I stopped into the Kingscourt Barbershop in the Plymouth Road Mall to get a haircut recently, and found out they are closing January 8. Bob (Burton) is an old man, but he said he’d keep going if business were better. The closure of Pfizer and the high number of vacancies in the Mall have decimated his walk-in clientele. I discovered Kingscourt (then Kingsmen) in 2002 when I worked in that area of town, and have kept going there even though I no longer work (or live) nearby. Bob is a real character. Stop by for a haircut or just to shoot the shit, as Bob would say.
Plymouth Road
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In calling to confirm, Bob told me he’d been cutting hair for 62 years – he’s 83. Asked how many haircuts that amounts to, he said it’d be about 20/day, five days a week. So back-of-the-napkin math comes to 310,000. Also, Jan. 8 is a Sunday, so the actual last day will be Jan. 7.
Didn’t they used to be the M-Den on North University years ago? Moved when they built that place at the corner of North U and Thayer with the cuss words patterned into the bricks.
Ahhh, yes, the Michigan National Bank building — now Panera Bread. Our orientation leader (Summer of 1981!) made sure he pointed that 3-letter word out to my group during one of our walks around campus.
Sorry to hear about Bob’s business. I went to Arcade Barbers for years. Leon and Russ. Then it got turned into to some hairstyling salon by the woman that bought it from Russ.
A sad day!
Bob has been cutting my hair since I was 13 (now 52)
I started with him at his shop when it was in the little shopping center where Wendys on Plymouth is now. Always a good story to be had there.
Now what am I going to do!!!!
Re: “Our orientation leader (Summer of 1981!) made sure he pointed that 3-letter word out to my group during one of our walks around campus.”
A bit more background on that here: [link]
I would hardly say that Tiff turned Arcade Barbers into a “hairstyling salon”. Everybody going there gets regular haircuts.
I’m a bit flummoxed by the 3 letter word reference in the bricks. I’m not seeing it!
Letting my memory work for a while, I recall most kids weren’t allowed to go to the barber on that corner until they were at least 11 or 12. This was because they were notorious for providing high-brow reading material like Playboy and Swank. That may have had some influence on the attitudes of the bricklayers too, though there was often skimpy clothing and nudity happening on the Diag back then.
Personally, I didn’t go there, I went to Thompson & Struble in the basement of the Bell Tower Hotel. They used hot towels and straight razors and Bay Rum like a time trip to the 1890s, and they were damned good barbers too.
If I recall, the three letters begin and end with “T,” add your own vowel.
Aha! Now it’s obvious! Thanks for the hint!