They are definitely gentlemen clubs. Numerous barbershops are scattered around Bushwick, and together with bodegas they comprise the most typical Bushwick businesses. Bushwick barbershops are happy places indeed; you pass by, politely nod to greet the owner who just stepped out to smoke a cigarette, you walk in to be welcomed by the familiar buzzing sound of the grooming machines. The barbers are working, shaving, grooming, cutting, it all feels like a beehive or a factory. The customers are taken care of quickly and efficiently but everyone gets a dose of personal attention at the same time. “Next!” says young barber as a school kid gets up from a chair, his hair chopped short, and grabs his school backpack.
You can have a chat with a customer in line about his daughter who is just graduating FIT (he will show you her artwork on his phone), or with a barber at work who doesn’t like to be in photos but will agree to pose soon enough. Besides you can always get away with a quick candid shot. For me personally, photographing the barbershops is a bigger project that I intend to work on over a longer period of time and this is just the beginning. To start it off nicely, I invited our wonderful Bushwick Daily photographers, Peter Dressel and Thérèse Maher to send in their shots of Bushwick barbershops. Enjoy!
