Barber Shop

Lee the Shoeshine Man

 Looking at Facebook just now, as is common for me at 5 am, when a page with pictures of old Corpus Christi, Texas brought back memories of Schatzel Street and my PawPaw's barber shop. He leased a prime downtown spot during the sixties not far from the Nueces County Courthouse.  It was in a dignified fancy brick storefront, back when architects designed buildings with character and class.  I googled his name and Schatzel Street and discovered it was called Jimmie Adams Barber Shop.  My little sister and I were allowed to get on the city bus in front of Paw Paw and Granny's house on Gollihar,  by ourselves, and ride it downtown to the shop.  Robin had this adventure much more often than me as she was Paw Paw's favorite and I didn't much like doing it anyway.  I was too afraid to pull the string letting the bus driver know to stop and let me off and Paw Paw would fuss at me for looking at the girly magazines he left out so his all male customers would not get bored while they waited their turn. I was fascinated by those naked women and wondered if they were normal.  Lolly, the manicurist with her jet black bee hive hair do, huge eyelashes, blue eye-shadow and always a mini skirt told Paw Paw to leave me be as I needed to know about growing up-or something like that.  This did not go over well with my Paw Paw and was probably one of the many reasons I was not his favorite-always the little rebel.  Anyway, watching Paw Paw's employees was my greatest entertainment.  Girl talk with Lolly was fun but she stayed pretty busy perched on her stool in front buffing lawyers fingernails to a professional pink shine. There was a very thin, tall young barber, with perfectly slicked back hair-almost in a duck tail, that had the first chair. I thought he and Lolly made eyes at each other occasionally.  Paw Paw ran a pretty tight ship so I never witnessed much chitchat between them.  Turns out I was right because a few years later  Paw Paw grumbled about how that barber had borrowed money from him and never came back and neither did Lolly.  He felt this was no coincidence and they must have skipped town together.

Granny gave Lolly the benefit of the doubt and was concerned for the wife the young barber left behind.  I thought the whole story was quite exciting and pictured Lolly and Thin Man in matching trench coats and fedora hats traveling incognito to a new life in a big city far away.  Don't ask me why.  Just my little kid  mind and too much Dick Tracy and Brenda Star I guess.

A large mirror ran the length of the wall behind the three stations giving some depth to the narrow shop.  Opposite the high dollar adjustable barber chairs and towards the back of Jimmie Adams barber shop was the shoeshine stand attended by Lee the shoeshine man.  He had a fancy set up Paw Paw had bought from a hotel. When he was not busy he would shine my brown leather penny loafers and talk to me the entire time.  What a treat!  A few times I remember Lee stopping by Paw Paw and Granny's house after church.  He and his wife still in Sunday best as were we.  They were entertained outside on the covered cement patio which offered much more space than my grandparent's small living room. It all felt very friendly till one Sunday Paw Paw was showing off his prized roses to Lee so Granny wanted to make a bouquet of her beloved sweet peas for his wife.  Granny asked her to follow into the kitchen. I was puzzled when wife was leery about entering the house and asked Granny, "What will Jim say?" Granny waved her on saying it was okay.  So wife followed.  Next, things got really confusing. It seemed like Paw Paw appeared out of nowhere yelling and cursing and literally chased wife out of the house.  I will never forget that sight and trying to figure out what went so terribly wrong. Lee was apologizing and kind of bowing to his boss as he and wife retreated to their car and made a hasty escape.  Next my grandfather yelled at Granny asking what she was thinking letting that woman in the house.  Granny yelled back.
"Jim, you are going to hades for such behavior."  And she kind of trembled all over and did her Granny style mumble under her breath, shaking her head and clicking her tongue in a severe way I only witnessed a few times in my life. Granny was a good Christian thru and thru. It would be many years before Paw Paw felt God's hand on his life and experienced a total change of heart.

Well that's all I remember about that - oh and Mom trying to explain to us on the way home that Paw Paw grew up in a time where black people were not allowed in white people's houses. But not every one felt that way and Granny's family never did.  Neither did MeMaw (Dad's Mom), and now days most people did not worry about such things and we should pray for PawPaw.

 Good Grief!! What a ruckus.  I actually have this one picture of Lee with me and my sister, Cheryl part of the Tulane gang, my grandparents and Mom.
The building on Shatzel has survived the many changes of downtown Corpus with only minor face-lifts. The barber shop had a total of 3 owners thru the years. PawPaw was the middle one and he sold it when he was diagnosed with colon cancer that required multiple surgeries in the mid 1970's. He recovered and cut hair for several more years from home. I am not sure exactely when the last owner sold out. But once I drove by and it looked like a surf shop. The steps to the open upstairs area where PawPaw kept a cot to catch a nap on slow days were still there. I pictured his cot and remembered how the barber shop smelled of hair tonic, shaving cream, Vitalis and Old Spice with an uner tone of musty old building and leather shoes.
If those walls could talk!  kisses

Schatzel St  Paw Paw's barber shop what it looks like now