Barber cuts his way to new milestone

BUTLER TOWNSHIP, Ohio (WDTN) - Al Larger always had his old job at Frigidaire in case this barbering thing didn't pan out.

"I told my boss I'm going to have to leave to go to barber school," Al says. "He said if things don't work out come back and see me."

That was more than 60 years ago and Al is still taking a little off the top.

"It's worked out 101 percent," Al says.

Al can still remember when haircuts were 75 cents because customers wouldn't pay a dollar, but the price is about the only thing that's changed at Al's Barber Shop on North Dixie Drive over the last 50 years.

It was old school before old school was cool.

"We have customers that come back who moved away 30 years ago who marvel it's the same place," says Joi Rader, who's worked alongside Al for more than 40 years.

A picture of Barney Fife decorates the wall of the shop, a working 1930's Coke machine still sits in the corner, and Al's policy remains the same.

"No appointments," Al says. "Always first come first served."

But on this day Al did take one appointment with Butler Township Trustee Mike Lang. He wasn't there for a haircut.

"I used to come here all the time," says Lang, who now shaves his head. "Obviously those days have changed a little bit. I don't get to frequent it as much."

Mike was there with a surprise. A proclamation declaring it "Al Larger Week" in Butler Township in honor of his 90th birthday on Tuesday.

Al isn't just great at cutting things. He's also great at growing them. What other barber has his own garden outside his shop?

"See how they're coming," says Al of his cabbage and tomatoes.

Al doesn't have any plans to stop growing or cutting.

Like the barber pole outside his shop, he continues to turn through time.

"You never find that many people who have worked that long in one spot and everybody can same something nice about him," Rader says.