Have you had a hair cut at one of these oldest barbershops in the Myrtle Beach SC area?

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Bobby Lewis is sitting in one of the two barber chairs inside his barbershop along Main Street in North Myrtle Beach.

There are currently no customers inside the Ocean Drive Barbershop, but that doesn’t seem to bother the 82-year-old. They come and they go throughout the day, Lewis said.

Customers have been coming and going at this barbershop since it was first opened by Lewis’ father in 1952. The shop has been in the same location for 71 years and has been recognized as not only one of the oldest barbershops in Horry County, but in South Carolina.

It’s where Lewis started out shining shoes and sweeping the floors, eventually learning how to be a barber from his father before going to barber school in Columbia.

Lewis spent most of his barber career cutting hair next to his brother, Lynwood, now 93, who retired several years ago. But now it’s just Lewis carrying on the family barber career.

When he’s not cutting hair, Lewis can be seen sitting in the chair, looking out the shop’s window onto Main Street.

“I’ve been looking out that window for 63 years,” he said.

Barbershops have become time capsules for community

It’s hard to know just how many barbershops that are 50 years or older are still operating in the Myrtle Beach area.

The Horry County Museum doesn’t have anything in its collection that would answer that question, according to museum director Walter Hill. The Horry County Historic Preservation Commission has honored some barbershops through its legacy business recognition program, which celebrates businesses operating in the county for more than 50 continuous years.

But for most people looking to get their hair cut, the choice of a barber is often made based on word of mouth or the nostalgia of going to the barbershop with a parent as a child.

Some of the oldest barbershops in Horry County have been providing services for several decades and are now cutting the hair of fourth-generation customers.

Their shops are a time capsule, offering a glimpse of history in the area and the communities they serve, as well as memories of customers who have sat in the barber chairs over the years.

Ocean Drive Barber Shop

There are only two chairs available to customers at Lewis’ shop. Lewis cuts hair at one, while the other is manned by John York.

There are no appointments, so walk-ins sometimes have to wait their turn. Lewis calls them “waiters.”

But they do so without complaint. Lewis said it’s because of the customers that the shop has stayed in business for so long. Lewis is now cutting hair for a fourth generation.

Lewis said he’s willing to retire. However, that willingness has stretched for 17 years now. He still comes into the shop daily where customers can find him from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., except Wednesdays when he leaves early for doctor’s appointments.

Lewis continues to cut hair because it gets him out of the house, he said. “You need something to do,” Lewis said. “I just enjoy people. They come here from everywhere.”

Outside the shop, a sign reads “Lee Lewis Apts. Rooms Barber Shop.” His mother once rented the apartments attached to the back of the barbershop, but they are now closed.

Many people have offered to buy the property, located in a prime spot along North Myrtle Beach’s main drag, and was bought by his dad for $1,500 in the 1940s. The Lewis brothers have declined to sell. Lewis said he’ll “keep the barber shop as long as I’m living.”

Items in the barber shop are reminders of just how long it’s been in business. That includes its name, which refers to when Ocean Drive Beach was a separate beach town. It wasn’t until 1968 that Ocean Drive Beach, Crescent Beach and Windy Hill came together to form North Myrtle Beach.

“Everything in here is antique, including the barber,” Lewis said.

Lewis still uses a 108-year-old cash register that belonged to his father - tucking bills into the money slots after finishing a haircut. Cuts are $20 and it’s cash only.

And don’t expect any fancy ‘dos at the shop. Lewis sticks to what he calls straight haircuts, primarily those that look from the 1950s and ‘60s.

As Lewis and York are cutting hair, a customer walks in. Since both barber chairs are occupied, the customer sits to wait his turn.

Friendly Barber Shop

The laughter at the Friendly Barber Shop is contagious. The waiting room at the shop at 1403 Carver St. in Myrtle Beach is busy with customers waiting for their turn in one of the two chairs.

While they wait, jokes and stories are being told, fulfilling the iconic scene of a neighborhood barber shop, where people come to get their hair cut and socialize.

“Everything’s old in here,” barber Franklin Tucker chides. “Even us.”

Tucker mans one of the chairs in the shop, while Ella “Dolly” Thomas cuts hair in the other.

Thomas’ husband, Jerome, opened the shop in 1954. At that time, it was called the Bamboo Barber. The name was later changed to the Friendly Barber Shop.

Thomas, who has been cutting hair for 59 years, joined the shop in 1966 as the only female barber.

After Jerome died in 2007, Thomas continued to operate the business, along with the help of Tucker, who has been at the shop for 57 years.

Tucker said they try to keep the talk “fun” in the barbershop, not dwelling on problems. With that, Tucker throws another one-liner.

“(If they) come in with problems, we ask them to go to the other barbershop,” Tucker said.

John King laughs at Tucker’s joke. The 61-year-old, known as “Itchy,” holds his hand low to the ground to show how tall he was when he first started coming to the barber shop with his father.

King remembers as a kid playing games in the game room that was located on one side of the shop and how hot dogs were available to buy. The shop also had a photo studio, King recalled.

Remnants of how the shop has changed over the years is reflected in such items as an old cigarette vending machine against the wall and a hot nuts machine along the other.

The shop, which only takes walk-ins, still does some old-school barbering, such as a hot shave with a straight razor.

The barbershop is leftover from the heyday of this historically Black community. It’s located near the now-demolished Charlie’s Place, a former nightspot that saw performances from such musical entertainers as Marvin Gaye, Little Richard, Ray Charles and Billie Holiday. The club and neighboring Fitzgerald Motel, which served as a safe place for Black visitors to stay during segregation, were owned by Charlie Fitzgerald and his wife, Sarah.

Woody’s Barber Shop

Woody Elvis has seen the well-known and the less well-known sit in his barber chair over the years.

There have been senators, governors, police chiefs and judges through the door of Woody’s Barber Shop on Broadway Street in downtown Myrtle Beach. But it appears that the real stars are the children, whose faces grace several poster boards that hang along the walls of Elvis’ business.

Many of them, Elvis said, are now adults and are still coming to Woody’s to get their hair cut.

On this day, Elvis is working on Lee Frederick, who said he has been coming to Woody’s for 25 years.

The soon-to-be 70-year-old opened Woody’s in 1971. He began cutting hair when he was 18, eventually attending barber college.

Elvis at one time was joined by his wife, Renee, who is Horry County’s clerk of court. She worked with him for 20 years, but they “got married and she had to find another job,” Elvis jokes.

Elvis’ location has allowed him to see firsthand how the downtown area has changed over the years. He said it was difficult when he first opened his shop in the ‘70s. It was the era of long hair and no one wanted to get their hair cut.

“It was hard to make a living in the ‘70s,” he said.

Several items in his shop are reminders of that time. One of the more historic is the shoe shine chair that was used by Joe White in Elvis’ business. The city of Myrtle Beach named Mr. Joe White Avenue after the well-known figure and businessman.

Elvis worked with White for 30 years before he died in 1997.

The barber has no plans to retire, but when he does choose to stop cutting hair, he will close up the store instead of selling it to someone else, he said.

But for now, the barber pole outside will stay turning.