My barber died and I'm sad.
Guy Maniscalco was 84-ish and had cut my hair for 21 years. He'd been a barber since 1962. Guy was East Coast Italian, old-school and charmingly profane. His favorite joke: "I'm gonna give you an 'orgasm haircut.' Girls are gonna see you walking down the street and have an orgasm."
Over the years I heard most of his life story. He left an abusive father and family very young, headed west as soon as he could, and in the 1970s opened a big (16 chair?) barbershop in San Carlos, south of San Francisco, where, to hear him tell it, he became the unofficial team barber for both the S.F. Giants and 49ers when they played at Candlestick Park. As he neared what for most people would be retirement age, he and his wife Mary sold that business and moved to the Wine Country, where he toiled in smaller and slower barber shops until finally winding up working for himself in a hole-in-the-wall he rented in an odd old commercial business park. Mary died about 10 years ago; Guy still marked every anniversary and talked things over with her urn on his mantel at home.
Guy was a friend, a good man, and the best barber I ever had, one who took a lot of pride in his work and moved with the kind of grace and efficiency you only get after you've done something a hundred thousand times. It was always a pleasure to watch such a skilled craftsman do the only thing he ever wanted to do. I'll miss him a lot.
6 comments:
Guy Maniscalco sounds like an absolute gem!
I am so sorry for your loss. Thank you for sharing your memories of him.
My condolences to you and his family.
Hey Brian, I am a friend of Guy’s and met him at the Molsberry shop just before he opened his own shop. (after running his San Carlos shop 20+ years) I miss our friend too. It was a sad day when I stopped at his house to check on him and saw the papers collected at the front door. He was such a character! Rest In Peace Guy and “watch out for the hookers out there!”
Thanks so much for leaving a note. I was hoping some people who knew Guy would find this and reach out!
Hello, my name is Jack. I was Guy’s chiropractor and he was my barber for about 10 years, when his barber shop was in San Carlos and my clinic was in San Mateo. I saw Guy on a weekly basis for about 10 years until he sold his shop and house in San Carlos and moved to the wine country. He always talked about the celebrities he saw in his shop, his wife Mary and his huskies. What a great guy he was. I miss him dearly.
Jack, thanks very much for commenting. Guy had friends throughout the community who miss him a lot.
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