f o x f o t o

tommy’s barber shop

First Edition

Tyler School of Art- Media Output Center

Temple University

Philadelphia, PA 19122

Copyright © 2012 foxfoto

A special thank you to Mr. Tom and all the barbers for letting me be a part of your extraordinary history.

walks of life

contents

mr.tom

the shop

the barbers

the people

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tom w. mearionMR.TOMM

r.Tom is originally from Georgia and came to Philadelpia in 1952. He opened his business in 1957 and has been in this neighborhood for over fifty years.

He first started cutting hair when a lady let him cut her son’s hair. Mearion was not a barber at the time, but was curious enough to try. The time came around again when that same boy needed another haircut, Mearion did it again for a second time.

“That is how I got started,” Mearion says with a simple smile.

A man with a passion and a heart that strives to be proud. A man that cares about what he does. Who is deeply grateful for where he has been and for the people that have been with him every step of the way.

A tiny shop maybe, but behind the golden handle and paint chipped door stands a sublime history. Three barber chairs mark the many people that have walked in and out that door. The same three chairs that mark the hard work that shape every new day at the shop. Three chairs that serve as working stations for six different barbers and two coinciding shifts.

The essence of Mr. Tom, as he is known for, has easily become a timeless narrative for North Philadelphia. His warm heart has truly touched everyone who has walked into Tommy’s Barber Shop.

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. . .

I’ve had one customer coming here for two years. His name is Michael Jackson. He’s a weekly person. I don’t know how or why

he started coming here, but he did, and I’ve been cutting his hair ever since. Same time and same day of the week.

-Mr.Tom

STATE BOARD OF BARBER EXAMINERS

This is to certify that Tom Wesley Mearion has been granted this certificate of registration as Barber in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in accordance with the provisions of Act of General Assembly approved June 19, 1931, as amended.

the shop1347 W Susquehanna Avenue

We believe in service. My motto is: We give service instead of satisfaction. We are courteous with our customers and we try to give them the best service we can. We allow our work to be our advertisement, that is one of the reasons we’ve been here for so long. We have some of the same customers that we brought here in 1960. They are the same people that we gave service to over fifty years ago. They always come back to see us.

the FUTUREI’m eighty-three, going on eighty-four years old, so I don’t know. I can’t visualize the future that well because you just never know. We’ve been here. We’ve seen all the changes; changes that go on in the neighborhood and uptown. A lot of things went on in the neighborhood and now they’re gone. God bless us. We are still here and busy.

the SUCSESSIt all depends on how you define success. We’ve been busy. We aren’t in the back, we’re in the front. Our greatest advertisement is our work and I think we’ve been very fortunate to be busy for the last fifty-two years in this business. I thank God for that. We are satisfied. As far as being successful, I don’t know what that means. We have had success in reference to keeping people coming to us and I’ve been successful by having the young men around me that I do. I try to get them to believe in some of the things I believe in and I’m quite sure they appreciate that. Plus the fact that they try to take care of the business the same way I would because I’m not always here. After nine thirty in the morning, I’m gone, and I leave it up to them to represent me.

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r.Tom

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A dedication to the shop.

Colored pencil sketch by Gary Fox, 2012

You have displayed concerns for others, perservered during difficult times and extended a helping hand unselfishly to others in need.

the barbersI

have a good relationship with my barbers. We have fun. They are artists. I classify them as artistic men and very good barbers. They are honest, and I could appreciate that. God has blessed me to the extent that I can have young men taking care of the shop when I leave, and I don’t have to worry about anything.

I haven’t had that many barbers because when the barbers come here they like to stay. I have plenty of barbers that come in from outside, but we don’t have the space for them. At the present time I have six barbers, we work in shifts from seven in the morning until three in the afternoon and from three in the afternoon until close. It works out fine for us.

All the barbers here, they’ve stayed with me for a long time. Two barbers stayed thirty-two years and one stayed twenty-six years, and most of the other barbers here have been with me for the past twenty years. We’re open seven days a week. I open the shop Wednesday through Saturday at three o’clock in the morning and stay until around nine.

The two barbers that worked for me for twenty-six and thirty-two years, they died three weeks apart and from then on I decided to open the shop at a time that I was most comfortable with. I started opening the shop at five in the morning and it started to get really busy, so then I started opening at four and it got busy then too. I moved in down to three and have been opening at that time for about eighteen years now. I enjoy the hours, it’s quiet. My barbers start coming in around seven thirty in the morning and that is when most of our customers come.

Words by Mr.Tom

“The atmosphere of a barber shop is probably one of the things that made me want to be a barber.”-Wayne Bailey

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wayneB

eing a barber is like a match made in heaven for me. I just pray that I can have a shop for fifty years. I first started cutting hair when I was about fifteen. My brother needed his haircut, but we couldn’t afford to get him one and I knew my neighbors had a set of clippers. One day I grabbed the clippers, without asking, and cut my brother’s hair and it turned out pretty good. I wound up using

those clippers for a competition in barber school and actually came in first place, which was real decent, real cool. My brother didn’t have the best haircut the first time, but when I got to that competition it was on and I let my class know who was in charge.

