Best Barber '98

Best Barber

Johnny Gibson
53 N. Sixth Avenue

STAFF PICK: This October, Johnny Gibson begins his 50th year of cutting hair in his little downtown shop. Ever since his return from World War II, through the civil rights movement, through the MLK and JFK assassinations, through the Sexual Revolution, Watergate and the Vietnam War, through the Reagan years and now the Clinton fiasco...he's always been Tucson's best barber.

You won't find Vidal Sassoon or AVEDA products in his shop, but you will find a sense of camaraderie and easy-goingness. You see, Johnny believes a barber shop should be an asset to the community, a place where you feel at home. To this end, he keeps an eye out for the neighborhood; every once in a while, your haircut gets interrupted by a neighboring businessman coming in for some smaller bills, or by somebody offering a slice of pizza or an ice-cream sandwich to the old master.

Johnny, his mirrors already wallpapered with photos of appreciative customers, insists he'll cut hair as long as he can see, stand, and hold a pair of scissors. Our hats are off to him, so to speak--and we hope to celebrate many anniversaries to come there on Sixth Avenue.