Being in Lansing

Upon returning to the area, I established a financial advisory/insurance business. I needed a new barber, dry cleaner, etc. It was nearly a whole year before I took my father’s suggestion and headed to Arkie’s to get a haircut. Why had I been so stubborn? After one cut from Duane Stoolmaker, I realized that I had found my barber. Needless to say, I am not planning on finding a different barbershop any time soon.

Let me introduce you to Duane Stoolmaker:

Across Grand River Avenue in the shadow of the new Whole Foods under construction is a throwback to a simpler time.

The scent of heated shaving cream and aftershave waft in Arkie’s Barbershop. The leather chairs and wood cabinetry date to the 70s. Golden Oldies are just barely audible over spirited conversations about recent news, family and the Spartans.

Arkie’s is a classic American barbershop, where everyone chats like old friends and enjoys the pleasure of a good haircut, from a good barber.

Duane Stoolmaker turned 80 this month. He has been a fixture at Arkie’s in Meridian Township since 1972. His craft is barber, storyteller and conversationalist. He has cut hair for the likes of MSU coaches Biggie Munn, George Perles, Gus Ganakas and even former MSU President M. Peter McPherson.

Arkie’s is a classic American barbershop, where everyone chats like old friends and enjoys the pleasure of a good haircut, from a good barber.

Getting his sea legs

Stoolmaker graduated from Hill-McCloy High School in Montrose in 1952, at the age of 17. Once he received his barber license, at age 18, Stoolmaker enlisted in the Navy.

Three months after enlisting the Korean War ended and Stoolmaker was back stateside cutting hair.

He went to work for a shop on the west side of Lansing at the corner of Saginaw Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard (then, Logan) for 20 years until the owner died.

In 1956, Stoolmaker opened the Spartan Barbershop, next door to the Harrison Roadhouse and across the street from Brody Hall. It was a location that seemed filled with potential. Brody Hall, at the time, was an all-male dorm that housed nearly 3,600 students.

Over the next 16 years, Duane built up a loyal client base and followed the changing hairstyles from “flat-tops” to “Princetons” to the longer, feathered hairstyles of the 1970s.

“I don’t get many surprises,” Stoolmaker said when it comes to styles.

By 1972, Brody Hall had gone co-ed and parking got tight around his barbershop. Stoolmaker partnered with a friend to create Arkie’s.

Spartan stamped

Stoolmaker definitely bleeds green and white.

He says he’s rarely missed a Spartan home football game. Stoolmaker even made the trip to Pasadena last year to watch the Spartans win the Rose Bowl.

The walls of the barbershop are covered with Spartan memorabilia, posters, newspaper clippings and signed photos of MSU faculty and current and former coaches.

He still sees George Perles and Ganakas, even as recently as last week.

“I cut George Perles’s hair in the 50s when he played football here and he still comes in to this day,” Stoolmaker said.

Perles must really like the quality of the cut, I said.

“Or maybe I’ve just got him fooled after all these years,” Stoolmaker replied with a laugh.

He recalls the barber sessions not but the cut but by the stories.

In recalling McPherson, he said the man was a “workaholic who lived on cat-naps.”

He said he always had to finish one side of his head quickly before he nodded off to sleep.

The affection and affinity go both ways.

“I got very attached to the place and to him and his background,” said Ganakas. “ I’m older, but we have a lot in common … especially when it comes to MSU athletics.”

Ganakas said Stoolmaker is upbeat and positive. “He’s not just the person who grooms my hair, but a person I can consider a friend.”

Perles said he was recommended to Arkie’s by some friends years ago and was hooked. Going in for a cut is more than about the cut. It’s conversation time with a friend.

“Besides being a great barber, Duane really knows a lot about a lot of different things,” Perles said. “He’s been around so long, he’s been able to learn a lot from his customers. He really listens to what people have to say. Most of his customers have been going to him for many, many years, just like I have.”

All about attitude

After 60 years working the chair, Stoolmaker is often asked when he will hang up his shears.

“This is how I am thinking about retirement … sorta shop ‘til you drop, if you get what I mean. … My son just told me about two guys, a 98-year-old barber in Florida and a 100-year-old barber in Pennsylvania. I’m thinking I may want to break the record. But I am not sure what my wife thinks of that idea.”

Stoolmaker considers his livelihood one person at a time.

“I get paid to talk to my friends all day. It’s not really work to me,” he said.

Stoolmaker’s got energy to spare.

“A person’s altitude is determined more by their attitude than their aptitude,”he said.