The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Barber marks 60 years of styling
Ohio Living Breckenridge Village barber Ray Amato marks 60 years of doing the job he loves
If you had to list three things that barber Ray Amato has done for his customers over the course of a 60-year career, it might be these: He’s kept them looking good, he’s kept them coming back, and he’s kept them laughing.
It doesn’t take long for a first-time visitor to the Barber Shop at Breckenridge Village in Willoughby to get a taste of Amato’s humor.
When customer Cal Hunter was asked what he liked about Amato as a barber, Amato was quick to interject.
“Tell him how smart I am,” he said.
And when Amato was asked the name of the person to whom he gave his first haircut, the barber didn’t disguise his lack of recollection.
“Sixty years ago? Oh God no. Are you serious?” Amato said. “I’m sure he’s dead.”
Although Amato has lost his share of customers to death since 1958, he still keeps a busy schedule cutting hair at the on-site barber shop of Ohio Living Breckenridge Village, a retirement community on Ridge Road.
The shop, located in the Veale Wellness and Aquatic Center, is open six days a week, with Amato and fellow barber Tony Soria each manning the shop three days.
Soria has worked alongside Amato as a barber for 40 years.
“He’s a very easy guy to work with,” Soria said. “We get along, which is very, very important in this business.”
Amato has been running the Barber Shop at Breckenridge Village since it opened six years ago. At that time, he was looking for part-time barber position and heard about an opportunity from longtime customer Bob Young, who resided at Ohio Living Breckenridge Village.
“Bob told me, ‘They’re thinking about putting a barber shop up. Would you be interested in starting one here?’ I had a negotiation with the big cheese here and opened up the shop.”
Although Ohio Living Breckenridge Village originally was planning to open the shop only two days a week, Amato knew that such a limited schedule would make it tough to establish a steady customer base. He convinced officials to open the shop six day a week, and brought Soria aboard so they each could work part time.
Hunter is one of the Breckenridge residents who visits Amato for haircuts.
“He’s a great conversationalist,” said Hunter, who has been coming to the onsite barber shop since it opened. “We love to chat about a whole range of things.”
Amato’s following also includes people from outside of Breckenridge who have been customers for many years.
Don Modica of Richmond Heights began getting haircuts from Amato when he operated a barber shop in the Richmond Mall from 1966 to 2006.
“Ray is terrific,” Modica said. “He has good stories and can cut hair pretty good, too.”
Amato said he decided to became a barber after graduating from Holy Name High School in Cleveland because he wanted to learn a trade, and didn’t have the money to go to college.
He earned his barber’s license at Molar Barber College in Cleveland, and then secured his first job in the field at Mapletown Shopping Center Barber Shop in Maple Heights.
Although his barbering career was interrupted when he served in the Army during the early part of the Vietnam War, Amato re-entered the field after finishing his military hitch.
“I opened up a shop in Richmond Mall called Richmond Mall Barber Shop. I was there for 40 years.”
From there, Amato started a barber shop in a medical building across from Richmond Heights General Hospital.
A Willoughby Hills resident, Amato said he still loves working as a barber after six decades and has no immediate plans to retire.
“This is the kind of job you can do for a long time, as long as you are physically able,” he said.
He pointed out that many of the customers he’s served during his long career have become his friends and the interaction that occurs in the barber shop has made his life more fulfilling.
“Seventy-five percent of what I know and do I learn from my customers and that’s the truth, by way,” he said. “My customers have taught me more than if I had a two-year associate’s degree.