In Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood, where soaring rents and luxury retailers have reshaped the landscape over the past four decades, one local business remains a steady presence. Anonymous Hair Salon, located at 105 Sullivan Street, continues to serve a diverse clientele despite the area’s transformation from an artists’ enclave to an upscale shopping district.

Established in 1986 by Patricia Winters-Liotta and her business partner, the salon has retained much of its original character even as the neighborhood evolved around it. Winters-Liotta, who passed away from cancer in 2019, built the salon into a community fixture known for affordable, no-frills haircuts that cater to teachers, freelancers, accountants, and local clergy. The business endures today under the stewardship of her son, Vincent Alfano, a 32-year-old Grammy-winning sound mixer with no formal hairdressing experience but a deep connection to the salon’s legacy.

Anonymous Hair Salon occupies a modest storefront situated between high-end establishments such as Chanel and the Hauser & Wirth gallery. Unlike its luxury neighbors, it has not succumbed to the wave of rent increases that have uprooted many longtime businesses in SoHo. This stability is largely credited to the building’s owner, Peter DeLuca, who has maintained affordable rent terms since 2000 when the salon relocated a few doors down to 105 Sullivan Street. DeLuca, who also operates a nearby funeral home, offers leniency that helped keep the salon open through periods including the pandemic, during which he waived rent entirely.

DeLuca’s personal ties to the community inform his approach. In the 1980s, he lost a young son in a building collapse on Sullivan Street, an event that galvanized neighborhood support and underpinned his commitment to sustaining local businesses. “I felt I owed this community a lot for embracing me,” DeLuca said.

The salon’s customer base reflects SoHo’s diverse past and present. Regulars include patrons like Ron Hester, a freelance photographer who has frequented the salon for more than three decades, and Angelo Vega, a stylist at the salon for 25 years who once worked in celebrity salons uptown. The clientele historically ranged from Italian-American locals and creative professionals to members of the nearby Padua Friary, whose priests also relied on Winters-Liotta’s services. Once a regular haunt for figures linked to organized crime, including Vincent “the Chin” Gigante, the neighborhood’s gritty past contrasts with its current status as a hub for high-end retail and celebrity residents such as George and Amal Clooney.

Winters-Liotta’s approach to business was marked by a reluctance to change, running the salon on a cash-only basis and preserving its worn, familiar atmosphere. After assuming control, Alfano introduced digital booking and payment methods but remains committed to retaining the salon’s community-focused ethos. He views the salon as more than a commercial venture, emphasizing its role as a surviving remnant of an older New York amid rapid gentrification and displacement.

“I don’t want to be on that list of places that’s been a legacy business for so long and has shuttered,” Alfano said. “The more that are gone, the worse off we’re going to be as a society.”

As SoHo continues to attract affluent tenants and visitors, Anonymous Hair Salon stands as a rare example of a local business weathering decades of change, sustained by loyal customers and an unusually supportive landlord. As long as the neighborhood retains its blend of old and new, the salon’s future looks secure.