The year is 1945, and young Augustus Curtiss, known as Gus, is getting a haircut. It is close quarters in Harold Colwell’s barber shop tucked away in a small room in the Royal Arcanum building (now the Wood Creek Bar & Grill). Next to Harold’s fedora, a bottle of 7-up sits on a bench in the lower right corner of the photograph. A calendar on the wall tells us it is October. World War II has ended, and on the 24th of the month the United Nations would be officially established. The Detroit Tigers have beaten the Chicago Cubs to win the World Series, and the first functional digital computer weighing 50 tons is in the process of being built at the University of Pennsylvania. The cost of a first-class postage stamp is three cents, and the cost of a haircut not much more.
Ann Havemeyer

Photo copyright Norfolk Historical Society.