O. K. Barber Shop
- This article is about the downtown Birmingham barber shop. For the Ensley barber shop, see O. K. Barber Shop (Ensley). For the current Bessemer barber shop, see Red's OK Barber Shop.
The O. K. Barber Shop was a 2,700 square foot barber shop with 20 chairs located at 217 20th Street North. The O. K. Barber shop billed itself as the "third largest shop in the world" and employed "twenty skilled white barbers" as well as seven boot blacks. The shop was ventilated with powerful exhaust fans and offered six tub baths and three shower baths to customers.
It was opened around 1905 by G. C. Ashmore, Samuel Erckert formerly of Avondale, Arthur Birdwell and Tony Pickard. Erckert and Pickard were the sole owners by 1909, and also operated the Woodward Barber Shop in the Woodward Building two blocks south. In 1910 they were operating from the O. K. address as well as from the Morris Block at 1905 1st Avenue North and at the east end of the same block, at 1927 1st Avenue North.
In 1913 the O. K. Barber Shop was operated by Pickard and Henry Maloney. Pickard was listed as the sole owner in 1915. In 1917 he advertised "Buster Brown" pageboy haircuts modeled after the popular comic strip character, and offered a coupon for a 10-cent child's haircut on weekdays. The Barber's Union informed him that offering coupons violated his membership agreement, and he withdrew the offer.
References
- R. L. Polk & Co.'s Birmingham Directory 1905 (1905) Volume 20. Birmingham: R. L. Polk & Co.
- Birmingham City Directory (1910) Vol. 25. Birmingham: R. L. Polk & Co.
- Birmingham City Directory (1915) Vol. 30. Birmingham: R. L. Polk & Co.
- "To The Public" (December 2, 1914) The Birmingham News, p. 12