Pete the Barber
Reported by Erik Smith
Web produced by Kelly Reynolds

"All of my customers are my friends," Pete says.

Since the blow dried age of mousse and styling gel, salons, and upscale beauty shops, Pete the barber is, well, still standing in his field.

"What were you charging for a hair cut when you opened up?" Channel 7's Erik Smith asked Pete.

"$1.50. I used to make good money at the time. I used to make it on $200 a week."

Pete has been standing in the field for about 40 years now, comb and scissors in hand in the little shop under the People Mover that you probably wouldn't know was there.

Pete's Barber Shop is located under the People Mover

A lot of heads have rolled in this shop. And lot of them left feeling a lot better. Sure, it's a good hair cut, but Pete, well, Pete just makes you feel good about everything.

"A lot people come and go. A lot of people come into this barbershop. Lawyers, judges, policemen, military. Like I say, I enjoy it over here because all my customers are my friends, every one, all these years."

At this point in his long life, it is safe to assume that Pete's musical Greek accent is really not going to change much, and why should it? America adopted him almost 43 years ago, and he's been waving the stars and stripes ever since.

Pete has been cutting hair for about 40 years now.

"If you make up your mind you going to work and do something, this country is full of opportunities," says Pete.

Pete's bread and butter, you might say, has come right off of many of Detroit's finest. Cops, from commanders to lieutenants and sergeants, from detectives to the patrolmen on the beat, even retired cops like Jim in the chair over there come back to top things off at Pete's one chair shop.

"How long you been cutting this man's hair, Pete?"

"30-some years. 33, 1961. He's still coming back here because he don't find nobody like me."

Things really haven't changed much in here over the years, and that's part of the story. An old space heater still keeps things warm. You can still smoke in here. And yeah, you can thrum through the pages of a girlie magazine and nobody will frown on a cuss word here and there.

One of Pete's regulars, Marine Major Greg Rath, dropped a bomb on Iraq with Pete's name on it in the Persian Gulf War. It turns out after the war the major, well, the colonel, gets himself assigned to the White House. So who gets invited to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?

Pete with President Clinton

"Before I know, we walk around to the president's house past security," Pete remembers.

"My wife and my daughter and my son - they freak. But me, I say, hello, Mr. President? How you doing? We're from Michigan. I vote for you all the time. My daughter was like, this, and, oh, we vote for you all the time."

Pete served in the Greek Army's equivalent to the Green Berets before coming to America

Pete was in the Greek Army's equivalent of the Green Berets before he adopted America as his home back in 1956.

That's the long short of it. The long hair on the floor the short air out the door. Honk if you're driving by or wave if you are on the People Mover sometime. It will make you feel good when Pete smiles back at you.

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