Pamplin Media Group - The old-time barbershops of Sellwood and Westmoreland

Saturday was usually the most popular day among men in the 1920s, not just because they were resting many days. Within a week, you will not find a gentleman gathering in a local barber shop, including weekends.

It's not that the men of a century ago were very particular about their appearance. Just in the barbershop on the corner, people gather to joke with each other, follow their favorite sports team, and hear the latest local gossip. And, like Portland and many other local communities across the country, Seywood and Westmoreland also offer many barber shops for you to choose from.

More than 20 haircutting shops can be found in the 13th Avenue strip and north of Westmoreland, so men can choose where to foam and shave, comb and brush, and even wax and curl their beards. stand up. . They come for friendship, they come because they like barbers, or they come because everyone there has the same political ideas.

Yes, sir, they gathered at Tony’s Barbershop at 17th in the Southeast, because that’s where all Republicans hang out-or they might want to be the first to be chairman at Bob's on Milwaukee Avenue The people, while other Democrats have not yet arrived and filled the joint upward.

In the early 1900s, until the "Roaring Twenties," thousands of people participated in the "Chautauquas" in Oak Park or Canemah Park near Oregon City to engage in political debates among local candidates. Political gatherings can be seen almost anywhere in the city. If that is not enough, gentlemen who hold the same view can visit their local barbershop. Here, you may complain about city officials, arguing about tax increases, or complain to the Sheriff of Saywood County, who did not stop roaming cows from trampling on residents’ gardens and knocking down fences.

The barbershop is a hotbed of political action. If you sit in a barbershop chair instead of the conservative Carl or Liberal Leon to comb your braids, then you may have a lop hairstyle. Or worse, you may suddenly get stabbed in the head-by accident of course.

Barbershops have been around for a long time and can be found in almost any town and country. In the earliest days, in small villages like Saywood, cutting hair and shaving face was a difficult task. Farmers, merchants, and artisans may be bored with this luxury and often experience months between shaving and haircutting. It wasn't until the 1890s that barbers began to appear on the muddy Umatilla Street. Sellwood is still a bunch of single houses lined up near the Willamette River waterfront and can still be reached by ferry, not far from the Sellland Bridge and six miles from the Portland River.

CA Williams was the first barber to arrive in Sellwood. He worked in a small shed built next to his house. A large window in the front provides Williams with an opportunity to check the situation on the street, as potential customers are slowly stumbling in a horse-drawn van or looking for things in town. It took a barber as cunning as Williams to persuade the men who had just passed by to stop for a much-needed groom, let alone take a shower.

In the slow time between customers, when the steamboat or ferry has not yet reached the Seawood Seafront, merchants along the street will gather outdoors to chat. Williams may start a conversation with any past teammates and ask about the grains sold in the market. Or, when he looks at the local grocery commercial outdoor display cabinet and makes a fuss, he will ask if there is an apple today.

After a small chat, he might suggest that it looks like he wants to cut his hair.

For a young man passing by on a horse, he might think of Sellwood's Saturday Night Dance approaching. Using Williams' barbershop to cut some rose water or special tonic hairstyles will definitely make him a dancing dandy. The barber must not only have good hair, but he must also convince the salesperson!

As the population grew around the beginning of the 20th century, barber shops became more and more common in business districts, especially along the tram on 13th Street. Shops such as "Roberts and Larson" or "Disbro and Pierce" provide barber shops to work in response to any busy customers.

The barber’s day usually lasts seven days a week, from the sun to sunset. Having two barbers, one can alleviate each other's rest time, lunch time, and even long lunch breaks, and the time they have to take the ferry to Hexi for personal business.

With the changing of times, the barbershop has also changed. Moreover, in order to attract high-end customers, the exterior walls of these stores are decorated with colorful awnings, candy-striped barber poles, or provide potential customers with spacious windows, allowing them to see the cleanliness they require for the barbershop when they pass by And luxury,.

Before long, men no longer enter the front door of the barber shop just for a quick shave and haircut (as mentioned earlier, they come to the wedding reception) to exchange stories, tell jokes or get the latest news. Talkative man with a speedboat in his hands.

If you lived south of Tacoma Street a century ago, you can choose between the "Roberts and Larson" barber shop or the "Barber Bill" in the next block. After entering any store, you will feel the pleasant aroma of witch hazel rum and shaving soap.

In William Moore in the north, there are barber chairs with fancy steel footstools and leather seats. Next door, on Grover Davis's wall, a long and useful leather strap hangs on a nail on the wall. Every time before shaving, the person sitting in the Grover chair with his face covered by a hot towel can hear the razor pulling back and forth on the belt, and then feel its cold steel scrape his neck.

