North Haven: Right Place and Right Time for This Barber

Long-time North Haven barber Ron D’Amico, proprietor of Ron’s Barber Shop, has a milestone coming up in the near future—his 50th year in the business. Take a look around his shop and you’ll see mementos from his personal and professional life everywhere.

There’s his barber’s license hanging on the wall, alongside a black and white graduation photo of Ron with his fellow class of barbers. NASCAR and stockcar photos and memorabilia are also part of the decorations. Photo scrapbooks are within an arm’s reach, filled with newspaper articles and clippings in which the barber has been featured throughout the years. D’Amico has one corner of the shop filled with his favorite model trains. A heavy-duty, 1927 cash register and an old-time barber shop chair, which is at least 70 years old, complete the picture.

Tending to customers in his shop today, D’Amico is dressed smartly in a tan, short-sleeved barber shirt. His full head of hair must be the envy of his contemporaries as well as some of his customers. Even his neat, closely trimmed salt-and-pepper beard gives him a dapper appearance. In looking back through the years, D’Amico said it seems as if he’s always had a knack for “being in the right place at the right time.”

The future was bright, back in 1962, when a young and fresh-faced D’Amico was a graduate of Vaughn’s United Barber School System. At that time, barber shops were the exclusive territory of men and their hair. There were no unisex salons. And the hair styles? Conservative cuts for men were still the fashion with a “short on the sides, and take just a little off the top please.” Crewcuts also had their fans. Most hairstyles were topped off with “product” such as Wildroot Tonic or Brylcreem or Vitalis.  

Barbering was a sensible profession and D’Amico jumped in as an apprentice for Maurice “Moe” Giamo, who owned two shops. Moe would later sell the Linsley street shop to Eddie Stempak, who in turn, would eventually sell it to D’Amico in 1968. 

In hindsight, D’Amico now calls the move to buy the business “risky.”  By then, D’Amico was married. He and wife Judy had a two-year-old daughter, Kathy, to think about. Taking on a barbershop just as the culture and hairstyles were changing dramatically was intimidating to say the least. 

The following years were tough on barbers everywhere. “The long hair years… whew!”  D’Amico exclaims. He did get through it, and managed to build a good business for his growing family, which by then included his son Tim.

Fast-forward to 2011, and D’Amico is semi-retired. He is a long-standing member of the New Haven Camera Club, and likes to combine his interest in stock car racing with his love of photography. He also makes time for golf each week and is a big fan of model trains.

D’Amico’s hobbies have allowed him to connect with many of his customers in a way that evolved into friendships. Stewart “Stew” Fritts is one of those customers. He shares an interest in model trains with D’Amico. Fritts, now retired, has been a customer since the early 1970s. He admits that when D’Amico was on vacation once, a long time ago, he did try another barber. That barber used hairspray, something D’Amico did not use. Fritts said the barber used so much hairspray that when Fritts went to pat the top of his head, his hands bounced off the hard shell. “It looked like hell,” said Fritts.

The customer demographic at Ron’s Barber Shop is generally older, 40 and up. Some patrons have been coming to D'Amico since they were children, bringing their own kids to the barber in time. Today’s customers pay more than they did in 1962; one dollar versus fourteen. Another change is the presence of a cordless clipper. As for the shampoo sink, D’Amico has not used it for a long time. And facial massages, first offered when D’Amico got out of school, are long gone.

D’Amico’s barber shop does have a loyal customer base. It’s just enough to keep him busy at a profession he loves, and not so much work as to keep him from enjoying his hobbies, friends and family. It looks as if D’Amico is in the right place at the right time after all.