Worcester Barbershop Seeks 'Motley' Street Name Change

WORCESTER, MA — First: Zachery Leighton isn't a huge fan of the band Mötley Crüe.

"I don't not like the band, but I'm not jamming out to them all the time," he says.

In May — near the crest of the coronavirus wave — Leighton opened his barbershop, Motley Crew Barber Company, along Shrewsbury Street. But his business plans predated the pandemic. Early in 2020, he petitioned the Worcester City Council to change the name of the street next to his shop to Motley Crew Way, figuring it would be easier for his customers to find than the existing Oleum Court.

"I just thought it would be super cool say my barber shop is on Motley Crew Way," he said Wednesday.

To reiterate, this is not about 80s heavy metal fandom. Leighton, 28, came up with the name two years ago after his grandfather died. For a memorial, his family took a trip to Cape Cod, which included a stop at the Whydah Pirate Museum. While browsing, he kept seeing the phrase "motley crew" used to describe the pirates, and it sounded to him a bit like the crowd you see in a barber shop.

"When I'm in a barber shop, that's what I see," he said. "All my clients are different colors and races, they come from all over the place and different backgrounds. The barbers themselves, it's the same thing."

He officially opened his doors at the end of May when Massachusetts began to reopen as coronavirus subsided. Business has been good ever since, and he's now open six days a week for a range of barber services.

Leighton submitted his petition for the street name change in January. It came up for a vote at the Tuesday City Council meeting, although he was unaware it was going to be on the agenda. However, At-Large Councilor Morris Bergman asked for the vote to be postponed until the city can find out if the street name has any historical significance.

There are few clues about where Oleum Court may have got its name.

There's only one actual property on the street: 5 Oleum Court, which is a lot that where Leighton's customers park. Two large properties sit on either side of Oleum along Shrewsbury Street. The lot at 224 Shrewsbury St. was the site of Speedy’s Drive-In, but it's been used for parking since a fire at the business in 1967.

The building at 218 Shrewsbury St., which is Motley Crew's mailing address, is home to multiple businesses. It was purchased from Arthur and Maureen Croteau in 2018 by a commercial real estate company based in Clinton, according to property records. The Croteaus could not immediately be reached for comment about what the site was used for in the past.

Leighton, who is from Worcester and has been cutting hair here for five years, sees the name change as a positive for the city. First, no one on Oleum Court will actually have to change their address, and also because the name is emblematic of Worcester.

"That's what Worcester is as a city, it's like a melting pot," he said.