I can recall one time when I cut my father’s hair and he said he wanted it just like my brothers. Well, his grade of hair was different and it actually didn’t turn out too good. He was a little upset with me, but that was the chance you took.

Before barber school I actually left and went into the military and with joining the Army I was cutting guys’ hair in the barracks. I actually got in trouble for that because guys were ending up with fades rather than regular haircuts.

I’ve been working at Mr.Tom’s for about three years, which has been a good experience. You get to see lots and lots of different peoples from all natures of life. It’s a fifty year business, I use to get my haircut here when I was a kid.

A passion, a hope, and a dream. All rolled into one, but without one the other doesn’t exist. A man willing to exceed his match with equanimity, a barber willing to create. A master mind with clippers and humble strokes.

. . .

Being a barber is like a match made in heaven for me. I just pray that I can have a shop for fifty years.

johnsonP

eople from all walks of life come in and out of here.

Johnson is the Master Barber at the shop and has been there since about 1990. He is also running for state representative of North Philadelphia

A Master Barber has to earn 1250 hours credit hours (in Pennsylvania), and take and pass the State Board exam. An individual would typically attend Barber College for nine months (full time) or two years (part time) to obtain a Master Barbers license.

Determined to make a mark on the surrounding area. A desire to see a change and an ability to challenge what is around. Sifting through papers between his shifts, a man with an inspiration and drive to seek the tangible future.

A man of few words, but a sharp response. First chair in the left corner, an artist’s pallet, a day of work. Some days a little slower than others, but the constant notion of flow pushes the clocks hands with ease. Warm sun dancing on the shop floor, a quiet light for a loud environment. One day at a time. One day to match the beat of the forever promising walks of life.

. . .

I have a good relationship with my barbers. We have fun. They are artists.

-Mr.Tom

seanS

ean has been working at Tommy’s Barber Shop for about ten years and works the evening shift.

“For me, I love the social interaction, dealing with people. I always know what’s going on.”

It is all about learning from others. The sweeping vibes of a laugh make the end of the day a blessing. Taking what we know and testing others. Sharing with people who are different from us and sharing with people who we thought were different from us.

At the end of any day words and expressions become a constant flow of inspiration. To walk into the same place for ten years reinforces an undeniable passion. A work that deliquesces into an art form. A reason to be better than the day before, a reason to always show up.

Never thinking about what is or what could have been, but always moving forward trusting the day with a respectable reason to believe in the latitudes of change.

. . .

gilG

il has been working at the shop since he was nineteen years old. Its been about thirty years.

The communication with the customers. Family…most of the people that come in are like family. The people that walk in and out, it’s what we have.

“Nothing has really changed,” Gil says with an honest face.

Over a respectable amount of time we begin to grow from the trimmings of our surroundings. We begin to take what we can from others, to laugh with them, and slowly discover why the life we live is ours. Our eyes begin to filter what we see, passing unintentional judgements. At least one new face everyday, over time, becomes an encyclopedia of expressions. A family is not necessarily a blood relation. It is who we trust with our hearts and who we trust with ourselves. A collection of faces allows us to weed out the most familiar, the ones that help us to personalize our journey.

A man with a gentle heart and years of dedication. A person who is willing to open up to who is sent his way. A man with a great story in no rush to tell.

As life begins to give us what it will, we begin to take it with the time we have. It then becomes our way of knowledge and a way to decide what trimmings we seek to be essential. To say nothing has changed can be textured by the entity of nostalgia. Nothing has changed because a family sticks together, grows, and falls into time simultaneously through hard times, laughs, and memories.

. . .

the peopleA

familiar dimension of faces, a settled community. People who have grown to understand one another, to shake a hand with meaning and poise. To amplify old times and embrace new ones with the rising sun. The people within a timeless business have served as more than just customers. They become friends, loved ones, and a part of this perpetual history.

A charismatic rhythm. The turning of the handle, an externalized greeting, and a harmonized buzzing of clippers. Music bouncing off the walls, connecting every corner. Lyrics mastered in unison as if a cue was given. Stories about the day, stories about other stories, all embodied by the story of life. With the people comes the noises. The noises that personalize the shop and all that is revealed upon taking the first step inside.

Same faces year after year, but new ones always welcomed. A way to escape from the day. A way to talk and be listened to. Inside jokes intertwined upon new conversations. The words of that day become tomorrow’s memories. Laughs preserved with the potential to always come back and make someone elses day.

Making a mark on someone’s life succumbs to making a mark on the world. To give service to, to give advice to, to give a sense of hope to, a generational warmth.

Together the people create a cultured realm of certainty. A place to be yourself. The qualities that resemble a home away from home. A place where the walks of life sit down under one roof, and take an abiding break.

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the people

12th and Susquehanna Avenue

Mr.Tom is a great man, a father figure, a historian. His shop is legendary, definitely legendary.

Fifty-two years old on August 5th, 2012

It may be little, it may be small, but millionaires have walked in and out that door and the poorest of poor people walked in and out that door. In the end, they all came in for one thing and that is satisfaction, we sell satisfaction.

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tommy’s barber shop

1972 Ph

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by Ja

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f o x f o t o

tommy’s barber shop