(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — An honorary street-naming ceremony today in the Woodlawn neighborhood pays tribute to two brothers who opened a barbershop on this day 60 years ago.
Coleman Brothers Barbershop at 68th Street and Stony Island Avenue was opened by James and Richard Coleman in 1964.
To hear customers tell it, it became an institution — the brothers dispensing wisdom, and jokes.
James’ son, Wheeler, pulled a rope unveiling the sign reading Honorary Coleman Brothers Way on Friday.
“If my Dad was here today he would be crying and it would be tears of joy,” Wheeler said.
Wheeler also shared a story about a customer who became a cop. The two met when his father died.
“He said, ‘Wheeler, you don’t understand how this man impacted my life,’” Wheeler said.
“My dad used to tell him, ‘Son, you hanging out with the wrong kids.’ My dad used to give him money. And when he graduated, my dad gave him money to go to college.”
“Every time I came to the shop to get a haircut I would always think, what I’m gonna hear funny today,” Richard Coleman’s son, Reggie, said.
He also said, “when you walked into that barbershop, you got an education.”
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