Mount Airy actor celebrates show by driving squad car
“It’s just time,” said owner Bill Hiatt. “My wife and I are getting up there [in age]. We have some health issues and still want to do some things.”
While actor Howard McNear played the lovable television barber on the Andy Griffith Show, Bill’s dad, Russell, was the real deal.
“He loved the people, and people loved him,” Bill said. “He had Mayberry fans from every state and many countries stop by.”
More than 70,000 pictures of those fans, some famous, now cover the walls of the barbershop.
Mount Airy
Russell grew up in Mount Airy, and so did actor Andy Griffith, who inserted some local names and places into the scripts of his popular 1960s television show.
The show, filmed in Los Angeles, has been in reruns ever since and continues to attract a new generation of fans who flock to the Surry County city in search of the places that inspired the fictional town of Mayberry.
The city barber shop opened in 1926.
Russell took it over in 1946 and cut hair there until he was 90. He passed away in 2016, but his son has continued to welcome fans with friendly smiles.
He hopes to find a buyer who can keep everything in the shop the same, including serving up lots of smiles.
“If you can go out with a smile on your face and in your heart, you can help them have a whole lot better day,” he said.
On Saturday Israel and the United States abruptly launched a large-scale war against Iran—the second…
As a young amateur painter and future art school dropout, I frequently found myself haunted…
One of the most trusted leakers for Call of Duty will no longer share confidential…
Sot.com sold for $46,000 to lead all domain sales at Sedo for the week. ToolFinder.com…
Insomnia Cookies will open four new stores in Westfield, Jersey City, Montclair, and Red Bank.…
New Jersey’s 18 community colleges pumped $12.8 billion into the state’s coffers during fiscal year…
This website uses cookies.