Joe Quattrone, an 88-year-old Italian immigrant who has been the barber at the barbershop at the House of Representatives since 1971, announced that he will retire at the end of August, Roll Call reports.
Back on March 2, 1971, when haircuts cost 75¢, Quattrone joined one of seven barbershops that operated in the Capitol complex. Today, he’s the last remaining shop operating on the House side–a taxpayer-subsidized barbershop cuts Senators’ hair for free–and now haircuts cost $20.
Quattrone remembers his first day of work well, because it was the day after the Weather Underground detonated a bomb in a Senate bathroom. And he was there on January 6th when Republican-led domestic terrorists attacked Congress to stop the certification of the 2020 election.
Sometimes, Joe Q will provide a “house call,” going to a member’s office when they can’t get down to the shop. (He did this frequently during the pandemic, when skeleton staff in offices meant people couldn’t sneak away for a trim.) The sound of his feet on the floors of the Rayburn office building makes him feel like he’s at home: he helped pour the terrazzo floors when it was being built in 1964, prior to becoming a barber.