With salons popping up all over Eugene, and more salons catering to and attracting male clientele, the old-style barbershop is one cut away from extinction. There is a place near campus, however, where customers can still get a trim and a conversation about sports — or whatever: the Red Rooster Barber Shop.
Located at 866 E. 13th Ave., Red Rooster is the last of the Mohicans. It is a symbol of the dying tradition of personal, specialized barbershops.
Those who venture inside can witness its distinction. Several sports magazines and the most recent copy of Playboy sit on a shelf.
But if female nudity seems unusual for a haircutting place, then it’s even more unusual that this shop features a trophy deer looming over the waiting area, the jaws of the 100-pound shark that the proprietor Pete Peterson caught, a garage-sale rooster mosaic and the framed signature of Steve Prefontaine’s last — and canceled — hair appointment.
Peterson, who has cut hair at this location for more than 30 years, has plastered the ceiling and three walls with trophy game, photos, posters and other autographed sports memorabilia. He has an autographed Super Bowl XXIV football on display, a signed photo of former 49ers Head Coach George Seifert and an autographed cardboard cutout of former University quarterback and current ABC analyst Dan Fouts.
But Peterson emphasized that most of the sports memorabilia are gifts from clients who have become friends.
Explaining his motto, Peterson said, “I want to make friends out of my customers but not customers out of my friends. And that is why I have as many friends as I do.”
Peterson said that before the sports department moved to the Casanova Center, the coaches, staff and athletes used to drink coffee and “bullshit” with him at his shop. Men’s basketball head coach Ernie Kent became friends with the barber during his days as a “Kamikaze Kid” on the basketball team. Since their meeting 28 years ago, Kent and Peterson have dined and fished together and seen their families change.
“He shows compassion in the community,” Kent said. “He knows everybody, and everybody knows him. … He is part of the University to me.”
Although the Red Rooster is less visited by current athletes, the camaraderie between the barbers and diverse clientele is evident. Peterson said people join in each others’ conversations and talk about anything and everything, but mostly women, sports and bawdy jokes.
Making his shop seem like “Cheers,” Peterson said, “We have fun with every person that walks through the door.”
Sophomore Michael Rogers, who has visited Red Rooster four or five times, said Peterson is a legitimate friend to his former and now famous clients and “has good relationships with all his customers.”
Rogers, who said the shop is comfortable and entertaining, added, “When you ask Pete about someone, he goes on and on forever.”
On campus since the early 1970s, Peterson has as many interesting stories as clients. Because of his accurate memory of a hair cut, Peterson said he helped identify a bank robber about 30 years ago. Peterson, who cut Prefontaine’s hair, said he even became a consultant to the track flick “Without Limits” when the hairdresser could not give an actor a proper flattop. In recent years, the barber has hosted a fishing segment with the local NBC affiliate KMTR and raised more than $1,000 for Children’s Miracle Network.
While other barbershops and salons have come and go, the Red Rooster has lasted through five University presidents, the football team’s eight-year losing streak and numerous hair trends. Kent said the barbershop has never changed. As for the future, the shop is expected to stay the same.
Actually, there may be more pictures on the walls.