Capitol makeover will close barber’s shop
There will be more than one Sine Die at the Capitol this year.
The Legislature will end its session once it approves a budget that Gov. Mary Fallin can support, and barber and stylist Woody Yaklin and his Mr. Woody’s Barber and Style Shop on the Capitol’s lowest level will close July 1.
With Mr. Woody’s closure, the perk of being able to get a haircut, shave and shoe shine that’s been enjoyed by lobbyists, legislators, judges, state employees, elected officials and those who covered them as reporters for nearly a century will end.
Throughout most of the Capitol’s history, the shop also has been a place to get caught up on the latest inside scoop about
major players on the state political stage.
At times, the business not only was good. It also was political.
Past evictions
The first time a Capitol barber made the news was February 1931, when Charles Riggs nicked Gov. “Alfalfa Bill” Murray’s face while giving him a shave. The governor, news reports said, jumped from the chair, denounced the place a “butcher shop,” and directed the Capitol’s board of affairs to terminate Riggs’ lease.
The next time the Capitol barber became political was in 1955, when a victorious Gov. Raymond Gary evicted longtime barber E.E. Carder from the Capitol after winning his election.
The problem, Gary said, was that Carder had supported Gary’s opponent in the race, William O. Coe, and that he wanted friendly people around him.
Carder had been the Capitol’s barber for 24 years, since Gov. Murray’s administration. While he leased the space, he owned the equipment inside.
“It is just a case (where my) administration would just rather have a different barber down there,” Gov. Gary said, at the time. “Some people around here think there shouldn’t be changes. But I feel more comfortable among my friends.”
No doubt, the Capitol barber shop has been a place of interest for decades.
Yaklin’s current and past customers include agency heads, supreme court justices, legislators, journalists and others.
Dr. Bob Blackburn, also a regular customer, said the capitol barber has played a role in serving both the public and state officials for decades.
But Blackburn doesn’t believe the building opened 100 years ago this year with a barber shop as a feature. At the time, the Legislature met only every other year, other tenants in the building were few and the Capitol was mainly a ceremonial place.
As Oklahoma’s state government began to mature, as nearby housing was built and once the Capitol was connected to the rest of the community via a streetcar line, the building became more busy and it’s likely that’s when a barber shop was added.
After World War II, space in the building was at a premium. But by then, an open barber shop was a constant fixture in the building, Blackburn said.
Yaklin has leased the barber shop at the capitol since 1996, taking over from another barber who had to retire because of health problems.
At age 77, he’s operated shops in Guthrie, Oklahoma City and Tulsa. He is certified not only by the state’s barber commission, but also by numerous academies.
Yaklin had intended his Capitol stint to be his sunset position with a planned 2020 retirement.
But even Yaklin admits times have changed.
“When I first came out here, I signed a five-year lease. We were so busy, we couldn’t hardly get all of our customers in. But after they voted in term limits, the business has been just steadily going down the tube,” he said.
“Now, we sit around most of the time,” said Yaklin.
“If we get seven customers a week now, the shop’s doing good,” added Bill Taylor, a shoe shiner who’s been working in Yaklin’s shop since before Gov. Brad Henry started his second term. “You can’t make a living at it anymore.”
Still, Yaklin said he’s enjoyed his time there.
“It’s been a very interesting place to work, and I’ve loved every minute of it.”
Construction update
Two bond issues totaling $245 million were authorized to make Capitol repairs.
Outside, work focuses on salvaging the building’s damaged exterior and includes the repair, refurbishment or replacement of its roof and drainage systems. Detailed inspections, cleanings and repairs are being made to the building’s limestone exterior. Windows are being removed and sent off to be rehabilitated and plans are to replace doors and to repair stairs, plazas, railings, battlements and sidewalks. A new secure visitors’ entrance to the building also will be created.
Inside, the building’s plumbing, electrical, HVAC, fire and security and technology systems are being replaced, the building’s loading dock will be overhauled, stairways will be added to meet safety and code requirements and inside spaces will be refurbished, plus obsolete equipment and furniture will be replaced.
Design took all of 2015 and much of the following year. In July 2016, scaffolding began going up on the west face of the Capitol’s north wing so that work could begin to refurbish that part of the building’s windows and stone. It covers five elevations of the building now and will move along clockwise around the building as work continues.
Manhattan Construction Co. representatives said the project is progressing ahead of schedule and under budget, thanks in part to 3-D modeling of the building contractors used to develop project plans and continue to use to keep track of project work.
The exterior portion of the building’s renovation is expected to be done in 2019. The interior work should be done in 2022.
As for a barber shop, there are no plans to put one back into the Capitol, said Trait Thompson, project manager for the ongoing renovation of the Capitol.
“The decision to close the shop shouldn’t be taken as being any type of reflection on Mr. Yaklin or the excellent services he has provided through Mr. Woody’s Style Shop for the past two decades,” Thompson said.
That level of the building, he continued, will serve as the main visitor entrance to the Capitol. While it will include a snack bar for guests, designers don’t anticipate those guests will be stopping for haircuts for part of their visits.
“We had some decisions to make about how to use that space, and we just didn’t feel like a barber shop would be used that much when we were looking into the future.”