Why we love the Village Barber Shop

Your Boulevardier had a tough day today. He hit his desk early in the morning, without bathing or shaving. (Such are the privileges of working at home.) Lunch was eaten at the desk. Such days can be fun and exciting, but they can also be exhausting.

Around 3:00 p.m. a window of time opened up. If exercise was to be gotten, this was the opportunity. So a jacket and walking shoes were pulled on, and course was set for The Boulevard. The bank and post office were visited, after which Your Boulevardier cut through Castro Village on his way to Redwood Road.

He found his barber, Terence "Limbo" Lim, sitting on a bench outside the Village Barber Shop. Cordial conversation ensued, and soon Limbo invited Your Boulevardier in for a free trim.

Now remember: the desk had been hit this morning before bathing. To say Your Boulevard was a bit unkept is an understatement. "C'mon in, buddy. I'm not doing anything anyway," Limbo insisted. The offer was accepted. Jokes were made by other barbers that Limbo would be fired for giving away free trims.

It was a perfect treat for an otherwise-tiring day. A major tip of the Beret goes to the Village Barbershop and to Limbo. Thank you!

Coupe de Grace

Your Boulevardier is an habitue of the Village Barber Shop, but he acknowledges that there are many other places in the City of Lite to get one's hair done. One, on Redwood Road near Trader Joe's, sports this charming hand-painted sign.



The stark blue-black-orange color scheme, while unusual, works well for the sign, in Your Boulevardier's opinion. And the images themselves have an endearing retro style; perhaps they are an homage to Roy Lichtenstein. The upper haircut might be a portrait of movie idol George Chakiris, while the lower image could be a subtle appeal to the Mad Men crowd.

The building itself is, if Your Boulevardier recalls correctly, the former office of a Castro Valley real estate agent named Jem Angus. He was Your Boulevardier's first employer, paying this garçon a half-cent each to hang his advertising flyers on Castro Valley doorknobs. Perhaps that is when the love of walking our neighborhoods was first cultivated.

Castro Village Remodel Goes Before MAC

Next Monday, April 27, the Castro Valley Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) will hear about the plans to remodel the Castro Village. Plans for the remodel can be viewed at the Village Barbershop.

This will not be the first time the center has undergone renovation, of course. A representative of Crosspoint, the company that manages the property, told the Castro Valley Forum last January that "There will be no major changes to the town-and-country theme of the village. It will still look and feel the same. Our goal is to build upon what we have to create this as the shopping destination in town."

Your Boulevardier is grateful to his friend Stephanie for loan of the vintage Castro Valley postcard. Readers can click on the photo for a better view.

AMENDMENT: Your Boulevardier belatedly realized that this was a fairly lame post. It contained no insight, observations, or opinions on the situation, just a report. Apologies.

When Crosspoint said it didn't plan to change the village's theme, Your Boulevardier was mighty relieved. The worst thing that could happen, he believes, would be to try to make the Village -- and the town of Castro Valley -- over into something it's not. While local incomes are generally high and public education is generally good, Castro Valley is, it must be said, not upscale. And Your Boulevardier believes that's for the better. Sure, it might be lovely to have an Apple Store or a Sephora in the Village, or a Whole Foods built back where the carwash lies -- the long-term plan for Castro Village calls for some sort of large retailer back there, absorbing some of the vacant properties in the area -- but it's also a delight to have such a collection of small, independent, locally owned, sometimes-funky operations in one place. Homogeneity stifles creativity, Your Boulevardier believes, and creativity is what's needed in an economy like we have today.

So, bring on the remodeled Castro Village! Though it's managed by Crosspoint (a San Francisco firm), the center is still owned by the Nahas family who built it 60 years ago. That's something worth celebrating and supporting.

And, to answer Wudas' question, the postcard has no copyright or other date. The newest cars in the photos are from the mid-1960s.

Under the Weather

The skies have cleared after weeks of rain, but Your Boulevardier remains under the weather. A rip-snortin' sore throat, stuffy head, ringing ears, and aching joints have been his burden for a few days now, and it has not been pleasant.

However, he dusted himself off today and walked to Castro Village to get his hair cut. The Village Barber Shop wasn't busy, and a seat with Limbo was procured immediately upon arrival. Eventually the place filled up, but Al (proprietor Al) did his best to share the wealth as he answered phones, checked the mail, and so on.

Eventually, as so many conversations do these days, talk turned to the economy. A fellow whom Your Boulevardier assumes to be a banker came in, and Al (bicyclist Al) asked him what he thought of the Bernie Madoff scandal. (Mr. Madoff had plead guilty to all counts earlier in the day.) An unpleasant but not unlikely scenario was suggested for how Mr. Madoff would spend his 150 years in prison. Then a suggestion was made: that Mr. Madoff should be executed during halftime at the Super Bowl.

