Rick's Barber Shop - "Psychic Barber", 4845 California Ave SW, West Seattle.
Originally located a few blocks south, Rick's Barber Shop was in a storefront next to a psychic. The psychic had a large neon sign reading "Psychic", with her phone number below, and when Rick added a neon sign of his own he matched the font, color, and size of his neighbor's. Side by side, in adjacent windows, they looked like "Psychic Barber" from the street.
Eventually the psychic's business failed, and she simply stopped paying rent and abandoned everything in the shop. The landlord gave Rick the sign, and he relocated it (minus the phone number) above his own, so it now read "Psychic Barber" in a single window. It became a West Seattle landmark, with reporters always eager to retell the story or ask Rick for his forecast on major sporting events.
Last year he moved to a new building. The window was too small for the original Psychic and Barber signs, so he mounted those on an inside wall instead, but got some new neon - red, white, and blue - for the window.
Still in business, Rick's Barber Shop is temporarily closed due to the virus. There's a paper sign in the window apologizing that he didn't see this coming.

Author

matthucke

Created on

Friday 13 December 2019

Posted on

Tuesday 14 April 2020

Keywords

barber, joke, neon, neon sign, psychic, seattle, seattle neon, west seattle

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