Diana & Cynthia's Excellent Venture

I am now well acquainted with the Ultimate Hair and Nail Salon at 23rd and J Street in Sacramento. It's owned by Diana, who runs it with her sister, Cynthia. Diana and Cynthia were born in Vietnam, moved to Seattle as teenagers with their families. They put themselves through college and set out to create success for themselves.

Diana moved to Sacramento first, got married, had a baby and bought the Ultimate Hair and Nail Salon, a run down looking business which had operated for some 40 years in what's now a trendy section of Sacramento. She spruced it up a little, not a lot, rented back a station to a haircutter from the old establishment and started pulling in clients.

"It was hard at first," says Diana. "I got a lot of clients and I needed assistance. I hired several people but they say they'd come, and then not come. They were not reliable. They would call in sick. Sometimes not call in at all. I kept asking Cindy, when you gonna move from Seattle? She say maybe next year. Finally, it next year, she came. There's nothing like family, it is so great that she's here."

Diana and Cindy live near each other. They're both married, both have children. Their husbands both work for larger corporations in far flung suburbs. One of them, I forget which, lives with their parents. The parents cook for all of them every night and watch the children while they're away at work.

They are Buddhists, but they always have a Christmas tree. As Cindy put it, "Christmas not really religious. Christmas is about being American. We want to be American, so we have a Christmas tree."

They like me a lot because they can talk me into anything,

"Sara, how about you have an eyebrow wax before your hair cut?" okay
"How about you have a facial?" okay
"How about you bring your daughter in for pedicure?" okay

I pretty much do whatever they tell me to do.
And they do a great job at everything. They keep their appointments. They do great nails, great hair. They charge very little. They never complain. They never run anyone down. They appear to love their work and they resist my efforts to speculate as to the ages of the clients who have been coming to their station renter for 40 plus years ("They good clients. Longtime clients.")

I wouldn't be surprised if I'm coming to Cindy and Diana when I'm 85 too.