Barber Packing Up Pole--Casualty of Progress

The sign hanging on the wall of Levi’s Barber Shop reads, “Condemned Area: Enter at Your Own Risk.”

Levi Velasquez put it up as a gag so long ago that the sign has yellowed and over the years his own hair has turned from black to silver.

But this week, the sign’s message is not so funny as it is a poignant reminder for Velasquez’s many customers, who have included downtown workers, firemen, policemen, attorneys and judges from nearby city and state office buildings.

On Friday, their cherished barber shop at 206 S. Hill St. will close after 32 years--another casualty of downtown renovation--and Velasquez will retire.

Almost all the other businesses in the building moved out at year’s end to make room for upgrading of the Astor Hotel, which is owned by Kawada Investment Co.

At first, Velasquez, 65, said he had remained until the last minute only because he could not find a place to store the accumulation of his life’s work--a barber pole, two green padded barber chairs, assorted shaving cups, clippers, brushes and photographs.

But then he added, “Well, I also hate to go.”

Plaster Falling

Workmen on the floor above were hammering so violently Wednesday that particles of plaster were falling, leaving the shop’s well-worn, black and white linoleum floor gritty.

Morris Verdini sat in the barber chair, as he has done at least once a month since World War II, snippets of his hair falling to the floor with the plaster as Levi trimmed away.

“They keep on pounding like that up there, Levi, and you are going to have another customer, a carpenter falling through the ceiling,” Verdini said.

The two men laughed with a camaraderie cemented by countless Saturday afternoons in the shop, when they talked endlessly about boxing matches, baseball games and, later, as they cruised a younger Los Angeles in Velasquez’s red Plymouth convertible to catch Harry James and Desi Arnaz over at the Avodon Ballroom at 9th and Spring streets.

Verdini, a retired dancer and nightclub owner, said he first met Velasquez when he got out of the Marines in 1946 and went for a haircut to Natick’s barbershop at 1st Street and Spring, one of the largest shops in the city, with six chairs. Velasquez, who was born in Colorado and moved to Los Angeles after serving in the Navy, had just graduated from barber college and was an apprentice at the shop.

He decided on barbering as a career after buying a $5 set of clippers and comb from a mail-order catalogue and cutting hair for his friends before going into the service. His brother is also a barber, and his sister and daughter are hair stylists.

“Sure, he can cut hair, but it is also because he is such an easy-going, friendly guy,” Verdini said, explaining why customers followed Velasquez to his first shop at 2nd and Broadway in 1950, and five years later to the present location. Verdini travels from North Hollywood to get his hair cut. Others come from as far away as Orange County and Long Beach.

Said Velasquez of his life’s work:

“It has given me a good living. I was able to put my three children through school and make a nice home for my wife and family. . . . Cutting hair is like doing a painting. I like to see how they come out. And when many customers recommend me to someone new, it gives me a good feeling.”

He estimates that he may have given nearly 1 million haircuts. The busiest day he ever had, he said, was back in the 1960s, when he did 75 haircuts and made $300.

“And . . . good ones too,” he said.

He has seen many hair styles come and go, he said, including the ducktail, crew cut and Ivy League styles. During the ‘60s, his three-chair business declined when hair became longer. He lost a few more customers to the fancy salons that cropped up in the ‘70s offering “blow-dried” styles and $50 price tags.

Wouldn’t Budge

But he refused to move his shop to the suburbs.

“They are lonely places where clients only come on weekends and night,” he said.

Verdini interjected: “Bob Hope said it best. Before you go to one of those places in Beverly Hills to get your hair cut you have to get a shave and a haircut first.

“Here it costs only $6, and you get a lot more than a hair style, you get Big Band music on his record player instead of rock and roll on the radio, and you get friendship.”

Most of Velasquez’s clients, including about 20 women, have remained loyal. While he talked, several passers-by on the street waved, and several came in for haircuts, including on attorney who paid him $20 for the $6 haircut.

Velasquez expects to be very busy Friday, his last day, as customers stop by for their last haircuts or a glass of champagne. Then he will ship his barber pole and chair to his sister, who plans to use it as part of her antique store decor.

“She’s going to make the seat red velvet,” Levi said, grimacing.

Off to Hawaii

Levi is going into the hospital for hernia surgery and then will spend a month in Hawaii, where his son is a contractor. After working six days a week for 35 years, he’s not so sure he’s going to like retirement.

As for Levi’s customers, many expressed dismay at the thought of starting over with a new barber after all these years.

Said Verdini: “I guess maybe I’ll let my hair grow long.”