Lansing — Lou Tallarico, 75, has run Lou's Barber Shop long enough to make it the oldest family-owned barbershop in Lansing.

Blue and red barber poles mark the location of the small shop at 521 E. Grand River Ave. in Lansing's Old Town district, where it has been open for business since 1937.

In the center of the shop sit two brown barber chairs, which are considered a relatively new addition at 50 years old.

"Everybody knows everybody; they call this my second love," Tallarico said. "I've been on this street since I was 5 years old."

Tallarico said 90 percent of his customers are regulars.

Herb Rials, 82, is no exception. Without having to ask Tallarico what he wanted done, Rials sat in the barber chair and Tallarico began trimming.

"I've been coming here since 1945," Rials said. "The first time, I came in here by accident."

Rials said he can count the times he has had his hair cut somewhere other than Lou's Barber Shop. He comes in once or twice a month.

Samuel Duncan, 48, has had his hair cut at the shop since he was a child. Duncan moved to Eaton Rapids, but still gets his hair cut at the Old Town shop.

"I've been coming here my whole life. My father came here. I come here," Duncan said. "Lou's always got interesting stories. He's well-known for his deer hunting; every horn on the wall has a story."

The shop has its own little community, Tallarico said.

He pulled down a black and white picture of his father, Fiori Tallarico, standing behind a barber chair. It was taken at the shop in 1941.

"My dad opened this place in 1937," Tallarico said. "It's been in the same Tallarico business for all these years."

Yet opening a barbershop was not the intention Fiori Tallarico had when arriving in the United States from Italy in 1902. Fiori got a job building railroads out West, but within two months he lost his leg and relocated to Chicago where he attended barber school, Tallarico said.

The lumberjacks working in northern Michigan needed barbers, and it was here that Fiori met his wife, Marcella. She worked for the state and was transferred to Lansing in 1935. Two years later Lou's Barber Shop was up and running, Tallarico said.

The sign in the background of the picture advertised haircuts for 40 cents. Tallarico, who has been cutting hair since 1949, said he has been in the barbershop long enough to see it through ups and downs.

"(In the) '40s and '50s, north Lansing was a boomin' area," he said. "It was a great community in those days."

But as malls began to move in during the 1960s, Tallarico said many of the "ma and pa shops" were run out of business. It was shortly after this time that the barbershop felt the effect of cultural trends.

"In the '70s, when everyone started getting long hair, they started to go to stylist shops," he said. "Business was cut in half."

A full-time position opened at the fire station where Tallarico volunteered, so he took it, working three days a week there and the rest at the barbershop.

"When I wasn't playing fireman, I was cutting hair; I did that for 25 years," he said, as he sat himself in the empty barber chair.

Running the barbershop is now Tallarico's full-time job, but he enjoys keeping the family business going, he said.

"When I was 10 years old, I was shining shoes in here," Tallarico said. "I've seen a lot of changes."