A Little Off The Top

                             

CLARK’S BARBERSHOP (503) 358-7722 Ann Clark, Owner-Operator. 102 N. Maine St.Gresham

Once a month, Lou, Joy, and Bill travel to Gresham, Oregon, where each of them, one by one, is administered to by the Tonsorial Queen of downtown Gresham, Oregon, Ann Clark. Joy has been associated with clippings by Ann’s magic scissors for the past 20 years and only in the past six months has he shared the secret of Ann’s expertise with his fellow inmates from the Russellville Gulag.  She is a really good hair cutter.  You end up looking splendid and for $18 plus a fiver tip, you can’t beat it.  Plus you get the brows and the ears as part of the deal.

Ann’s one-chair shop used to face a regular street but some years ago her landlord needed her space for a neighboring business’s expansion, so Ann agreed to move to a small space with the only access to her shop being down a long alley where a small red, white, and blue turning barber pole is mounted on the alley wall next to the door to her shop. Kind of like Hernando’s Hideaway.  Ann’s clientele is all regular customers, so she does not need the walk-in trade from a busy sidewalk.

If you’re in a hurry, find a different cutter.  Ann likes to talk but she does not talk and cut at the same time.   Don’t complain because her talk is a big reason you go there.  It works fine for the Three Amigos because among them they don’t have enough hair to outfit a dying rat.  

Life in Russellville Park is not a continuing circus filled with hours of excitement, so the monthly trip to Gresham is always a pleasant exercise, even without a lollipop treat for not wiggling in the chair.