is located. “We have many of my constituencies who are the most important workforce. Times have been tough, but I look to the future for … economic prosperity, especially for my constituency. “
Sisolak, also a Democrat, called Madrid an “incredible person” and noted that he visited the hair salon a few months ago when it was next door.
The current location hosted a beauty salon that didn’t survive the pandemic, Madrid said. He and his three business partners bought the property and converted it. Six hairdressers work there, and chairs are available for four more.
A graduate of Rancho High School, Madrid joined the US Army in 1989 and served for four years. He was stationed in Alaska until he and his wife moved back to Las Vegas.
Being a barber was a matter of course for him. His father, a barber who cuts hair at El Cortez for 30 years, asked him to give it a try as Madrid had odd jobs after his military service.
Madrid worked with his father for about four years before joining Eastside Cutters, which have been around since the 1960s, 22 years ago. Madrid raised their two sons in Las Vegas.
“It’s just natural to do that. It’s a good job, ”he said. “You will not be rich, but you will never be broke either.”
