Thursday, September 23, 2004
Ernie Ciarniello has been barbering for 44 years. He has had the privilege of "taking a little off the sides" for the sons, the papas and the grandpas.
"I probably have customers who've been with me since the beginning," said Ciarniello, who will pass Ernie's barbershop on to his son Ernie the first of the year, just a few months short of his 45th haircutting anniversary.
"When you're in a neighborhood shop, it goes that way. I have people who were sitting in the booster chair, and I'm cutting their grandkid's hair now! Of course, I was in my 20s when I started; a lot of customers have passed on," he said.
Ciarniello is 70, with fashionable glasses and steel-gray hair, so wavy and thick on top it's hard to believe it's his own. He has had the shop in Struthers Plaza since 1969, when he first ventured out on his own.
Before that, he cut hair at Lincoln Knolls Plaza, right out of barber school. He worked for John Geletka, then joined Peter Colla at Colla's Barbershop on Midlothian.
It was a job he liked, and Ciarniello said he had hopes of buying Colla's shop when the barber retired. As the time neared, however, it became clear that Colla's son planned to take over the business and follow in his father's footsteps.
He made move to getout on his own
It was time for Ciarniello to make a move -- out on his own.
"I was nervous, not knowing what to expect," he said. At that time, he was a father of three. "But I knew I had to do something."
Ciarniello bought an established shop in Struthers Plaza and "changed very little, just some tinkering here and there."
"It took me a good five years to get it going," he recalled. He wasn't helped by the times, which paired the words fashion and hippy for the first time.
"That was the time that long hair came into fashion," he said. "I had customers coming in once or twice a year! A lot of barbers closed and quit."
It got so dire, Ciarniello said, that he took a course in dog grooming! Fortunately, the decade brought new fashions, and Ciarniello was able to stick to cutting human hair -- not quite going back to the flattops and DA's, but barbering nonetheless.
As hair got shorter, things got better. "The number of beauty shops increased, too, but I had taken hairstyling courses, so I did all right," he said.
Today's haircuts bring some customers in weekly.
"The best part, along with making a living, is that I love people. They make you feel good when they come back, like Scott here," Ciarniello said pointing to a young man with short hair and a stylish, close-cut beard, sitting in his barber chair. "It's not like a stranger relationship. I don't want to say it's like family, but you know their names."
Finding it toughto walk away
This, coupled with mere time in service -- nearly a half century -- makes walking away hard. Said Ciarniello, "I'll miss it. You can't do something 45 years and not miss it. But I'll be a standby, with my tools and license still here."
"You have to retire sooner or later," Ciarniello said, explaining why he has decided now is the time. He said two of his friends died before getting to enjoy their retirements. "I don't want to die behind the chair. And my son will take over."
"He's been with me a year, meeting the customers. And my nephew will have been here nine months. That makes it easier. I don't want people to say, 'I have to go down the street,'" he said, then added, "Besides, [my son's] better than me."
In addition to the occasional haircut, Ciarniello plans to spend time with his wife. "Mary and I like to travel," Ciarniello said. "We have a daughter in North Carolina, and we like the warm weather -- the South and Arizona. My wife and I are square dancers. A lot of people go south to dance."
Before then, however, the new owner of Ernie's Barbershop has plans to throw a retirement party for dad some time before the big day. And though Ciarniello "doesn't like that sort of stuff," he said he's glad to have one last chance to say good bye to the sons, fathers and grandfathers whose hair he's been cutting all these years.
murphy@vindy.com