Springs gets new ‘head’ of hair

'When I started cutting hair in the Springs, in the 1950s, there was almost no traffic through town,' recalls longtime barber Johnny Mazza. 'Sometimes I'd see someone on horseback, or even a horse-drawn buggy. So that tells you how long I've been cutting hair.'

All good things come to an end, of course, and as of March 1 – after 60 years standing at the barber chair – Mazza, 86, has finally hung up his electric razor and placed his scissors in the drawer.

'My body finally told me it was time to stop,' Mazza says. 'My fingers hurt, my knees hurt. It was time to throw in the towel. I suppose I have to say I'm retired now, but it's only been two weeks, and I'm not quite used to it yet.'

The tiny storefront barber shop on Highway 12 in Boyes Hot Springs, where Mazza gave crewcuts and trimmed beards for over half-a-century, now has a new owner, Antonio Juan. Following a brief two weeks closure, the shop officially reopened on March 15, with a fresh makeover, a new barber at the chair and a brand new name. From now on, it will be known as Boyes Hot Springs Barber Shop and, after years without anything but a barber pole outside, there will soon be a sign proclaiming the shop's new name.

Mazza says he approves of the changes. After all, he wasn't its first owner.

'I'm pretty sure the place has been there since 1900 or 1901,' Mazza says. 'The original owner was Riley Bevins. He's the one that talked me into going to barber college after I came home from the Korean War in 1952. I got my diploma in 1955, and then I worked for Riley for two years, and then he was ready to retire, so I bought him out. And I've been there ever since.'

Johnny's brother was the late Al Mazza, the former Sonoma fire chief, who served as Mayor of Sonoma twice in the 1990s. The local fire department headquarters is named for him. Johnny Mazza, for his part, has his own connection to firefighting, having served with the Valley of the Moon Volunteer Fire Department for 35 years.

'There weren't enough people to have someone in the station all the time,' he says. 'So I would be in my shop, and if I there was a fire anywhere, I'd shut down and go over there and get on the radio and round people up.'

In the 60 years Mazza has been cutting hair, he says he's never advertised, because he's never really needed to.

'It was all just word of mouth,' he says. 'I've met so many people, good people, all kinds of people. I've cut the hair of farmers and business men, working people and college professors, lawyers and politicians and everybody else. I made a good living, and I think Antonio will, too. He seems to be a real nice person, and I think he's going to be a damn fine barber.'

Mazza confesses that he has one problem with his shop's new owner.

'He was in the Coast Guard and I was in the Marines,' Mazza laughs, 'but I told him I'll try not to hold that against him.'

Juan says he's excited for the opportunity to take over a shop with so much history. After 25 years spent fixing planes in the Coast Guard, the veteran mechanic admits that, while contemplating retiring from Coast Guard, he hoped that his next occupation would not involve quite so much grease and grime.

'I kind of assumed I'd just continue to be a mechanic once I left, but I really didn't want to get my hands that dirty anymore,' Juan says. He noticed that barbering, as a profession and an art form, had been making a conspicuous resurgence. With reports that barber shops were returning as a cultural touchstone across the country, Juan says he found the thought of running his own barber shop to be an appealing idea. 'The more I learned, the more I liked it,' he says.

Juan enrolled in the barbering program at Marinello Beauty College, a national chain of schools devoted to all facets of haircutting and related fields. Upon graduation, he spoke with barbers at a number of shops in the Sonoma Valley.

'Everywhere I went, barbers kept saying 'Johnny! You should talk to Johnny! He might be retiring soon,'' says Juan. 'So I asked him. I walked in and introduced myself, and he confirmed that he was planning on retiring in March. And that's basically it.'

In addition to haircuts, Juan says he'll be offering old-fashioned razor shaves as well, something Mazza hasn't done in years. In addition, along with the new name and new sign, Juan says the shop will soon be getting its first website.

'I am working on that,' he says. 'I want the shop to do as well as it did with Johnny, and I'm going to do my best take care of his old customers, and hopefully find new customers.'

Juan says he has no expectation of lasting quite as long as Mazza, but intends to use the shop's longtime resident barber as his inspiration.

'If I can do it for 30 years or so,' he says, 'I'll be happy.'

Email David at david.templeton@sonomanews.com.