Popa Chops owns Berkshire Barbers, also in Pittsfield, and it might be the most joyful barbershop I’ ve ever been in. Six chairs, a street sign over his own that reads“ Popa Chops Boulevard,” and an intimate, shrine-like setup that makes the kids feel like celebrities the second they walk in. Fifteen years in the trade, four years owning his own place, he took over in 2022 from what used to be Elm Street Barbershop and made it his own. He’ s got a little herb-and-tomato planter filled with little toy figures out front where families can take herbs, tomatoes, a tiny dinosaur, or Hot Wheels car home. He’ s planning to bring in a shoeshine stand that he calls the“ boot butler,” and wants to cut the hair of the whole Pittsfield High School basketball team, all 24 players, and finish the day with a cookout. He’ s also working out a ten-dollar cut for veterans and active service members. His friend Andrew Nefreres, who brought his son Trayc for a much-needed cut, summed up Popa Chop’ s philosophy:“ It’ s where your hair gets care.”
Mario Privitera runs Steve’ s Barber Shop in Lee, and if you want to understand what“ generational” means in this business, sit in his chair for ten minutes. His father, the original Steve, opened the shop on the other side of Main Street back in 1950, before buying the building the shop now occupies. Mario started working there at age 15 and took over from his father in 1989. And he’ s still at it. The other chair belongs to a barber also named Steve, who’ s 76 and has been there for decades, which means when you call the shop and a man named Steve picks up the phone, you might reasonably assume he’ s the owner, as I did, and you’ d be wrong twice, because the actual owner is Mario; the shop’ s original owner was a different Steve. Mario’ s son is an architect, and his daughter lives out in Vancouver, Washington, so there’ s no clear next generation lined up to take the chairs when Mario and Steve eventually put down their scissors, which makes visits here feel a little like the last chapter of a legacy.
There’ s more of the county’ s roster worth mentioning, including Tony Riello, who owns Rocco’ s North End Barbershop on North Street in Pittsfield, and whose son Gabe works a chair in the shop now. At Lenox Legacy, Chris and Nicole Welker( former owners of Elm Street Barbershop in Pittsfield) run a tight, two-chair operation, which includes old-school scissor work.( I usually go to Lindsay Sondrini who works there to cut my hair.)
No matter whether you’ re looking for a“ boldface”( a skin-to-hair, low-taper fade), a military cut, or just a variation on“ the usual” that won’ t break the bank, head over to one of these barbershops that are keeping the tradition alive. n
For a detailed list of these and other barbershops in the Berkshires, go to berkshiremag. com. Feel free to put in the comments section online ones that aren’ t on the list, and we will try to add them!
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LEE | STOCKBRIDGE | GREAT BARRINGTON | PITTSFIELD | LENOX
SEPTEMBER 26 • 7:30PM at The Colonial Theatre
OCTOBER 7 – 31 at The Unicorn Theatre The Larry Vaber Stage
by David Auburn directed by Isadora Wolfe featuring Kate Baldwin and Jennifer van Dyck
LEEBANK. COM | 413. 243. 0117
( 413) 997-4444 BerkshireTheatreGroup. org
111 South Street • Pittsfield, MA 6 East Street • Stockbridge, MA
OCTOBER 1 • 7:30PM at The Colonial Theatre
AN EVENING WITH
DAVID SEDARIS
OCTOBER 24 • 7:30PM at The Colonial Theatre
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS WHISKEY CITY
Photo by Anne Fishbein
Fall 2026 BERKSHIRE MAGAZINE // 85