After 57 years, Ford City barber still in style

Tom Hromadik still gives you a haircut for six bucks. He's still trimming heads using the clippers.

Not much has changed in 57 years at his barber shop in his home along Route 66 at the top of Ford City Hill.

There's the same cash register on the counter behind the same barber chair that's seated countless customers throughout the years.

Hromadik does put up a new calendar every year.

And the conversations are still the biggest part of getting a haircut there -- without a doubt.

"It's been the same place all these years," said Hromadik's long-time good friend Bill Crytzer. "Going to the barber ... yeah ... you get a haircut, but the conversations -- Tom sure follows through on that. You're still b-s'ing long after you're done with your haircut."

Hromadik, who will turn 76 on June 21, has cut back his hours to two mornings a week, on Thursdays and Fridays mostly.

However, he was involved in an automobile accident last month and hasn't decided whether that will end his barbering days.

"It might be a while," Hromadik said. "I might take a few appointments."

Hromadik opened his barber shop in 1955. Haircuts cost 75 cents, and it wasn't long until he was operating as a three-chair shop.

"I love cutting hair, and I like meeting people," Hromadik said. "I've cut hair for people from all four corners of the world, from Hawaii to Alaska, who were visiting Ford City."

"Things have changed in the world through the years but I never needed to make big money," he added. "That's why I kept my haircuts $6."

Barbering wasn't the only thing that has kept Hromadik busy.

He drove a school bus, was a member of Ford City Borough Council for eight years and was very involved as a founding member of the town's annual festival, Ford City Heritage Days.

"Lots of things came out of Heritage Days," he said. "The Ford City Chorus and the Ford City Hall of Fame were two of them."

In 1971, Hromadik was hired as an auditor with the state's Auditor General Office for the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board. He held that job until 1997 while continuing to operate his barber shop.

Crytzer said Hromadik's barber shop is the ideal place for stimulating and informative conversation.

"He (Hromadik) has a good memory and a fantastic mind," said Crytzer. "There's more history talk and trivia going on there than anywhere else you could be."