If These Walls Could Talk

I got a stabbing feeling yesterday
morning as I read fellow local
blogger's blog.

The HAIR HUT is closing.
They are tearing down the
building.

For those who don't know,
the Hair Hut is part of the
complex of IGA block (has
movie theater, Laundromat,
Gardenia Center and etc.)
which has been the hub of the
REAL people of Sandpoint.

You met everyone at the
store. You got all the good
gossip about everyone and
everything in Sandpoint at the
Hair Hut. Anything worth knowing
about Sandpoint was talked
about there. Oh, if these walls
could talk.

My mother-in-law lived and breathe
the Hair Hut for so many years.
Her laughter surely must still be
on the walls. Every one in town
knew her and her laughter... She
was known to everyone as Mama.
I use to go there when I lived in
town.

The gals in there are and were
fantastic. Joyce with her big grin
and wonderful laugh. Who had
Center stage at the middle chair.
Marge, who to me, was the serious
one. Kept the window chair busy.
And the other chairs have had
hair dressers come and go.

I would go there in the morning
when the rest of Sandpoint would
stop by on their way to work and
drop words of wisdom and gossip.

There was a man who had a barber
shop, who came by every morning
that I was there. I would laugh so
hard at him, as he spun stories
about Sandpoint, it was all I could
do to stay in the seat. Much
to Joyce's displeasure as it
is hard to curl hair on a moving
target. He, too, has passed away.
I believe his name was Gary Springer.

The vast variety of women who sat in
those chairs, school teachers, shop
keepers, all of the Real Sandpint, that
we refer to as Old Time Sandpointers.
The husbands who came by to pick
up their wives and added to the banter.
Oh, if these walls could talk, the voices
of the past and still present, that is
soon to be destroyed.

Oh, Sandpoint, our Sandpoint,
where are you going? As you
slowly slide out into the
shadows, of the new that
is coming.

You newcomers,
you will never know the
camaraderie of these people.
The closest you might come is
at the Tervan,(Tam o"Shanter).

Good luck, Marge,Joyce, and girls
as you find your new spot.