New home for old-fashioned guys at Y Haircutters

JOHN YI/YH He even cut Ted Kennedy Jr.'s hair — Bernard Pellegrino, one of the owners of Y Haircutting.

Bernard Pellegrino of Y Haircutters knows about tradition. Forty-two years ago, his Italian-born father Enzo and his uncle Anthony Mangillo purchased a small barber shop on Broadway, at Boola Boola's present location. The shop has had several homes over the past years, from the basement of the Co-op's former location to its current spot next to Starbuck's. Pellegrino discussed with the Herald how Yale's Office of Properties reshuffled his store during the past summer and stressed the importance of family-owned businesses like his to the city.

Recently, Bruce Alexander, BK '65, Yale's Vice President of State and New Haven Affairs, and the mastermind behind the Broadway plan, told the Herald [9/10/99] that he envisions the area with national chains as anchors and local retailers present to add more variety. As part of that plan, many Broadway stores, including Y Haircutters, were moved out of their Yale-owned spaces.

At the end of its two-year run at York Street, Y Haircutters was given the option of moving to an upstairs location, such as Team Computer's current one, but decided that they preferred a street-level location. "After two years they told us that we had to move upstairs or leave," Pellegrino said. "We were afraid the walk-bys wouldn't see us. Besides, most barber shops tend to be on the street level, because it's a social atmosphere." Fortunately, Y Haircutters soon found a new location, owned by one of its long-time customers.

Before Pellegrino and his associates decided to move, he had suggested a possible compromise plan to Yale's Office of Properties. "We really wanted a spot on the ground [on York St.]," he said. "At the time, [Ashley's] had gone out of business, and we were also supposed to leave our spot, so there were two empty stores. I remember suggesting that we take just the first 500 or 600 square feet, with a back entrance, and then they could have another store come in—they could even have an L-shaped shop and leave that stuff upstairs for office space." Pellegrino's suggestion was not accepted "or [given] it was too late—I really don't know."

However, Pellegrino seems resigned to the fact that Y Haircutters did not have a place within Yale's plans. "Should I blame them? No, because that's business: they had a plan, and we didn't fit in. I was upset that my suggestions couldn't be at least thought about or heard a little better, but what can you really do?"

Despite the hassles of moving, Pellegrino still loves his job. He began as a young child, sweeping floors. "As a young kid I'd always hang out at the barbershop on Broadway," he said. "I was a rambunctious kid, so my father said the best way to keep me occupied was to put me to work sweeping the floors. They gave me 50 cents and all the soda I could drink. I'd go across the street to the Yankee Doodle and have a burger for lunch. It was great." Pellegrino also has many memories of the customers he's had—Yale students, famous professors, New Havenites, and even a Kennedy. "I remember when Ted Kennedy, Jr., GRD '91, was here doing research, and I did his hair. That was when Jackie Kennedy Onassis had passed away, and all I could say was `I'm sorry.'"

The old-time feel of a family business has also helped Y Haircutters gain a foothold in its new location. Old customers eventually find the new store, and new customers hear about it through word-of-mouth. The old-time décor—complete with old Yale sports memorabilia—also draws in customers. "[The new store] looks like an old shop, it has an old feel about it—the old wainscoting, the old striped pole, and barber chair in the window," Pellegrino said.

Pellegrino feels very strongly that family businesses like his own should be preserved in the Yale-New Haven area. "When you find out what brings people to New Haven, it's always been the small, family-owned businesses. That's what people remember." Pellegrino suggested that bigger chains could never replace the small New Haven businesses. "If you replaced the Yankee Doodle, God forbid, with a McDonald's, it wouldn't be so much of a draw. And that's what Yale's all about, isn't it—tradition? That's what it's supposed to be about."

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