I was location scouting with Belgian documentary film maker Luc Vrydaghs. His new project documents barbershops as a cultural center globally. Detroit is on his list. As is South Africa, and Greenland. Funding comes from the Belgium government support of the arts.
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We visited Whitlow’s Barber Lounge, the oldest single owned shop in Detroit at 8034 Wildemere, since 1963. That’s 51 years in business.
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Mr. Whitlow is dressed in a crisp white overcoat with an embroidered personal name. A professional. He is your barber, dentist, doctor, and pharmacist.
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He greets us graciously offering a gift of a rubbery key chain in the shape of a Detroit Lions helmet. He is a loyal season ticket holder. The inscription reads: “51 years in the same location.”
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Mr. Witlow began his career as a barber apprentice to Raymond Parks, husband of Rosa Parks. Two of Mr. Parks barber hand tools are mounted on the mirror backing his chair.
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Whitlow’s Barber Lounge is a real lounge…a resting place where customers are more like an old friend . Each customer is a repetition of history thru second, third generation of heads and souls.