Then, tram conductors and workers, merchants at Sellwood Bank on Umatilla Street, and local grocery stores and pharmacists may visit these barbershops. It would not be surprising if Charles Ballard, the editor of THE BEE at the time, sat in those barber chairs and collected the local flair of the next edition of the newspaper.

To the north of Tacoma Street, residents also have many barber shops for you to choose from, within walking distance. The barbershops on the street include Walter’s barbershop on Spokane Street, a few doors under Wiebe, Barneys near Miller Street, and Harry on Nehalem Avenue ·Harry Houghtling's shop. Customers include mill workers from the Eastside Lumber Mill, drivers and workers from Peerless Laundry, and many merchants and residents nearby.

People living in the southeast inland and commuting to work on the west side of the town will either choose the downtown barber shop or wait until the weekend to visit the existing barber shop in Seywood and Westmoreland once a week.

In the following two decades, barbershops came and went, and some changed hands. WF Stewart replaced Grover Davis, and Mick's barbershop took over Tony's barbershop.

The most mature male hair stylist is Sellwood Barbershop, located in Tenino and 13th, serving clients for more than 50 years. Sellwood Barbershop is called Trite's barbershop among locals. In 1911, when Edwin Trite and his wife settled in Sellwood, Edwin and Bert Wescott and Martin Larson ( Martin Larsen), and soon retained the barber chair in the Seywood hairstyling shop. Two years later, Edwin became the sole owner. For the next fifty years, he continued to cut hair for three generations of the family until his retirement in 1960.

Almost all barbershops along 13th Street were a simple one-person or two-person facility in the 1920s, but few can compare to the Seywood Barbershop. Seywood Barbershop is full of luxurious features, comparable to most large enterprises in the downtown business district of Portland. Jim Roberts, Bert Wescott, Martin Larsen and Ed Trite consist of four people, all dressed in black The starchy white coat of the tie brings the luxurious taste of the urban area to the customers who still live in the southeast rural areas.

Continuing our portrait of the trendy Sellwood barbershop, a large wooden framed mirror is placed lengthwise on the south wall, on a wainscot counter filled with shaving lotion, hair tonic and barber tools. Throughout the aisle, there are two sets of chairs for waiting customers, a calendar with a smiling girl hung on the wall, and posters depicting different hairstyles that customers can choose.

Ladies and gentlemen, more than that! Sellwood Berbershop also has a western-style spittoon near the foot of the former barber chair for customers. How elegant it is!

An open wooden shaving cupboard hangs on the wall of the store for visitors who come to shave once a week. Many barbers sell these products for 50 cents, while more sophisticated shaving cups are as high as $2.50. Shaving cups are usually decorated with flowers, sailboats, butterflies or birds, and most of them include the name of the owner who is hand-embossed in gold!

Fraternity groups, firefighters and several other service groups can order special cups to describe their profession. Later, the walls of Trite’s barbershop were filled with scenes of firefighters in action, signs of the Brotherhood or work-related scenes, such as scenes of wheelbarrow workers, carpenters or factory workers.

During the peak hours of many barbershops in town at that time, an assistant might be required to clean the tufts of hair that fell on the tiled floor, foam the surface, clean the sink, and wash off the shaving cups. , And then rinse off the comb and brush. The barber’s assistant performs many chores to ensure that the barber shop attracts new customers or permanent directors of the barber club.

Encouraged by the fashion and trends of "Harper's Bazaar", "Vogue" and "Red Book" magazines, the "Ladies of Watch" in the 1920s went to the local barber shop to cut and style their hair like the models on the covers of the latest magazines. Barber shops became temporarily dependent on female and male customers, until beauty salons began to appear next door or across the street. As early as 1928, women's hair salons (such as the Sara Jane beauty store near the Moreland Theater and the Aleta beauty salon in a unique antique structure) provided women with hair design options. In the 1920s, haircuts cost 25 cents, and many men came in to shave at the barbershop four to five times a week. The preparation for shaving is very time-consuming, and busy young boys are used as waiters. Each customer provides them with three to four hot towels through a heated towel sterilizer.

In the 1920s, television still had a long way to go, and no one could yet afford radio stations-the medium was just beginning to become popular. Therefore, entertainment is another reason to spend a Saturday afternoon at the barber shop in the corner! A smart host will tune the radio to sports broadcasting, perhaps baseball. The broadcast of the boxing match will definitely attract a large number of people to almost all local barbershops. Apart from the broadcasts provided by many barbershops, what better place to compare statistics, brag about your favorite team or share your professional sports knowledge?

