thedrifter
12-04-05, 07:20 AM
Late-night fades save Marines
By DANIEL MCNAMARA
The Daily News of Jacksonville
JACKSONVILLE, N.C. - The early bird might get the worm, but a few local night owls are making their nest eggs with late-night buzz cuts.
The decor may draw inspiration from 1950s pop culture, and the sign out front may read "Old Tyme Barber Shop," but most old "tymers" are tucked in bed when owner Brian Yates' clippers are just getting warmed up.
Sunday nights at Old Tyme, in Jacksonville, N.C., the vacuum-equipped hair clippers regularly stay plugged in until 2 a.m. and sometimes even later.
"We've stayed here till 4 o'clock as long as they're coming," Yates said while taking a break between serving up high-and-tights.
The "they" Yates refers to are an increasingly loyal flock of Marines who come to get their low regs, medium regs, high regs, regulation fades, flat tops, horseshoes and high-and-tights in time for Monday formation.
Whereas the military-civilian ratio during the rest of week is about 50-50, the Sunday night clientele - who shell out an additional $2 per cut after 8 p.m. - is about 95 percent Marine.
Yates, who also conducts late hours at the tail end of 72- and 96-hour leaves, says many of the late-night high-and-tight recipients are returning motorists funneled in from Interstates 40 and 95. The 33-year-old Jacksonville native has gotten customers from as far away as Virginia, New York, Georgia and Texas.
Cpl. Mike Ray, a rifleman stationed at Camp Lejeune, stopped to get a medium fade while on the way home from Clinton, 45 minutes away. But Ray said vacationing Marines aren't the only ones in need of last-minute trips to the barber's chair.
"You got a lot of procrastinators," Ray said.
And the penalty for showing up to formation with Army-like locks?
"You'd probably get your (butt) chewed," Ray said.
Lance Cpl. Jacob Harrington said everyone notices when your hair is long.
"If you don't get your hair cut, the people you're in charge of, they're going to laugh at you," he said.
Don Hobbs, one of two other barbers Yates enlisted to take care of the itinerant - and the procrastination-prone - summed it up.
"If we weren't open, their butt's in a clink," Hobbs said.
For the past four years, Hobbs, who works at his own shop in Wilmington, has made a weekly commute to Jacksonville to cash in on the surplus business. Hobbs said he wouldn't do it every day, but the Sunday shift more than pays for the cost of gas.
And though heavy nights of hair trimming have been known to give even the best barbers a case of the Mondays, Yates and his crew said they're willing to make the sacrifice for the men in uniform.
"It hurts," said Robert Zenz, who opens Old Tyme at 10 a.m. "You don't want to wake up and come back in."
Yates has been cutting hair until the wee hours for most of his 10 years of hair cutting.
Though Old Tyme is a recent acquisition of his - Yates purchased the store from another barber in July - the place is already attracting repeat customers.
Since the shop opened this summer, Harrington has been bringing his infant son, Eligah, to Old Tyme every Sunday night.
Tucked in his baby basket, Eligah is the only one who gets any sleep.
Ellie
By DANIEL MCNAMARA
The Daily News of Jacksonville
JACKSONVILLE, N.C. - The early bird might get the worm, but a few local night owls are making their nest eggs with late-night buzz cuts.
The decor may draw inspiration from 1950s pop culture, and the sign out front may read "Old Tyme Barber Shop," but most old "tymers" are tucked in bed when owner Brian Yates' clippers are just getting warmed up.
Sunday nights at Old Tyme, in Jacksonville, N.C., the vacuum-equipped hair clippers regularly stay plugged in until 2 a.m. and sometimes even later.
"We've stayed here till 4 o'clock as long as they're coming," Yates said while taking a break between serving up high-and-tights.
The "they" Yates refers to are an increasingly loyal flock of Marines who come to get their low regs, medium regs, high regs, regulation fades, flat tops, horseshoes and high-and-tights in time for Monday formation.
Whereas the military-civilian ratio during the rest of week is about 50-50, the Sunday night clientele - who shell out an additional $2 per cut after 8 p.m. - is about 95 percent Marine.
Yates, who also conducts late hours at the tail end of 72- and 96-hour leaves, says many of the late-night high-and-tight recipients are returning motorists funneled in from Interstates 40 and 95. The 33-year-old Jacksonville native has gotten customers from as far away as Virginia, New York, Georgia and Texas.
Cpl. Mike Ray, a rifleman stationed at Camp Lejeune, stopped to get a medium fade while on the way home from Clinton, 45 minutes away. But Ray said vacationing Marines aren't the only ones in need of last-minute trips to the barber's chair.
"You got a lot of procrastinators," Ray said.
And the penalty for showing up to formation with Army-like locks?
"You'd probably get your (butt) chewed," Ray said.
Lance Cpl. Jacob Harrington said everyone notices when your hair is long.
"If you don't get your hair cut, the people you're in charge of, they're going to laugh at you," he said.
Don Hobbs, one of two other barbers Yates enlisted to take care of the itinerant - and the procrastination-prone - summed it up.
"If we weren't open, their butt's in a clink," Hobbs said.
For the past four years, Hobbs, who works at his own shop in Wilmington, has made a weekly commute to Jacksonville to cash in on the surplus business. Hobbs said he wouldn't do it every day, but the Sunday shift more than pays for the cost of gas.
And though heavy nights of hair trimming have been known to give even the best barbers a case of the Mondays, Yates and his crew said they're willing to make the sacrifice for the men in uniform.
"It hurts," said Robert Zenz, who opens Old Tyme at 10 a.m. "You don't want to wake up and come back in."
Yates has been cutting hair until the wee hours for most of his 10 years of hair cutting.
Though Old Tyme is a recent acquisition of his - Yates purchased the store from another barber in July - the place is already attracting repeat customers.
Since the shop opened this summer, Harrington has been bringing his infant son, Eligah, to Old Tyme every Sunday night.
Tucked in his baby basket, Eligah is the only one who gets any sleep.
Ellie