Fred Caballero prided himself on his barbershop. He made a place where everybody knew your name and everyone was welcome to sit down, banter about sports or local goings on, and get their hair cut. After 52 years of cutting hair in Benicia, Caballero will be retiring and passing Fred’s Barber Shop on to his nephew.
Born in Oakland, Caballero moved to Benicia at the age of 3. His father owned a barber shop for 44 years and his mother operated a beauty shop for 35 years. He remembers his father cutting the hair of ranchers when Solano County was more farmland than city suburbs.
“Benicia is the best town in the world,” Caballero said. “I love it. Me, my family, brothers, just love this town. There is just so much history here, the Portuguese history, it was the greatest place to grow up.”
Caballero followed in his father’s footsteps and became a barber himself, opening a shop up on Military East. When working as a barber, Caballero considered all his customers to be friends. He said people who were raised in Benicia and got their hair cut at Fred’s Barber Shop often come back home and sometimes stop by to say hi to Caballero and ask how he was doing.
“I was the kind of barber who if you came into my barbershop and you were brand new and there would be three guys would had been coming in for awhile, I’d include you with what we were talking about, he said.”
When new barbershops would open up in town, Caballero never would consider them competition. He would walk over to the new shop’s owners and wish them the best of luck.
“I had one guy tell me ‘How could you do that? I am going to be your competition,'” he said. “I said ‘I got no competition. I have been here for so long it’s no problem. I hope you get to stay here as long as I do ’cause you’ll love this town.”
Caballero is retiring due to doctor’s order and health concerns. He says he won’t completely disappear though. Caballero will stop by and check in with how things are going with the barbershop. His nephew, who he considers a son and raised since high school, will be taking over the barbershop. Caballero’s nephew has been working as a barber for more than a decade and has been at Fred’s Barber Shop for the past five months. Caballero passed the business to his nephew to keep the barbershop a family business and urges customers to give the new oner some time, but says he is a friendly and personable hair cutter nonetheless.
“I know they’ll like him,” he said. “It’s their preference on the haircuts. His personality is good. He will be able to talk to everybody.”
Before he turns over the keys to his nephew, Caballero wants his customers to know how thankful he is for their patronage and what they have done for him and his family.
“They all have been friends, not customers,” he said. “I wish I could shake their hands individually and just thank them. All we can do now is to remember the old stories that went into that barbershop.”

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