Then there was the Great Depression, and then the Second World War. By the beginning of the Great Depression, few customers could afford the luxury of going to the barber shop every week, and the introduction of the disposable blade safety razor by Gillette marked the general demise of this habit of shaving . Customers can purchase a manual razor and a pair of razors at a local pharmacy and shave in the comfort of their own bathroom.

In the past two decades, radio has become popular and has become more and more important. It has become a part of every household and is no longer useful for attracting customers to barbershops-despite important sports events, especially broadcasts of world competitions. , Will still be done internally. Tony's barber shop is located on the corner of 17th Street and Spokane Street. It is a pocket-sized two-person surgery, very convenient for the Caesars shipyard workers who lived in this section of the town during the early to mid-war period. -The 1940s. Anton Rekart established a partnership with Tony in a small place, which was the dining area of ​​Bertie Lou's breakfast room in front of the world.

When Anton Rekart came to the United States from the Old World (especially Russia), he and his family settled in Saywood in 1914. Anton used his apprenticeship to learn haircutting techniques and later worked with Tony in his two-seat barber shop, but eventually John Rekart followed his father's footsteps into the barber academy and started Build your own customer retail business.

The Westmoreland business district did not begin construction until around 1910, but as soon as grocery stores, meat markets, pharmacies, and bakeries opened near "Milwaukee Avenue and Bibby Avenue", barber shops followed.

The metal sign of Dewey’s barbershop on Milwaukee Street was welcomed by customers. George Lindemann’s two-person shop on rural streets was also very popular. Now the “By the Bunch” flower shop is located There. Visiting the barber shop is part of growing up. Many people who lived in Westmoreland at that time may remember the first shave or haircut at the Westmoreland Barber in Milwaukee and Byby. Westmoreland resident Pat Ragnone later noticed while waiting for him to turn a corner in a Westmoreland store in 1980 that barbers usually knew more children than nearby sons.

In the 1970s and 1980s, television replaced the old radio in the barbershop and is now often turned on to show sports events. Of course, this is what the owner chooses to show during working hours. And it is not always sports! Locals Pat Ragnone and Marv Price agreed today that the TV set in the Westmoreland store is always set to be an ongoing religious show – once it’s time for them to sit in the barber chair, the haircut will include a free sermon.

Marv recalled a few times trying to start a conversation with the barber, asking him about current events-but when the barber finished cutting his hair, the conversation returned to today's religious topic.

The selection process does not seem to be an idea to build a business; but the barber shop does continue to have customers. When it's his turn to sit on the "baptist chair" and get a haircut, Pat Ragnone will ask if he has ever thought of switching the channel to another show. The barber shook his head, and the sad answer is usually: "Why, there is nothing worth seeing on any other channel." (Not that there were many other channels in the local area at the time.) To the Westmoreland Barbershop The visit is unforgettable for anyone.

With the changing of the times, the hairstyle has also changed. Of course, the barber must keep up with the latest style. From the "quarter watt", "military cut" and "commodore" worn by your grandparents, to the "Mohawk scissors" of the 1940s and 50s, flipping and flourishing, the barber has been constantly following To their customers' taste.

Between the 1920s and 1960s, the number of beauty salons began to surpass that of male barbershops. Eventually, fashionable unisex hair salons and national chain salons largely replaced local barbershops-corner barbershops. Now it has basically become a kind of disappearance.

The popular "Mop Top" hairstyle by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones dresses conservative barbers, and the long-haired hippie look of the late 1960s doomed the barber's barbering business. High school and college students who like long hair do not need to spend money on the barber's chair, which forces many old-fashioned barbers to close their doors forever.

Today, barber shops that cater to men's needs are making a comeback. The "Barbers" and "Bishop's Barbershop" in Sellwood (Sellwood) on southeast 13th Street have brought revolutionary haircuts to modern people, providing leather chairs, chrome counters, and personal Luxury items such as TVs and hand-held hair dryers. But for those who want to have a laid-back old-time barbershop feel, a visit to the LoLos Westmoreland barbershop next to the Moreland Theater on Milwaukee Avenue is indeed a must. The polished stainless steel barber chairs and rich red leather seats are reminiscent of the early barbershops that used to shuttle between Milwaukie and 13th Avenues, and they are still open 7 days a week like old-fashioned barbershops. The illuminated rotating red, white and blue barber pole in the window helps you find your way there.

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