Vandergrift's Dave Dawson keeping the 'last stronghold of American barbershops'

Editor’s note: This is part of an occasional series that features Alle-Kiski Valley residents and the notable things they do.

Dave Dawson knows that the hair-cutting business is not what it once was. The world is more fast-paced — customers like to call ahead, make appointments, get in and out quickly.

But at Dawson’s Barbershop on McKinley Avenue in Vandergrift, almost nothing has changed since the 1930s.

There is no phone, no appointments.

The walls are decorated with sports memorabilia and photos of customers, customers’ children and grandchildren. Residents walk in at their convenience and stay for hours gossiping and getting the day’s “scoop.” Dawson greets them by their first names.

“I never wanted to change anything that wasn’t broken,” Dawson said.

Dawson, 64, calls his establishment the “last stronghold of American barbershops.”

The business was started by his father-in-law, Placido Guerrera, nearly 100 years ago. He had come to the U.S. from Sicily, Dawson said, and had operated a barbershop in Philadelphia before moving to Vandergrift and starting one there. Dawson said his father-in-law was still cutting hair a few days a week well into his 90s.

Dawson, meanwhile, had grown up in Vandergrift. After attending college in Arizona, earning a degree in early childhood education, he got married and decided to join the family business.

“I felt bad to see this successful business go to the wayside,” Dawson said, recalling Vandergrift’s business casualties throughout the years — the shoemaker down the street, the tailor around the corner. Dawson wanted to keep the barbershop going.

He worked with Guerrera for many years before taking the shop over himself. At this point, he has been in the shop for more than 40 years, and Dawson hasn’t changed a thing.

Dawson prides himself on his ability to “sling it” with anyone who walks into the building, and he knows that aside from grooming, he is selling camaraderie. He likes to have common ground with everyone that sits in the barber chair, he said. They “yap” about fishing, hunting and sports, among other things.

Pete Williamson, 77, came into Dawson’s Barbershop last week not for a haircut, but to sit down with the newspaper and chat about his grandson’s wrestling match. Williamson said he’s been visiting the shop for more than 10 years. It’s where he goes to learn about what is going on in the town.

“You come here and you get the news from all around,” Williamson said. “I come here more to socialize.”

Because he’s been in operation for so long, Dawson’s interactions with customers are different from newer shop-owners’.

He once traded a haircut for a chicken. Just last week, he said, he gave a haircut in exchange for a customer sharpening his chainsaw blades. People bring him wine and cards around Christmastime, and when someone has a question about the town, they come to him.

“I’ve met the most wonderful people,” Dawson said. “It’s overwhelming that people would think that much of me.”

Dawson knows that when he eventually retires, his shop will likely close. His children are grown and don’t seem to have an interest in taking it over. Most of his customers are also retirees, and he doesn’t see the old-fashioned nature of the shop remaining profitable in a changing town with a declining population.

But he is OK with that. He said he’ll close down and go fly-fishing.

“I’ve fulfilled my obligations,” Dawson said. “I’ve put my heart and soul into it; I’ve done everything for this business and my customers; and I’m very thankful for every person who came into this business.”