I was born and grew up in Rome, but I have lived in several other places over the years. I lived for about three years in Augusta, Ga. Then I lived for a year and a half at Lake Tahoe. I lived in Atlanta for about six years when I was in graduate school. I lived for about 12 years in Huntsville, Al. During all that time I have gotten my hair cut only one time at a shop other than the Forrest Barber Shop on Broad Street in Rome. I either waited until I got home to get a haircut, or I just didn’t get a haircut.
The shop is located to the right of the main entrance to what used to be the Forrest Hotel, named after Nathan Bedford Forrest, a well-known general who fought for the slave owners in the American Civil War. Here’s a shot I took on the day I got my most recent haircut.
The Forrest Hotel opened in 1915. Although it no longer operates as a hotel, the hotel’s barber shop is still going strong.
Here’s a photo of a photo of the interior that hangs on the wall in the shop.
I don’t know when this picture was taken, but it was probably in the 1950’s. The two barbers closest to the photographer cut my hair when I was a kid.
Here’s the shop today.
A few things have changed over the years. There are only two barbers, and they’re both women. The chairs are different, but they operate in basically the same fashion. Someone decided to put up wood paneling over the original walls. One thing hasn’t changed: The Forrest Barber Shop gives haircuts. They don’t do hair styling.
I love seeing this barbershop. How incredibly cool it is that you’ve gotten your haircut here your whole lifetime (except for that ONE TIME!). My maternal grandfather was a barber. He had a shop in Newark, NJ. He opened it in the 1920s right after he and my grandmother came to this country from Germany.
I went to get my haircut the other day. I walked into a salon and asked if they take “drop-ins.” They didn’t. They offered me an appointment for the next day. I asked if they would just cut my hair. No wash, shampoo, or conditioner. They said, “NO.” And not only that, they said they would have to wash, condition, cut and STYLE it. I said. “NO WAY.” It’s a hard thing in a new town finding a sane person to cut my hair! You are so lucky to have a reliable place after all these year.
Robin — That one time at another shop was when I was barely old enough to get a haircut. All I remember is that my father took me and my brother to get a haircut and, apparently on a whim, we went to the Greystone shop, which was next to the Greystone Hotel, the other multi-story hotel in downtown. I get haircuts very infrequently, maybe twice a year, but the barber always remembers what I want.