Thursday, August 21, 2008

Victor Hugo Cut My Hair


Longtime readers know of my affinity for barber shops. With all the preparation for my move I scarcely had time for a haircut before I left New York, so I found myself in need of a barber here in DC. I did a google search which yielded some results in the North West district. One was on my way down to the post office which I also had to visit, so I decided to check it out. It was in the downtown area and clearly the kind of shop frequented by white collar office workers on their lunch hours, with a large photo of January 20, 1989 on the wall commemorating the inauguration day of George I along side a magazine stand stocked with Car & Driver, Playboy and Hustler.

All three barbers were over 50, two were white and one was Latino. One white guy I never heard speak, but the other had what sounded like an Eastern European accent. The barber who worked on me was the Latino sporting a thick black pompadour, a Tony Orlando mustache and had the unlikely name of Victor Hugo. I noticed this from the stack of business cards he kept on his counter. Old Victor did a nice job including a shave with hot foam and a straight razor on my neck. When it was over I picked his business card and asked "Is this you? Victor Hugo?" He said yes to which I could not resist adding "I'm a big fan of your writing." He smiled a painful smile, nodded his head and rolled his eyes a bit and simply said "Thank you, sir." I immediately regretted my unoriginal quip adding "I'm sure you hear that all the time."

Anyway, I don't think I'll be back to that particular shop--the cut cost me $27! In New York I only pay $15. For $30 I can go to one of the salons off Dupont Circle and at least be with "my peeps" as they say. I guess I have some time to figure it out.

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1 Comments:

At 11:25 PM, Blogger libhom said...

I escaped DC a few years ago. I hope you like it better than I did. I liked it for my first few years, but I got sick of it after a while.

 

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