Edshugeo The GodMoor

Billy's has been open for just over forty years, now. Never got my haircut there. I always went to a spot closer to The Drive, where I live, that eventually became known as Jackson Unisex. I don't remember what it was called then, and I don't think it's still there now. I should know since I pass it every day, but I don't. I also on occasion got my hair cut by my father. Apparently, that was not always a good idea, but that's another story or two. Anyway, I've lived in Hempstead for just over thirty years, and the face in the window above has always represented an iconic vision of home, kinda. Some idiot vandalized the image earlier last year (I think it was), by spraying yellow paint over the eyes. The paint was actually on the window, and not the image itself, which seems to be on a cut-out board of some sort and not directly on the window. It was eventually cleaned up. Good thing. I'd always wanted to preserve this image, should the barbershop ever go away.

Friends who got their haircut there would tell stories of being coerced into attendeing church by Reverend Boone, who in addition to being a pastor, cut heads at Billy's and also owned (for a time) the apartment complex I still live in. The coercion was subtle and consisted of asking the question "comin' to church on Sunday?" (not an exact quote) in the middle of a haircut. Kids took their haircuts seriously, so the answer was always yes.

I'd gone down to the spot, because I thought it suitable for a cartoon. The cartoon requires snow, which we finally got yesterday, so I went down and took some pictures and managed to get one or two of the head in the window of Billy's Barber Shop.

Labels: Hempstead, nostalgia, These pictures will come back to haunt me one day