The Old Bookie Joints

By Jule Spohn

I remember my mother telling me about the time she took me for my first haircut, back in 1944 - I was three years old and had long, curly, blond hair. I grew up on South Orange Ave and 12th Street and there was a barber shop right across the street. When my mother asked the barber to cut my hair he said to her - "I haven't cut hair in over 20 years.'' That's because the barber shop was only a front. Behind the glass doors was the desks with the "bookies" where you could "place your bets." Maybe you couldn't get a "clipping" in the front, but I'm sure many people got "clipped" in the back.