Picture This!

    Al Dixon says the best reason to be a barber is so you can have a comfortable seat when you're not busy. Dixon should know about being a barber. He started cutting hair in 1954—that's 56 years ago.

    After training to be a barber in Kansas City, Dixon began his career there, but eventually returned home to Southwest City, MO where he has been ever since. Actually he followed his father's career as a barber. And there's an unusual story about his father.

    Asked how to spell his last name, Dixon said, "Well, you can spell it two ways. Somewhere along the line my father changed the spelling. His name was Dickson but he shortened it to Dixon. That's what's on my birth certificate. My parents' marriage license has Dad listed as Dickson, and I think that is what's on their stone out at the cemetery."

    Al Dixon didn't immediately follow his father in the barber shop.

    "My dad died in 1935 and I didn't start barbering until 1954," he said. "His shop was across the street. This building wasn't built until 1947."

    While many men in and around Southwest City come to Dixon's shop for a $5 haircut, he gets a fair number of women as well.

    "I don't fool with women," he said seriously, "I wasn't trained to take care of women's hair."

    However, women still come to the shop, but they come mostly to look at the pictures on the walls. Several rows of 8 x 10 photos completely cover the long side walls, and there are several others crammed into small spaces around doors and windows. This collection of pictures started several years ago when Dixon noted that his walls were bare. "I had three or four pictures around here, so I just put them up on the wall," he said. "They were just boys I knew around town who had gone off to the war."

    Soon, other pictures began showing up and the collection was under way. Even though there are many kinds of photos on the walls, Dixon still sees this project as a way to honor local veterans. He's proud of all the men in uniform who grace the walls of his shop.

    Half way through a haircut, Dixon stopped, laid down his barber tools, walked over to the east wall and pointed to a photograph. It showed a young man in uniform and a note listing all the theaters the man had fought in during World War II. Dixon placed his finger on the photograph and said, "We just buried this fellow yesterday. He was a friend of mine. We grew up together. That's one of the hard parts of all these pictures."

    Then he silently returned to his chair and continued the hair cut.

    Many people come to the barber shop just to look at all the pictures. They enjoy seeing the local men and women in the pictures, but they equally enjoy unusual pictures such as the one of "Pretty Boy" Floyd who once got a haircut from Al Dixon's dad. Another picture is of Jesse James.
And there are many well-known Democrats pictured in the barber shop.

    "I guess I'm a Democrat," Dixon laughed. "I was named after Al Smith."

    Some people who come are hunting for pictures of their relatives. Once in a while, a visitor finds a picture he has been hunting and asks for a copy.

    When the proposed new library is built in Southwest City, Dixon's photographs will go there. And besides the many dozen that line the shop walls, there are two more big stashes in the back room—all of which will be in the new library.

    There aren't many old time barber shops around these days, and there are even fewer with such a collection of photographs.

    "I think I'm part of a dying breed," Dixon says. "Men are going to beauty shops these days to get their hair cut."

    But many men and women do stop by Dixon's shop for either a cut or to look at some local history. And, just so you know, Dixon has never been in a beauty shop, and furthermore, he has no intention of going in one any time soon. But everyone is welcome in Dixon's (or is that Dickson's) Barber Shop on the main street of Southwest City.