Your Boulevardier was startled at the words, but did not speak up. It's not certain if the suggestion was made in jest, or was the true sentiment of a very angry person. But nonetheless, Your Boulevardier wishes he had found the words to say that a public execution would be beneath the dignity of the United States. For as difficult as the time we must go through in the future may be -- and it's believed by many, including Yours Truly, that the coming days, weeks, months, and perhaps years will be very difficult -- we cannot allow our society to be reduced to shows of violence. We cannot allow our baser instincts to take hold. We must punish wrongdoers, certainly, but we must not make doing so a public spectacle. We cannot become like the societies we look down upon -- those that glorify vengeance over justice, humiliation over punishment, emotion over reason.

Perhaps Your Boulevardier is overreacting to some barbershop trash talking. But he is embarrassed for himself that he did not speak up in this circumstance.

Ox Versus Crab

It may be the Year of the Ox, but in Castro Valley it's the Season of the Crab.

Three posters were spotted in the window of the Village Barbershop today for crab feeds put on by the Soroptimists, Transfiguration Church, and Redwood Christian Schools. And several others are slated over the next few weeks.

Your Boulevardier has only attended a couple of crab feeds. They were rather hard-core affairs, with long lines and sticky hands and lots of red wine and some diners bringing their own butter melting contraptions. Not Your Boulevardier's style of dining.

One wonders about the history of crab feeds as a fundraiser. (Some information about logistics can be found at the website for Pacific Seafood Group.) Any ideas?

Before and After

Today -- the so-called Black Friday (or Buy Nothing Day, in some circles) -- was a workday for Your Boulevardier. However, he took a post-labor saunter into downtown to run an errand. One would be hard-pressed to describe Castro Valley as "bustling," but folks were out and about on foot and seemed to be of good cheer, generally. Traffic flowed freely. Holiday decorations are up in some shop windows -- a special tip of the beret goes to Deja Blue Salon, whose window looks particularly sparkly and charming after dark. Restaurants had a few patrons as early as 5:30 p.m. Haircutters in the Village Barber Shop sat in their own chairs, looking bored. The reincarnation of Daughtrey's, in the process of closing, was almost empty. The Beneficial Finance storefront by Safeway was closed for good.

By contrast, Your Boulevardier had done almost the same walk at almost the same time on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving. As he crossed 580 on the pedestrian overpass, the eastbound lanes were jammed solid as far as could be seen in both directions. Restaurants in Castro Village were absolutely empty, but parking lots throughout town were jammed -- particularly those at the grocery stores, logically enough. The Village Barber Shop was in full swing, with all chairs in operation and all waiting seats taken. Peet's was a veritable mob scene.

It's no great stretch to draw some conclusions from these observations. Perhaps spurred by dropping gas prices, many people were driving out of town for Thanksgiving. Others were meeting friends for coffee after work, and yet others were getting their grooming in order before seeing their extended families. Folks were buying groceries, but were not dining out; perhaps, given the meal that awaited on Thursday, it seemed appropriate to stay home and have a light salad for dinner. The contracting national economy was starting to touch businesses here in town.

As the evenings grow chillier and the days continue to shorten -- and as the economy continues to cool -- it will be interesting to see how our town reacts and copes.

Short Cuts

Your Boulevardier paid a visit to the Village Barbershop this morning for a trim. It was a good morning to do so; many youngsters were there, getting their pre-Easter haircuts. We must look good for the grandparents!

Upon arrival, Your Boulevardier found two of the three working chairs occupied by clients on booster seats -- brothers, it turns out -- one of whom received a certificate from Al Proietti acknowledging his first official haircut. The cuttee admired a picture book about the Pixar movie Cars as his mother asked the preternaturally patient Al to take a little more off the bangs. The older brother, a blonder chap a few chairs away, carefully scrutinized his new haircut and declared it "good." Both boys received lollipops for their exceptional behavior and were treated to a dance by an electronic rabbit singing "I Feel Good."

Later, when Your Boulevardier was under the scissors of the indefatigable Limbo, another rookie arrived, accompanied by his father and a younger sister in a stroller. This young fellow also got to be Al P.'s patron, and got his trim as his proud father snapped photo after photo. All of the waiting patrons -- most of whom appeared to be six or eight decades past their own first haircuts -- observed the process with avuncular grins on their faces. Watching them was almost as much fun as watching the haircut itself. As this went on, the Other Al, the Bicycling Barber, arrived in his space-age outfit, rolling his Bianchi into the back of the shop.

After his haircut, Your Boulevardier and the Trusty BoulevarDog retired to Peet's to read and watch the comings and goings of Castro Valley's Caffeinated Citizenry. A blonde lady parked a bright yellow Smart Car immediately in front of the shop, and the vehicle was the talk of the town for a while; people peered in the windows and asked questions -- how much did it cost ($17K), how long did you have to wait for it (6 months), who makes it (Mercedes Benz). The weather may have been taking a turn for the cooler, but the hint of impending spring glowed in the generous, curious, friendly attitudes of the people of our town.