North Hills Flashback: Perrysville's Lesser-Known Scrupulous Character

There exist in all towns stories of scrupulous characters. Typically, we think of murderers, gangsters, and escaped convicts. Perrysville is no exception. Everyone knows the story of the Biddle Boys, the Dempsey murders, and the standoff on Valley Drive. However, the lesser-known people of notoriety often get lost in the shuffle, remembered only by the longtime residents, who pass stories of old along to their families and friends.

Today, we visit one of those lesser-known folks. He wasn’t someone on the run, nor did he murder his family or lover. Instead, he was a humble man of a noble trade--a barber. Long before the excellent Matt Cellante gave haircuts at Perrytowne Barber Shop, there was another haircutter within the business district.

His name seems to have become lost over the years, but the stories of his trade have not. You see, he was an excellent barber, but only under one condition: that he didn’t visit the tavern. He wasn’t too far from what most locals call the Perrytowne Tavern. To put things mildly, he liked his beer. In fact, he so loved beer that he often drank it on the job, stopping by to imbibe between haircuts.

Although he was indeed a talented barber, he clearly did not know his limits. He would occasionally become intoxicated, making him all the more interesting of a man during the haircuts. The biggest side effect: the haircuts became unpredictable.

Al Baret, my great grandfather’s cousin and a longtime Perrysville resident (also my neighbor growing up), was the victim of at least one drunk haircut. He highly recommended the barber to friends and family under one condition: that he is sober during the haircut.

I’m not sure if he was ever arrested for his intoxication, but everyone in town at the time seemed to know of this particular weakness of his. He was apparently as notorious as Otis, the town drunk on The Andy Griffith Show.

From what I understand, he was strictly a barber, having no business with cutting women’s hair. He was apparently around from the 1940s to the 1960s (and perhaps even a bit later than that). I know for a fact there was no barber shop in early 1988, which is the earliest time period from which I have cognizant memories. 

Matt told me there had not been one in a few decades until he opened his. At long last, anyone can come to Perrysville and get a top-notch haircut from a top-notch guy.

I am relying on you, my commenters, to fill me in on the name of our barber. I know for a fact he was near the current location of Perry Perk, but I’m not sure if that was his space or not. These are some of the things I wished I could have asked Bill Keyser, the longtime Perrysville resident and arguably the town’s mayor. Sadly, he passed away in June, leaving a void in the village elder department.

A final word of advice. If you choose to have an Iron City, never cut someone’s hair afterward. If you do, you may wind up in the “lesser known people of notoriety” category, right up there with our friend from the heart of historic Perrysville. They may forget your name over the decades, but they certainly won’t forget your actions.

NEXT TIME: Join me as we flash back to Northway Mall in the late 1980s. The presence of Ross Park Mall prompted an experiment on the upper level. It was by no means a success in spite of some catchy advertising along McKnight Road. What did mall management try and why did it fail? Find out in the next edition of North Hills Flashback!