ee meme pammi seh etre ae ' teers instruct el | field trips on Tuesday, _Wednes- day, or. Thursday mornings. in- | $ - Sunday, January 29, 1989 — Lynn Valley Echo Local barber recalls early days in valley PEOPLE WAVE as they walk by the window of Bob Vacher’s Lynn Vailey Barber Shop. More often than not, Vacher is there, cither working on a custom- er or sitting alone in his antique barber chair. : A museum piece of metal with pale green enameling and a scroliwork footrest, the chair dates back to the 1930s, Vacher estimates. He bought - the chair. from Charlie McGilvery when he opened his shop in 1961. McGilvery had, up until then, run a barbering enterprise out of the Briar building, now replaced by a mini mal! situated kitty corner: to Vacher’s establishment. “This was the heart of Lynn Valley,’* says. Vacher who works out of a shop in the Fromme Building, constructed in 1911, at the southeast corner of Mountain Highway a\‘d Lynn Valley Road. Formerly’, bakery. and a diese: shop, the triangular-shaped shop is next to what was once the area's hardware store. The Fromme Building is what “remains of earlier times, which _ Vacher recalls as being slower pac- “There was a lot of bush with pheasants and. animals around. People were friendlier then and - you knew everyone,"’ Vacher says, remembering his childhood in the valley. Harkening back toa time before unisex styling salons, the barber- shop used to be a place where males of all. ages paid regular ‘visits. Vacher still has a loyal foliowing of regular ‘customers, however. They come from all over: North and West Vancouver, and there’s . even one man, living ‘in England, . ‘who stops in.when he's in Lynn -- Valley visiting: “glatives. The barber doesn’t see a need for advertising. He’s not listed in the telephone directery for the simple reason that: there is no phone in the shop. ~ : ‘Everything under the sun,”’ is what they like’to talk about, in- ; “ eluding politics and topics best said when ladies aren't present. Teach ecol ogy ~ THE ECOLOGY Centre in ‘Lymn " Fanyon Park needs new volunteers. for upcoming spring The volunteer pocitions would suit people who like to work with children and have two free hours a, x. Z The centre ‘offers two different’ _ _types of volunteer work, both in-| . door and outdoor. Outdoor volun- * lementary school door volunteers assist the public in own hours. ' Spring volunteer training begins Feb. .. 13.. To find out more about the pro- gram come to a volunteer orienta- : tion slide show on Monday, Feb. 6 at 1:30 p.m. Refreshments will be served. To sign up call 987-5922. the’ centre and can, choose their Programs. run from March to June. A small sign on the wall says “Why is it that the only people who know what to do about this country are cither driving taxis or working in barber shops?”’ The wall is also where Vacher proudly displays his business licence, union card and diploma from the. Vancouver Vocational Institute, where he learned his trade in 1953. “When I was a kid I used to cut my teddy bear’s. hair,’’ reveals Vacher. But it was at about age 27, affer he had been working as a laborer _ that Vacher started looking about for a trade, ‘Barbering seemed. like some- thing that would keep me nice and clean and inside in the winter,” says Vacher. After a six-month program in Vancouver, Vacher apprenticed in the Keystone Barbershop at the foot of Lonsdale, subsequently taking jobs fuzther up Lonsdale and in Edgemont before starting his own business in Lynn Valley. When Vacher isn’t at his barber shop, he's often down at the beach, a favorite haunt. He takes pacations, but never wanders too ‘ar. . He hires a relief barber when he gaes away, a retired man who has warned him against quitting the trade all together. ““When you stop barbering, it's not the cutting hair you miss, but being with people,’’ Vacher has learned. But the possible. redevelopment of the Fromme building has forced. Vacher to think about his future. At 63, he doubts he could afford; the kind of rents that would be‘ charged in another location. But he’s determined to avoid. retire- ment, perhaps by working at another establishment. “It’s something like being a sailor who can’t get the salt out of his veins,” says Vacher. photo Tony Potace BOB VACHER has found that he doesn’t peed a telephone in his barber. shop — having operated at the corner of Lynn Valley Road snd Moun- ' tain Highway for the past 28 years, his foyal clients know where and .. when they can eet a good haircut. : | HOW TO USE YOUR _ NEW NEIGHBORHOOD N EWSPAPER ... » . HERE ARE. 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