The barbers on 66th were a funny bunch, once you walk into the joint you smell the aroma of cheap cologne, it is a smell that whenever you smell it , you are right back in that old barber shop. My Barber's name was Zelda, man you can't find a name like that anymore, that is fo sho. Zelda was a beautiful woman, she stands about 5'9" and has long black hair. She always had standard issue uniform on. The barber apron with hair all over it. Back in the day , the barbers would not clean after every haircut, they would just cut hair all day, you would climb over the mounds of hair at the base of the chair and the barber would have hair all over, but you know what? Not one person ever even thought twice about it. The barber of course would clean up the hair, at the end of the day, that was a sign of a good days work. Zelda was a great lady, she is the type who can hang with the fellas and hold her own, the other barbers (old farts as we know them today) would talk dirty and she did not even flinch, she would just fire right back and them and tell them how they needed help in a certain area, or they walked so slow cause their balls were at their knees. Zelda was the best at her job, she was great with the little boys the dads would bring in. I mean for a little kid the barber is a big deal, getting in that chair, and hearing that friggin buzzsaw coming at your head. The first thing you do as a kid once you get into the chair is start balling, for reasons no one really understands. But once Zelda got you in her chair she would sternly say,"Shud up!" Immediately you would shut up. There you would sit making that after cry noise, like you can't catch your breath, uh uh, mmmmm, uh uhh mmmm. You know the sound, cause we have all done it.

There of course were the other barbers, namely the one who was kind of a cranky old fort. The one is this shop was Gino. Gino is an old Italian guy from the old school. Gino is the type who thinks kids should be seen not heard, and every time one of those little turds would start crying, he would cringe. Sometimes he would just grunt. He would never say anything to the kid but he sure would eyeball you, especially if you were a crybaby. That all by itself made me want to cry, and I did. So there I sat in the chair Zelda telling me to Shud up, and the old fort eyeballing me. Quite the experience for a little guy, but you know what, it is one of the fondest memories I have.

So when my dad was alive he would take me to the barber, and Zelda would cut my hair. Over the years I came to love Zelda since she was that sort of strong woman that every man really acts like he hates, but secretly totally respects her. Zelda would let me climb into the chair and once I was finished balling, she would put that cape around my neck, and tell me I was superman, I sort of believed it , but a black cape, no way! Once the cape was on, Zelda would crack out the buzz saw. The buzz saw was a rusty old set of shears, those suckers sounded horrible , and I don't think she ever sharpened them. Zelda would commence to the hair cutting session, trimming and shaving, until I had the perfect bowl cut. For those of you who don't know what a bowl cut is , your head looks like someone put a bowl on your head and then cut whatever was not under the bowl. Our neighbor Leon actually used a bowl and cut his son's hair like that. Good cheap haircut, but in today's standards would not fly, or maybe it would who knows? ANY way, Zelda was a master at the cut, she was done in no time, back then I thought she was some Zen Mistress of hair, cause she could cut may hair in like two minutes. What I did not realize was the cuts in those days were basically trimmers and zap , you were done. Not much to them. When I first started going to the barber shop with my dad, I had to get the board across the barber chair so I could be high enough for Zelda to reach my head. As I grew older I eventually got to be rid of than thing, it was good cause those splinters were a be ach after the cut.

Zelda would finish up my hair, and the reward for all this, was some 2 cent sour apple gum, my dad would get me like two or three pieces, and I would cram them all into my mouth. So for the rest of the day there I would be with the gum in my mouth, chewing, every once and awhile some spit would drip out of my mouth, I would just wipe it up and push it back into my mouth. To this day , if I ever get the chance I buy that same brand of gum and sit there in the living room like a kid with a gum filled mouth , chewing and smiling, if anyone would ever see me , they would think I was insane, after all I am 43 now, but hey gotta live it up, and let me tell you that is clean livin!

One of the saddest days of my life is when my dad died and of course I still had to get my haircut, so my mom took me. You know I love my mom, but it was just not the same, those Saturday's with my dad were the sheet man, as a little kid I would actually look forward to the trips to the barber, with my dad, and I eventually stopped balling, when I was about 43! It really is embarrassing for my current stylist! Once my mom started taking me, it changed the whole experience, because she would fuss about, and the haircut had to be just so. I could tell Zelda would get a little annoyed too. For a minute I would think she was gonna tell my mom to "Shud up!", but she never did. For the first few times my mom and I would go to the barber on a Saturday, and in those days anytime you went somewhere you would have to get all dressed up. So there was my mom with her big hair, nice dress, and giant big black pleather purse, full of so much crap I thought it had a portal to China or something. I still think since she had the cure for world hunger in that thing.She would dig around and find just about anything. I remember thinking she should go on "Let's Make A Deal" where they would ask for a paper clip, or something odd, I was sure she had it in that black bag. Her other stash spot was her bra, I mean how embarrassing was that for her to dig out the tip from her bra? Yikes at 10 that was mortifying. Can you imagine what a kid would do today if that were to happen. They would report her to the authorities.

Cool thing was my mom still bought me that apple gum, and all in the world was right. Wouldn't it be cool if that were the key to all of the world's issues? Maybe we should send some apple gum to the middle east?

One time my mom took me to the shop , and Zelda was on vacation, well guess what, that cranky old fort was there, we started to leave, but that crusty old dude said hey I will cut the boy's hair. You know I am not sure but I think that day that old shit got back at my for all those days of crying , cause he gave me one of the worst cuts I have ever had. My hair looked like someone cut it with a flowbie ( you are gonna have to Google that, it would take way too long to explain). We left and my hair looked like crap, and that day even the apple gum did not make me feel good about my haircut! Old fort, he is probably smoking a turd in hell for that now, I am sure! Either he was evil , or the worlds worst barber, I think it was a little of both


Zelda eventually moved to another barber shop, and we went for awhile but it was just to far, and stopped going. We lost touch with Zelda soon after that. Right about then the quick shops came online, like Supercuts etc, and the barber shop was only a memory for me.

Today I am recreating that memory with my images, enjoy. (Just a quick note, I haven't shot these yet, but will have some soon, so you have to check back to see them)

Update: I found a really cool old barber shop that the owner of a strip mall put together, it is vintage 40’s or 50’s styled. So I plan on contacting the owner to set a shoot!