By Luis Maimoni
Special to the Signal Tribune
Jack Smith has been a barber in Bixby Knolls since 1969. Today, at the tender age of 76, he is still cutting hair and enjoying life at his Bixby Knolls shop, “A” Barbershop.
There is something remarkably comfortable about an old-fashioned barber in an old-fashioned barbershop. Nothing fancy, nothing fussy–just go in, banter for a little while, get a haircut and leave.
“In the barbershop, your customers become your friends,” Smith said. “You hear about children, about deaths in the family.”
The conversations with customers, other barbers and the odd cast of walk-ins seem to texture the shop experience. But, Jack laments, times have changed.
“People used to come into the shop and chat, sit and play checkers and dominos,” Smith said. “Now people want appointments and [want] to get in and get out.”
Born in Kismet, Kansas, in 1931, Smith was raised on the prairies of the Midwest. He and his wife Peggy will celebrate their 54th wedding anniversary in October. They have two children, four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
As a young man, Smith followed the Midwestern wheat harvest and worked in restaurants as a fry cook. In 1949, he joined the Navy to learn to be a baker. The Navy, however, decided it needed a barber instead. When the USS Helena sailed out of the Port of Long Beach to become the first cruiser on the line in the Korean War, Smith was the man cutting hair.
After leaving the navy in 1953, Smith set up shop in Lakewood and did demos on weekends and evenings for the Oster Clipper Company. Throughout the 1950s, his business grew to include a partner, two locations and eight full-time and four part-time employees.
Although the 1960s turned out to be a great decade for social movements and music, it was not so great for barbers. One of Smith’s locations was closed, the partnership dissolved and many employees had to be let go.
Ever a survivor and always a hard worker, Smith kept his shop open by moonlighting, often working late nights as a janitor.
A member of what Tom Brokaw referred to as the Greatest Generation, Smith is unfailingly helpful and polite. When another barbershop in the area closed, Smith invited all the barbers working there to come to his shop.
In November of last year, Smith sold his shop to one of his employees who has since remodeled and even brought in a large flat-screen television.
The shop had to change hands at some point, and Smith has more than earned the right to enjoy the lighter workload. Even so, watching the transformation is a little sad; akin to watching the end of an era. Sooner or later, Smith will have to officially retire, but until then, he says, 80 is the new 65.
Jack Smith’s “A” Barbershop is located at 3520 Long Beach Boulevard in Bixby Knolls. For more information, call (562) 426-1049.
