They’re tearing down the building at 333 S. LaSalle, so the barbershop there is going to have to move. That’s not an earth-shattering event, as even the shop’s owner, Vic Lala, admits. It’s just that there’s been a barbershop on that block for well over 50 years. “Things change so much in the city, sometimes you just have to take note,” says Lala. “In a few months most people won’t even know this place is gone. But you’ll still have some guys tell their kids, “I remember when there was a barbershop there.”‘

Lala got his start back in 1928. “The Depression was coming, jobs were scarce, and I was 17 years old and just out of high school. My father said, “Well, you better do something.’ He was a barber and so was my older brother. So I went along.”

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“I did?” Lala says, raising his eyebrows.

In 1945 Joe Lala opened the shop on Lasalle. When Vic got out of the army a year later he joined him. “We were going to go into the liquor business. Joe cased a joint, and while he was there some guy got into a fight and got hit in the head with a bottle. With that he decided we’d go back to the barbershop. But Joe had put down a $1,000 deposit on a place. He mentioned it to a police captain he knew, and the captain said, “I’ll get you out of it by telling the liquor-store owner you can’t run a tavern ’cause you have a police record.’ We got our deposit back. Of course we had to give the captain 300 bucks.”

A trader comes in and sits in Kurtyka’s chair. He asks for a beard trim. Lala watches as Kurtyka applies a hot towel to the customer’s face. “It’s not easy to find guys experienced in this business. It’s a different trade to learn how to give a shave and a trim. It’s a lost art. If you haven’t been in this business for 20 years, you’re not going to learn. You look at our guys–Joe, Mike, Walter Choma, Benny Maggio, Ross Baio–they’ve been in the business for years. This guy over here, Greg Klebaner, he’s a Russian guy. He’s a prince. I wish I had six guys like him. He comes early, works hard, never says nothing, never complains. Every day he brings a bologna sandwich for lunch. Doesn’t even buy a soda. He saved his money, and now he owns a condominium out near Golf Mill. Isn’t that right, Greg?”

“She’s studying to be a doctor,” says Penilton.