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Mesa man, 93, the oldest working barber in Arizona

Weldon B. Johnson
The Republic | azcentral.com
Joe Davis still has a steady hand and a ready quip for customers who come into his shop.
  • Joe Davis%2C 93%2C has been a licensed barber since 1940
  • Davis still cuts hair on Fridays and Saturdays
  • His Mesa shop has been around for more than 40 years

Emilio Yanez had it all figured out.

He had just started his career as a barber. His boss was 68. Yanez thought he'd work for a few years and, when his boss retired, he could buy him out and take over the shop.

That was 25 years ago. The boss, Joe Davis, is still in charge and working at 93.

With more than 70 years behind a chair, Davis is believed to be the oldest working barber in the state.

"His sons weren't interested in the business, so I thought if I just stuck with it for a few years, I could do it," said Yanez, now 66. "I never thought I'd be planning my retirement before his."

Davis has been a barber for longer than Yanez has been alive. After graduating from Mesa High School in 1940, Davis went to barber school in Los Angeles (there wasn't one in Arizona at the time) and has been cutting hair ever since.

Though Davis didn't have sons interested in becoming barbers, he has granddaughters who took up the trade. They work with him now.

His shop on University Drive near Horne Road has been a part of its Mesa neighborhood for 43 years. Although Davis now cuts hair on Fridays and Saturdays only, he still goes to the shop before it opens each morning to make sure things are ready for the day and to feed his beloved birds.

Kyle Sanders gets a haircut from Joe Davis, a 1940 graduate of Mesa High School whose shop is a fixture at University Drive and Horne.

He'll stop by a few times on the days he's not cutting hair to check in and chat with the other barbers and customers. He's always got a quick quip for the regulars.

When longtime customer Mel White visited the shop recently, Davis offered up this answer when White was asked what keeps him coming back.

"He got a good haircut here once," Davis said. "He keeps coming back hoping he'll get another one."

White said he never really thought of going anyplace else.

"I've been coming here since I was a kid," White said. "He used to cut my father's hair."

Davis became a barber after talking with an uncle who was in the trade.

"I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, but it seemed like he had a pretty good life," Davis said. "One day, I decided to go to barber school."

He attended the American Barber College in Los Angeles where tuition was $100 for the 1,000-hour course. The school would knock $10 off the cost if tuition was paid in advance, so Davis borrowed the money from his grandfather to take advantage of the deal.

93-year-old Joe Davis pauses while working in his shop Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2014 in Mesa, Ariz. . Long-time customers have been coming to Joe's Barbershop in Mesa for years.

After completing the course, he served the 18-month apprenticeship required at that time.

With his barber's license in hand, he returned to the Valley and took a job at a barber shop on College Avenue in Tempe, making $16 a week. He liked the job, he got to talk with a lot of students from nearby Arizona State Teachers College, but he got an offer from a shop in Wickenburg for $22.50 a week that he couldn't pass up.

Davis worked at a few other places around town, including a shop at the Westward Ho Hotel in downtown Phoenix and his uncle's shop.

He saw an opportunity to make money doing volume business when Williams Field opened during World War II.

"I found out they were only getting a quarter (per hair cut) out there, but they stayed busy all day," Davis said. "We were getting 35 cents in town, but we weren't that busy. I wanted to work out there."

Davis would go on to serve in the military as a barber during the war.

He purchased his first shop in 1948.

Davis runs a relaxed shop. Part of what he likes most about the business is talking to his customers and getting to know them.

"I get to listen to all these stories," Davis said.

"No, you like to tell stories," Yanez chimed in. "You have a captive audience here."

Davis said he likes the relaxed atmosphere. He worked in a shop once that was much more formal. He didn't stay there long.

"(The boss) was very stiff-necked," Davis said. "He said you address the customer and, unless he wants conversation, you don't say another word to him. This shop is a little different. The customer doesn't get a word in."

Yanez said he has appreciated working with Davis for 25 years. Yanez was a banker before becoming a barber. Working with Davis made the transition easy.

Yanez probably could have gone off on his own after it became clear that Davis wasn't planning to retire, but Yanez likes working at Joe's Barber Shop.

"Coming from the bank to a relaxed atmosphere like this, you could feel it," Yanez said. "I like it here. I make an easy living here. It's just funny to think that I'm going to celebrate my retirement before he does."

Davis isn't sure when he'll retire. He walks with a cane now after breaking his leg last year. He had an accident while feeding pigeons that flock around his shop.

But his hands are still steady and he can still give a good haircut. His plan is to work until he can't do it any longer.

He jokes — or maybe he is serious, it is hard to tell sometimes — that he has to keep going for another six years.

"My dad worked until he was 99," Davis said. "I want to at least make it that long. I'm waiting to get old."

Joe's Barber Shop

Where: 638 E. University Drive (near Horne Road), Mesa.

Hours: 8 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturdays.

Information:www.facebook.com/JoesBarber, 480-834-0904.