Barbers recall shops' storied past & changes today

[theprofessional]

http://www.tribune-democrat.com/cnhi/tribunedemocrat/homepage/local_story_344233752.html?keyword=leadpicturestor y  The buzz of hair clippers isn’t heard much anymore. Customers who once crowded the tiny barber shop for a shave and a haircut are all but gone. But you still can find Ted Beiter snipping away in East Conemaugh. He has been clipping the hair of five generations of customers at his barbershop at the corner of Grove and Locust streets.Beiter, 74, of Vinco is only the second owner and took over the shop, which first opened in 1898, from Charles Riblet in 1949.He remembers when he became his own boss at 17 after walking away from the family farm.“A state inspector came in one day and said, ‘Where’s the proprietor?’ ” Beiter recalled. “I said, ‘You’re looking at him.’ He was surprised. He said, ‘I don’t want the buttons popping off your shirt, but you’re the youngest proprietor in the state of Pennsylvania.’ That made me feel pretty good.”Statistics show the number of barbers is on the decline. And the age of barbers has been steadily advancing since 1995, when the average age was 56. Yet Beiter is not alone. “Somewhere in almost every town in America, there’s an old barber who has been there for years and is the pillar of the community,” said Charles Kirkpatrick, executive officer of the National Barber Boards of America, a Little Rock, Ark.-based association. “That type of person is getting harder to find.”During the 1950s, there were 340,000 barbers working in the U.S., according to Kirkpatrick’s estimates. By the late 1980s, the number dwindled to about 190,000 as barbers were steadily replaced by beauty salons and hair stylists. Today, with the nation at war, demand for barbers has increased the number to about 235,000, he said.Beiter, an Army veteran, attended barber school in Richland Township and was an apprentice for three years in Geistown and Prospect before venturing out on his own.He maintains a happy spirit and dignified humor when talking about his customers. Beiter recalled one client, Charlie, who was a regular before passing away about 10 years ago. “Charlie was 100 years old, and I would cut his hair every few weeks,” Beiter said. “He walked in one day and I said, ‘Hi, Charlie.’ And he said, ‘My name’s not Charlie.’“I thought he was just getting senile,” Beiter said. “A few minutes later, in walks Charlie and he says, ‘That’s my twin brother over there.’ I couldn’t believe it. They were 100-year-old twins.” Beiter says he makes house calls for elderly customers who are under the weather, and he makes hospital visits when needed. Beiter said he doesn’t plan to quit anytime soon.Although he has cut his hours to three days a week, he’ll gladly cut hair for $9 and give shaves for $6.“I’ve had a wonderful life,” he said. “My wife keeps asking me when I’m going to retire. I tell her, ‘When I get old.’ ”In Boswell, an image of a barber pole is painted on the window of Bruno’s Barber Shop. Inside, black-and-white photos cover the walls, a muted reminder of when Boswell was in its glory and area coals mines were the heart of the bustling community. Bruno Policicchio, 86, still cuts hair much as he has since the 1940s. Except for three years in the Army during World War II, his barbering has been uninterrupted.“I remember when I started cutting hair in Johnstown, haircuts were 35 cents,” said the widower and father of three. “We used to have three barbershops in Boswell. “I think barbering is dying. You don’t find young guys who want to pick it up anymore.”