From a young age, San Clemente resident Kristle Jones aspired to work in the beauty industry. After more than two decades doing so, Jones opened her first salon in Aliso Viejo in 2020—a dream come true for the stylist.
The salon is a family-run business named after Jones’ daughters, Macie Kate and Madelyn Lane. From time to time, customers may see the whole family in and out of the salon. On break, her oldest daughter might be working the front desk. Jones and her husband, Ryan Jones, run the back end of the salon.
In January 2022, Jones expanded the business, opening its second location in Downtown San Clemente.
“We love the community here so much,” Kristle Jones says. “It was really important that we had a business here in our community, that we can support and give back to our neighbors and the schools and just the community in general.”
The community, in turn, is recognizing Jones and her salon, as San Clemente Times readers have voted Kate Lane Salon as the recipient of our Golden Ole for Best New Business in 2022.
“I really wanted to create a community hub within our walls and somewhere where people could come and feel happy and safe and leave feeling amazing about themselves,” Jones says. “I think we really nailed it on the head.”
Los Molinos Beer, a new community-focused microbrewery that opened in the Los Molinos Business District last April, has earned the Silver Ole for Best New Business.
Fourth-generation San Clemente resident Shawn Haven and friend Roman Krecu collaborated to open the brewery. The building has been in Haven’s family since the early ’60s.
“We have a unique location, unique building,” Haven says. “It’s in a different business district than the other breweries.”
The sense of community that Los Molinos Beer has successfully cultivated sets the brewery apart from its competition, Krecu says.
“Our focus, the intention of opening this, was to create that sense of community and bring people together and create the best possible beer that we can, as well as food,” Krecu says.
Echoing his business partner, Haven agrees that “there’s nothing like it in town.”
For Jones and her salon, opening the Downtown San Clemente location allowed her to design the space “from the ground up.”
“I’m really happy and proud of the space. It’s a really clean, serene environment, modern, but really blends well with that whole kind of Ole Hansen style,” Jones says, adding: “Overall, the environment is very San Clemente. We have a lot of people coming in for lived-in color; they want a lot of low-maintenance blonding. They want to feel like they spent a weekend in the sun, (that) their hair is sun-kissed.”
What sets Kate Lane apart from its competition is the collaborative team environment and talented staff, Jones boasts.
“We’re the newest salon in the area, we’re very modern, we have a lot of talented team members,” Jones says. “What’s really unique is we are a hybrid salon, which means we have a combination of employees and booth-renters.”
Being a hybrid salon “makes it feel like a team environment, rather than everyone working so independently,” Jones says. “You’ll find us collaborating a lot, working together. It’s kind of like an artist collective here.”
Jones explains that most of the stylists go back and forth between the Aliso Viejo and San Clemente locations.
The salon is also a Green Circle Salon, meaning 95% of the beauty waste is recycled and repurposed, according to Jones.
“Everything from hair to oils to excess colors are all recycled and repurposed, which is nice, because our industry has the most waste, like they’re the top three in the world as far as waste goes,” Jones says.
All the brands that Kate Lane Salons use are also committed to clean beauty, she says.
Kate Lane Salon’s mission is to ensure that guests feel heard and leave feeling confident.
“Part of our core values is listening to our guests and finding out what they really need and doing long consultations with them, so they get the best service possible,” Jones says. “And then we create these relationships with our clients that I think are unlike anything that I’ve seen before.”
“They become our friends, our family and part of our little community within these walls,” Jones adds.
Jones says she hopes that each customer leaves their appointment feeling amazing about themselves.
“I want them to feel happy leaving,” Jones says. “I want them to be feeling good inside and out.”
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