Barber Shop in Carroll Gardens: Persons of Interest Guide

Persons of Interest sits at 299 Smith Street in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, and its posted hours run 12 pm to 8 pm on weekdays and 10 am to 6 pm on Saturday and Sunday. This barber shop opened in October 2010 inside the storefront where Giorgio Zocco, known on the block as Sal the Barber, worked for years, and it still keeps his pole, his chairs and a tropical mural from that era.

Racked NY reported the opening on October 29, 2010, explaining that Zocco had died that April and left the Smith Street storefront empty. Neighbors expected yet another restaurant to take the lease. Instead, local resident Steve Marks, who had known Zocco, took over the room with support from the Zocco family and hired barber and stylist Matt Southerland to cut hair from day one.

Marks came from television. In a 2013 Superharbor profile he said he was working as a TV producer when Sal died, and he felt confident because he knew the neighborhood, its demographic and its clientele. He also admitted the plan to treat the shop as a side project collapsed quickly, since it needed his constant supervision, and that was before a second location opened in Williamsburg.

Brownstoner covered the arrival in November 2010 and put numbers on the change. Sal had charged $20, while the new owners priced a cut at $40 and added a massage and free beers. That 2010 menu is long gone, but the decision to keep the original barber chairs, the striped pole and the Day-Glo mural explains why the room still reads as a Smith Street institution.

Appointments run through Squire, the booking app named on the shop's own policy page, and the confirmation arrives by text and by email with a six-character code. Cancellations have to happen at least 3 hours before the slot. Inside that window the full price of the service is charged before your next visit, and a rescheduled appointment inside those 3 hours is billed at 100 percent too.

Lateness has a hard line: the policy says the team can decline anyone who arrives more than 10 minutes after the booked time. A no-show without an online cancellation or a call to the shop carries the full service charge. One practical warning from the same page: the reminder number is one-way, so texting it back to move a weekday 6 pm cut accomplishes nothing.

For timing, the weekday doors open at 12 pm, which makes the first slot a realistic lunch-break option for anyone working near Court Street. Weekends start earlier, at 10 am, and close at 6 pm, so a Sunday trim has to fit before dinner. One Google reviewer who came without an appointment called Carroll Gardens a very nice neighborhood to wait in, so an unbooked visit means a stroll rather than a seat.

The services page notes that taxes are already included in every listed price, which matters when you budget a tip for a regular cut. A long haircut sits in its own category above that, and a buzz cut is the quickest booking on the menu for anyone who wants a tidy cleanup between full cuts on Smith Street.

The straight razor shave costs $65, a flat price with no range, and it is the service that ties the room most closely to its old Sal-era identity. A haircut and beard trim combo is also on the menu, along with a standalone beard trim. Reviewers on the Carroll Gardens Google listing repeatedly mention curly hair and textured beards as the jobs the team handles well.

Skip Carroll Gardens if you want bleach or grey blending, because the menu marks color services as Fort Greene and Williamsburg locations only. That covers the $250 double-process lightening and the grey blending for beard, temple or head. Book color at one of those two sister shops and keep the Smith Street appointment for cuts and shaves, where the menu has no gaps.

The DailyBarber listing describes 1960s Belmont barber chairs with built-in ashtrays, classic music hits and a complimentary beer or soft drink while you wait. A 2013 Superharbor profile mentioned Brooklyn Brewery beer and classic Coke bottles in coolers. Behind all of it hangs the tropical wall poster that Racked singled out as a holdover Marks deliberately kept from Zocco's era.

The regulars are loyal to specific barbers by name. One Google reviewer wrote in 2019 about almost five years of cuts with Kathleen, and another described seven or eight years of visits on Smith Street. In January 2026 a reviewer praised Shawn for keeping curls intact on a shorter haircut, a skill that reviewer called tough to find in Brooklyn barbers.

Not every visitor leaves happy, and the complaints are specific. A 2025 Google review called the shop a little pricey but praised the vibe, and a 2021 reviewer wrote that an uneven fade looked unfinished. In June 2026 a client recovering from surgery called ahead to ask for just a hair wash, and wrote that the staff and Izzy were accommodating throughout, which says a lot about the front desk.

Smith Street and Court Street run parallel one block apart, so the easiest walk after a Persons of Interest cut heads west toward Frankies 457 Spuntino on Court Street. Racked's 2010 opening story said Marks redesigned the shop for the same people eating grandma-style meals at Frankie's, and diners were still posting OpenTable reviews of the Court Street dining room in July 2026.

Next door on Court Street, F&F Pizzeria is the counter-service slice shop run by the same Franks, set in a converted garage between Frankies and their wine bar. The Infatuation scores it 8.4 and describes a rotating list of minimal-topping pies. A slice there is the fastest way to stretch a 10 am Saturday booking into a full Carroll Gardens morning.

Before giving up, search Squire for the 12 pm weekday opening or the 10 am weekend opening, the two slots at either end of the posted schedule. If Carroll Gardens has nothing open all week, the sister shop in Fort Greene on South Portland Avenue keeps identical hours and runs the same menu, plus the color services that Smith Street lacks, so one Squire search across both locations usually turns up a slot.

The Fort Greene shop adds a reason to make the trip: Buzzed Monkey Records, a small vintage vinyl shop founded in 2024 by Robbie Busch, sits inside that barbershop, and the official page notes it is close to the C and G lines. The G train runs from the Carroll Street station straight to Fort Greene, so the detour costs one subway ride with no transfer.

Persons of Interest Carroll Gardens is at 299 Smith Street, Brooklyn, New York 11231. The official site lists hours as Monday through Friday, 12 pm to 8 pm, and Saturday and Sunday, 10 am to 6 pm. Prices on the services page include tax, and the shop also takes email through its own location page.

The nearest subway is the Carroll Street station on the F and G lines, whose entrances sit on Smith Street at President Street, Second Street and Second Place. Book through Squire, keep the 3-hour cancellation rule in mind and aim to walk in a few minutes early, because the 10-minute late limit is written policy rather than a soft guideline.