by Al Drinkle
I sat down in the barber chair and Joe draped the gown around me. He’s an elderly but hale Italian man who’s been lowering ears at Elveden House Barber Shop since the early 1960s. Usually very talkative, Joe was uncharacteristically laconic on this particular occasion so I took the opportunity to ask a question that had been on my mind for several years:
“Say, Joe? How'd you end up in Calgary?”
It was as simple as that, and I didn't really say another word for the next hour as Joe's story unfolded. (My haircuts usually take less than 30 minutes, but Joe often stopped to gesticulate, ponder a date or silently reminisce).
Joe Astorino was born in 1935 in the southern Italian province of Calabria. His family didn’t suffer from abject poverty, but in general this was and is a relatively poor part of the country. Joe spent his childhood helping his father on the family farm, not entering the school system until he was 10 years old when the second World War ended. At age 13, making a living became a more important prospect than formal education and he left school to become a barber’s apprentice in a neighboring village, quickly outstripping his mentor’s talents. Fast forward to age 16, Joe had relocated to Milan, established his own barber shop and was running a bustling operation. He was precociously independent and very happy.
In the meantime, one of Joe's sisters emigrated to Canada with her husband and another sister soon followed. Shortly thereafter, their mother passed away in Calabria and as Joe's 20th birthday approached, so did his requisite 18-month service in the Italian military. This duty dictated that he reluctantly sell his business and he began what he describes as an uneventful tenure with the military. But he had a lot of time to reflect upon his station, and considering the loss of his mother and the relinquishing of his barber shop, he recognized that after his service he’d be forced into new beginnings that didn’t necessarily need to include Italy. Letters from his sisters increasingly compelled him to relocate to an unknown Canadian city called Calgary.
The paperwork requirements of emigration were begun on Joe’s behalf by his sister while he was still in the military. It’s not only a tedious process, but a protracted one as well and it wasn’t until autumn of 1960 when his request was granted. Joe spent that Christmas in Calabria with his father and on January 27th, 1961, set sail from Naples on a ship bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia.
The broad Atlantic didn't impede Joe from practicing his vocation. When his fellow passengers discovered that he was a barber, they convinced him to cut their hair so that they’d look their best for their sweethearts, genuine or speculative, in North America. The food was also very good on the ship, and Joe filled his pockets in order to forego the abhorrent provisions that he had been warned about on the train from Halifax to Montreal. He rested in Montreal for a few days to visit a friend (cutting his hair, of course); one with whom he would stay in touch for six decades until his friend’s passing last year. From there, Joe continued to cross the country by rail, finally arriving at the train station in Calgary early one morning in late February. He was 26 years old and he only spoke Italian.
Elveden House Barber Shop in 1962… Joe is the second barber from the left.
The next day Joe’s brother-in-law took him to an acquaintance’s barber shop on Stephen Avenue where he was hired on the spot and began working the next day - his third day in Calgary. He quickly became the most popular barber in the shop, and feeling that they were losing business to their own colleague, the other barbers dismissed Joe under the premise that the operation wasn't busy enough for three of them. But he had already developed a dedicated following and when he took over the second chair of a moribund barber shop directly across the street, the Hungarian owner couldn't believe the non-stop flood of Italians who were frequenting his establishment. He soon spread the word amongst Calgary's Hungarian community that there was a barber at his shop who could actually give a great haircut (Joe recalls that his boss was an exceedingly friendly man, but not a very good barber).
By the end of the year, Joe was looking around for other opportunities. At the time, Stephen Ave was lined with bars and hotels and the riff-raff, fighting and general disturbances were perpetual. He desired more peaceful working environs and near the end of 1961, he secured a job in a brand new building called the Elveden House which at the time of its construction was Calgary's tallest edifice. Joe and a partner acquired the business in 1969, and some decades later he bought his partner out upon the latter's retirement. Joe has since been joined by his son Vic and together they operate what is almost certainly Calgary's oldest existing barber shop.
I wanted to share Joe's story because it's so rare to meet somebody, in a professional capacity or otherwise, who is so effortlessly authentic and such an inextricable facet of the nexus to which they belong. I can't help thinking of the late Burgundy winegrower, Michel Lafarge, who was a Metrovino hero for many years before we lost him a few weeks ago at the age of 91. Such people are breathing memories and brimming with anecdotes of times that most of us never knew and never will, and they should be cherished. Perhaps the times they came from were more simple and innocent, and maybe pillars of tradition erected during these days are automatically more durable than the fleeting whims of the 21st Century.
Not to denigrate the profusion of “old-school” barber shops that have become so prevalent in Calgary and beyond, but there's a difference between nostalgia for the spirit of a time that one has never known, and an actual embodiment of that time continuing to perpetuate itself, imbued with a beauty that only experience and tradition can engender. In our midst is an establishment that has been around for six decades, operated by a man who has been practicing his trade for 72 years. The Elveden House Barber Shop is a model of resilience and should serve as a source of inspiration for any small, independent business... and Joe Astorino is the living, breathing, working epitome of somebody who derives satisfaction from their job.
