WHY NOT DO....A BARBERSHOP STORY?
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It was awhile back when one of the Clovis boys from
CHS '51 said to me---"Why don't you get all the boys
from those great days of the forties to write stories about
their favorite barber shops?"
I thought about it quite a bit and decided it was a good
idea. I began to think, in my own experience, growing up
in Clovis, of the shops I went to...and my favorite barbers.
So my story and theirs all follow and I hope you enjoy and
are carried back in your memory to early days in our home-
town....and maybe other memories will be rekindled....
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THE BARBER SHOPS I REMEMBER....
(1) JENKS' BARBERSHOP----
We took ownership of the Magic Steam Laundry in July, 1938.
It was located at 417 West Grand, south side of the street,
about a block-and-a-half west of O.K.Rubber Welders. We
lived in an old house behind the laundry for two years and
then moved to a brand new house at 1100 Reid...one with a
new-paint smell, and hardwood floors.
I was four-and-a-half and my first memory of ANY barbershop
was one Saturday night later that year when Dad took me
downtown to JENKS', right behind Fox Drug, on the alley, just
east of the post office. (There was also a dress shop next door,
then, or later.)
In 1938, many of the businesses and barbershops stayed
open until 9 p.m. Later it became 8 p.m.
In those days, my young eyes and ears missed very little...the
whole world was new to me and fascinating. Dad got his hair
cut in the back chair with the head-guy (you could tell) and he
called him Jenks. He was kind of short and partly bald-headed
(as strangely---were many barbers.)
I sat toward the front and had my hair cut by a real tall, nice-
looking man (that somehow I remember his name even today)---
Nolan Faulkner. He somehow made an impression....
(Now this story has an interesting twist---when my wife and I came
to Albuquerque in 1961, I found a barbershop in a little shopping
center near our house. A tall, young barber cut my hair. I noticed his
"shingle," hanging back on the mirror---"Gary Faulkner." I said: "Did
you ever know of a barber back in Clovis, about '38 or '39, who cut
hair in a little shop on the alley behind Fox Drug?"
"That was my dad," he said. Small world.
I've never met anyone who remembers JENKS' Barbershop.
(2) HOTEL CLOVIS BARBERSHOP---
I read in the hotel's history that in the early days (it was built in 1931),
there was a barber shop there. It stands to reason, as it was a stopping
place for travelers of all kinds, and mainly the railroaders. Even movie
stars and celebrities! A good place for a shop.
I was never in there to see it.
(3) WEST SEVENTH SHOP, near BRISTOW'S FOODS
Dad used to stop by Ms. Bristow's Food Store, between Hinkle and
Merriwether (?) and pick up an orange (with grease) block of chili
con carne from the meat market guy, "Duran." In musing on this
story I thought I remembered a barber pole, right next door to
Bristow's. Robert Stebbins said I was right. I never went there
for a cut.
(4) PETTY'S BARBERSHOP
For some reason or other, I got only one haircut in this popular
shop, just south of the City Hall on Mitchell. Part of the reason, I
think, is there were always a bunch of guys waiting.
(5) CARRINGTON'S ON MAIN
As I became a teen-ager I went to this shop, south of Duckworth Drug,
and next door to Sutter's Jewelry. Mr.Carrington was a very nice,
congenial man who often cut my hair....and he also had some good
barbers working for him.
Jim King, Wanda Snipes' (CHS '51) dad, who also farmed south of
town, was one of my favorites and we always talked and joked a bit.
Check this: Carrington's is the only shop I ever visited that had a carry-
over from olden times! Yes! big shiny gold SPITTOON! Good decor...
but I never saw anyone use it!
(6) COTTON GRANT'S SHOP
Carrington's closed at some point and some of the barbers opened a
shop just south of the Lyceum Theater....soon to be moved across to
the north side of the Lyceum.
My memory is that two really splendid, likable guys ran this shop for
several years---Cotton Grant and his brother, from Melrose area. This
was my shop all through college...if I were in Clovis for a visit.
Anything that happened close to the Lyceum or Barry Hardware was
always dear to my heart.
(7) JIM'S BARBERSHOP
This shop was located on W. Grand, south side of the street, behind
and across the alley several doors, from the Janeway Drug, and the
hotel behind Janeway.
This was a shop I went to during WWII, my La Casita days...and when
we owned the Magic Steam Laundry, a few blocks west
Haircuts then, were 50 cents---one magnificent, heavy, hefty, USA
Walking Liberty Half Dollar. (I mowed many lawns for one of those, in
summer 95 degree heat.) (Recently a yard man from Old Mexico
charged me $90 for an hour-and a-half of yard work.) It's true. But on
with my barber tale....
One day I asked Dad for 50 cents for a haircut at Jim's Shop. Went to
his shop, got my hair cut by one of the guys, and he said "Would you
like me to rub your hair with green Jeris tonic?" That sounded okay, so
I said: "Yeh, okay."
When we were thru I gave him Dad's Walking Liberty Half Dollar, and two
cents tax, and he said "Er, the tonic is also fifty cents." I had sixty cents
of "my own" saved up for a Marine Corsair model airplane kit and I gave
him fifty cents more.
I went back to the laundry and told Dad about it, and he got ticked off
and went down there and said "You guys pulled a sneaky on my little
boy...and you know what I've a good mind (as they said it in those days)
to do with that bottle of green Jeris...?"
Well, he came back with my Walking Liberty...and that's when we
changed to Carrington's!
(7) THE SHOPPING CENTER SHOP
After I married in 1957 and came back to Clovis for a visit, my old
home town was different. There was a whole new bunch of stores and
activity in a shopping center (!) north of 21 Street.
Guess what, needing a haircut in the worst way, I went into this shop and
was immediately carried back in time--happily so-- for there were my "boys"---
Cotton Grant and his brother right there behind their chairs....recognizing
me...and smiling once more...still plugging away...and making a living.
Whenever I could I scheduled my haircuts for Clovis.
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Some may wonder, what is this ado about barbershops? My friends, barber-
shops have been an important thing in the history of the USA, which by the
way, was once more rural than urban.
For decades during the early twentieth century and who knows how long
before, the farmers would work all week milking, feeding livestock, plowing,
planting, harvesting, and a hundred other tasks....they would "knock off"
work, Saturdays at noon, put on their best khakis, dress-up-shoes, watch
fobs, and Stetsons....and head for town and the barbershop for shaves,
haircuts...and always shines...and an afternoon of sitting around the small
town squares, on 1940 Chevy or Ford fenders, chewing, smoking, whittling,
and visiting....all afternoon....but it all started at the barbershops.
I have been there myself and seen it all...but to tell it---is a whole 'nother
story...for another time!
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BY MIL
2/16/16
Additional “barbershop” stories written by Clovis boys will be found on Mil’s Place.
There are stories by Levi Brake, Robert Stebbins, John Sieren, Art Snipes, Bob Snipes and
Vernoy Willis. Look for them!
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