 Logan
County is far away from any great bodies of
water, but we have our own "Logan County
Clipper" of a different sort: Loren Holmes.
Loren, who has owned and barbered at his
barbershop at 116 S. Chicago for 52 years,
deserves the nickname, if anyone does.
Loren became a barber at the shop along
with Don Southern on April 17, 1957.
Southern passed away a few years back, but
Loren has kept the customers coming in and
out even while he ran the shop by himself.
But now after a half-century of looking
at friends' heads, he feels it has been long
enough, and he will retire as a barber this
Christmas Eve.
When asked how many haircuts he thinks he
has given in over a half-century, he laughed
and said he wouldn't even know where to
start to figure out that number.
He is a busy barber and says on a slower
day he probably cuts 20 heads of patrons'
hair. On a busy day he gives as many as 40
haircuts.
Taking the lesser number, allowing for
his partner cutting hair and multiplying by
52 years, there is the possibility that
Loren has clipped as many as 100,000
customers' hair if not more. With all due
respect to "Joltin'" Joe DiMaggio, it looks
like if anyone deserves the title of
"clipper," it is Loren Holmes.
The barbershop on Chicago Street still
has the look and feel of an old-time barber
shop from the '50s. An old clock, old signs
and a few old-time barber chairs give the
customers a comforting feeling like an old
hat or old pair of shoes when they visit for
their haircuts. The shop is as it was
decades ago, and so is Loren with his
generous smile and good humor.
On the day of our visit, several
customers who came in to be "clipped" were
asked how many years they had been coming to
Loren. They all said they weren't sure, but
it has been decades rather than years.
Holmes said he has many old customers
going back to the beginning. Sadly, many
have passed away. But he says in many cases
he has the sons and grandsons and a few
great-grandsons who patronize his business
to carry on the tradition of a family
getting their hair cut at 116 S. Chicago St.
When asked if this was the original
location of his shop or had he moved, he
said he once moved.
"The front of the store was getting
redone, and I had to move everything back
three feet," he said.
Besides patrons, the shop also boasts a
healthy number of visitors. Like an old-time
barber shop, the room is often filled with
banter and storytelling from the moment the
business opens until Loren locks the door
for the night.
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With his quick wit, he did say that
although the conversation at the barber shop
is still lively, "there are fewer stories
than there were years ago. Most of us can't
remember a lot of them anymore."
Holmes says the names of the people
talked about have changed over the years,
but the gist of the discussions "is pretty
much the same."
When asked what the biggest changes he
has seen in over a half-century were, Loren
named them off quickly. "The equipment has
changed over the years and so have the
hairstyles. In the old days a lot of men put
stuff on their hair. I probably used 20 tons
of Brylcreem over the years." Holmes said he
also used a lot of Rose Hair Oil in the
early days, but both are a thing of the
past.
"My customers now come in with nothing on
their hair, and that's the way they leave."
Loren recalls that when he began, a
haircut was a dollar, so that has changed,
but not by much compared with inflation.
Now, a haircut at his shop is $10.
Holmes doesn't feel any pangs of regret
over his decision. He says he and his wife,
Nancy, want to do some things while they
still have their health. He also admits he
will stop by from time to time to chat with
customers and to see how his replacement,
Toby Franz, is doing.
Franz, a 35-year-old Lincolnite, will be
taking over the business, and Franz has been
camped on a chair these past few weeks
trying to get to know the multitude of
customers Loren has and to assure them they
can continue to come to the Chicago Street
shop.
What Loren will remember of his decades
as a "clipper": "I will remember the fun. It
was a lot of fun."
Editor's note: A surprise until now,
Nancy wants to invite everyone to stop by
the shop this Christmas Eve, starting at 10
a.m., to wish Loren the best of luck in his
retirement.
[By
MIKE FAK]
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