Vic and Joe have been clipping hair in Gonzales for 100 years

The 1880s to the 1940s were the Golden Age for barbershops. During this time, men convened in all-male hangouts, and barbershops rivaled saloons in popularity. Visiting the barbershop was a weekly – and sometimes daily – routine. Men would stop in not only for a haircut and a shave, but also to rub elbows with acquaintances and shoot the breeze with close friends.

During this Golden Age, barbershops were dashy, elegant places with often-spectacular surroundings. Barber chairs were elaborately carved from oak and walnut, and fitted with fine leather upholstery. Marble counters were lined with colorful, glass-blown tonic bottles.

Everything from advertising signs to shaving mugs were endowed with an artistic flourish. The best shops even had crystal chandeliers hanging from fresco-painted ceilings.

Despite this level of luxury, barbershops were homey and inviting. A memorable and heavenly man aroma filled the air. The smell of cherry, wintergreen, apple and butternut flavored pipe and tobacco smoke mixed with the scent of hair tonics, pomades, oils and neck powders. These aromas are ingrained in the wood and every cranny of the shop.

To this day, the moment a man steps inside a barbershop, he embraces the warm and welcoming familiarity.

He knows he is in good hands and is instantly able to relax. The moment the clippers are clicked into their buzzing pulse, his cares simply melt away.

In the rise of the hair salon era, barbershops in many parts of the world are quickly becoming what many would consider to be relics of the past. But in Gonzales, two stalwarts of barbering continue to stand their ground – a ground they have held for more than five decades.

Between them, Victor Aguilar and Joe Gomez, owners of Vic & Joe’s barber shop, have 100 years of barbering experience under their collective hats: Vic, who is 69 years old, has 47 years in the profession, and Joe, who is 76, has 53.

“I was 23 years old when I started cutting hair,” Joe muses as though it was just yesterday. “It was on May 15, 1960. So as of May, I will have been cutting hair for 53 years.”

“I started at a place called Fernando’s Barber Shop, over on St. George Street,” he continues. “I was there for 10 years. Then in 1970, Victor and I got together and started Vic and Joe’s.”

“We had that place over on St. Joseph Street for 26 years,” Vic remembers. “From there, we moved to the Alcalde Hotel, where we were for six years. Then in 2002, we moved here. We plan on moving again, this time to a place at the corner of St. Lawrence and St. John streets, in about a month.”

The dynamic duo say their decision to start a business together came from a shared fondness for barbering, as well as a yearning for entrepreneurship – which, in their case, was borne out of necessity.

“As young men, we both liked the idea of barbering for a living,” Joe says. “Since we didn’t have much education, we both knew we had to get a good job. I wanted to be able to educate my children.”

Sadly, there was a time in America when things like prejudice and segregation were the norm. This affected minorities of all ages, in particular by making it difficult, if not impossible, for Hispanic or black students to be able ride the school bus.

“When I was little, I went to a one-room, segregated country school, and they shut it down the first year I was there,” Joe says. “And back in the 1940s, the school bus wouldn’t pick us up to take us to the big school. So I knew I was going to have to get into a good skill or profession so I could make a good living.”

Undaunted, both men eventually made their dream a reality, and were able to go to barber school in Austin.

“I worked in Austin for awhile before coming back to Gonzales and teaming up with Vic to get our own place,” Joe says.

Over the years, Vic and Joe have gotten to meet and even cut the hair of some very prestigious clientele, noted personalities ranging from authors to movie stars to war heroes.

“I got to cut Fred Gipson’s hair,” Joe recalls. “He’s the guy who wrote ‘Old Yeller.’ He came to Gonzales while doing a fundraiser for Warm Springs (rehabilitation center) out in Ottine. While he was here, he needed a haircut, and he stopped by our place and we fixed him up.”

Then in 1981, Joe got to play a role in the movie “The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez,” which was shot partially in Gonzales, particularly in the county courthouse.

“I played the translator in the trial part,” he recalls. “I got to meet Edward James Olmos and Ned Beatty. I cut Ned’s hair, as well as the hair of some of the guys in the film crew.”

One of Vic’s more esteemed customers was Cleto Rodriguez, who served in both the U.S. Army and Air Force, and received the Medal of Honor for actions in Manila, Philippine Islands during World War II.

“Roy Benavidez was another of my customers,” Vic remembers. “He earned the Medal of Honor also.”

Benavidez, who also rose to the rank of master sergeant, was a member of the Studies and Observations Group of the United States Army. He received the Medal of Honor for his actions in combat near Lộc Ninh, South Vietnam in May 1968.

Serendipity has also played its part in the careers of Vic and Joe, with one particular customer discovering his future haircut by “shear” accident.

“One time when I worked as a barber in Austin, a guy fell asleep in the chair,” he says. “His head went down, and I accidentally gave him a flat top! He sure liked it, though, because every time he came back, he got a flat top.”

With the Apache being the moniker for the Gonzales community, it should come as no surprise that Vic and Joe get requests for more abstract haircuts – namely the “Mohawk” cut.

“Today’s Mohawk is a lot different from the ones from the 1970s,” Vic says of the trend. “Now they like to put a lot of wax in it and spike it up high. But you have to have a special kind of hair to get that kind of look.”

All in all, Vic and Joe are all about the barber business, and close the conversation by candidly relating why they love it so much, and how long they plan to continue.

“Making money is a good thing,” Joe laughs. “But I love our customers, too.”

“I plan to keep cutting hair as long as I can,” Vic says. “It’s what I’ve always done, it’s what I love to do, and it’s what I’ll continue to do.”