SAN ANTONIO – In a fast world where immediacy is everything, it's rare to find places where time comes to a stop. In the next part of KSAT's Lost Arts series, we're shining a light on an old-fashioned barber shop that has stood the test of time.
It sounds the same and it even looks the same. It's quite incredible, considering it's been open 106 years.
"The shop and the hotel existed in 1909. There were 18 barbers, five manicurists, five porters and two cashiers," said Lee Bosmans, who owns the Barber Shop still situated at the Gunter Hotel, in downtown San Antonio.
"I started here in 1975, and the man that hired me was James Leonard Doolittle," Bosmans said.
Stepping into the Barber Shop is like stepping back in time. Take the chairs, for example. They're from 1947 and were used in the shop then, just like they are today.
"These back cabinets are 1932s. These are the originals. I also kept three of the original mirrors, believe it or not. The hat rack is a 1909 hat rack," Bosmans said, pointing around the room.
His techniques even date back that far.
"Back then, it was a comb and a scissor, and it was called freehand. It was a beautiful technique," Bosmans said.
It's a technique that has kept customers loyal.
"My dad, both my uncles, my grandfather and I even believe my great-grandfather have been coming here before I was ever born," said loyal customer A.J. Lewis IV.
Lewis has been coming for 20 years.
"Sometimes people aren't just looking for an in-and-out," Lewis said. "They enjoy the service that you get here. The shoe shines, the hair wash, the whole nine yards that Lee provides."
The slow-moving, barely changed shop is a space to come witness a devoted art being preserved, cut by cut.