My last Saturday assignment at the Midland Daily News was a pretty touching one. Much like the two owners of the barber shop who were parting ways and entering a time of transition, I too will be joining that life of transition after my last day working in Midland on Friday. Saturday, I'll hit the road leaving Michigan as a place where I feel I grew so much as a photographer because of Ryan Wood and will be headed to Concord, New Hampshire for yet another adventure.
Joe Jachens, left, jokes with Larry DuFort Saturday evening after his haircut. Jachens was the final customer of Ted's Barber Shop, which opened its doors in 1958.
When Steve Perry, 48, was younger, his father cut his hair in the same chair at Ted's Barber Shop where he sat Saturday afternoon getting a cut by Larry DuFort. Perry stopped by on the shop's final day of business to get one last cut.
Gary Johnson, left, waits for his haircut on Saturday afternoon a few hours before Ted's Barber Shop closed its doors for good after being open since 1958. Like many patrons who have frequented the barber shop for years, Johnson first began getting a haircut at the Ted's when he was 8 years old.
Larry DuFort has been a barber at Ted's Barbershop with Joe Smith since 1968. After the building's ownership changed, the barber shop had to vacate the building. Saturday, Joe Smith entered retirement following the last day of cutting hair and DuFort will move across town to a barber shop where Smith first began in 1954.
Joe Smith said he used the same shirt for much of his career as a barber, which began in 1954. In 1958, he became a barber at Ted's Barber Shop on E. Ashman Street where he retired on Saturday. His last haircut in Ted's Barber Shop was on three-year patron, Bao Nguyen. Although Smith was planning on retiring soon, a change in owners of the building brought it earlier than planned, as Ted's Barber Shop is having to close its doors after being open since 1958. There was talk in the barber shop that the building's future use may be for Yoga.
At the end of his last day of work as a barber, Joe Smith's shoes are covered in client's hair. Smith had been a barber since 1954 and moved to Ted's Barber Shop in 1958.
Joe Smith stands at his station Saturday evening after Brian Nichols and Gordon Willford, both of Dave's Barber Shop, carry out his chair, which Dave's Barber Shop purchased following the final day of Ted's Barber Shop. With twenty minutes left in his shift, Smith joked that he had to retire early and co-worker Larry DuFort cut the hair of the last two patrons who came minutes later.
Joe Smith flips a sign in the window at Ted's Barber Shop for his last time on Saturday evening after the shop closed at 5:30 p.m. A barber since 1954 and working at Ted's since 1958, Smith decided to retire after the building changed ownership and the barber shop had to leave to make way for a new business. "Be like a kid again," Smith said about retirement and the freedoms he sees. "Like a prisoner on parole," he joked. After about 52 years at Ted's, Smith said the biggest thing he'll miss is, "The camaraderie of shop customers and relationships."
Joe Smith, left, locks the door to Ted's Barber Shop after he and co-worker, Larry DuFort, right, finished their final day working together at the barber shop. The two have been working together at Ted's since 1968 when DuFort first began. Smith started in 1958, the year the shop opened.
