On-campus barber = clean-cut kids

When the Beatles were big and cool guys sported bellbottom jeans and gave up haircuts, he was labeled the loneliest man on campus by the Manhattan College Quadrangle. 

Now those 1960s “longhairs” come back to visit and the next generation of students occupy his chair. 

Artie Urrutia, the college’s own barber, first came to MC in February 1962 and 50 years later, it doesn’t seem like he’ll be going anywhere soon. 

The sharp-witted 80-year-old with glasses and a neatly pressed cardigan seems at home in his old-fashioned barbershop complete with a red, white and blue swirl on the window. 

Raised by his grandparents in a New Jersey home equipped with a family barbershop, Mr. Urrutia already knew how to cut by the time he was about 12. 

He then got a chair in another shop, but employers and customers soon became more like family, he said. One of his customers, Brother Edward O’Neill of MC, offered him a position in a shop on the MC campus, in Thomas Hall. 

“He’s been my mentor since I’ve been here,” Mr. Urrutia said. 

They became so close that when Mr. Urrutia used to go up to a beach bungalow on the Jersey Shore, Brother Steven Sullivan and Brother Robert Berger and his father would stop by for tea and sandwiches. 

“We’d talk and sit on the deck, look at the boats. It was really beautiful,” Mr. Uruttia said. 

He can strike conversation with just about anyone. 

Sophomore Michael Whelan stopped by the shop on May 16 for a quick buzz cut and to say his goodbyes for the summer.

“We always have fun together,” Mr. Whelan said as he took a seat in the shop. “[We talk] about everything.” 

“We talk longer than the haircut.”

As Mr. Urrutia perfected the cut, the two discussed off-campus housing, Mr. Whelan’s alma mater and the wrestling team he was on in high school. 

Stepping away from the chair, Mr. Urrutia said proudly, “You see what kind of kids I get here,” before grabbing his green mirror to ensure that one of his last customers of the semester was pleased with his work. 

Then they exchanged contact information so Mr. Urrutia can get in touch when he visits the bakery in Mr. Whelan’s town in Freehold, N.J.

“I’m five minutes from there,” he said before giving Mr. Urrutia a hug and taking off for summer vacation. 

Mr. Urrutia is known to take visitors on a flip through his pad of paintings, which includes a photo of the quad. He likes to talk about his daughters and grandchildren, makes restaurant suggestions or even invites his customers to tag along with him and his wife. 

 “[Artie] makes you feel that he is welcoming you into his home rather than his barbershop,” Brother Berger said.