Cuts and shaves that stand the test of time: Jerry's Barbershop turns 25

The corner of 242nd Street and Broadway has seen businesses come and go. Riverdale’s only bike shop catered to the neighborhood for seven years before it closed in 2017 and the famous Shortstop Coffee Shop and Diner shuttered after three decades of serving the community. But Jerry’s Barbershop has stood the test of time for the last 25 years.

Run by Jerry D. Lewis, the barbershop at 207 W. 242nd St. is a staple of the community, proud to serve a diverse clientele.

“It’s a melting pot,” Lewis said. “Police officers, college students, kids, Puerto Rican, Black, Dominican -- you name it, they come here.”

Lewis, 55, arrived to Riverdale as a baby from the Hunts Point area. He attended M.S. 141 where he played football for the Riverdale Rams and attended the now-shuttered John F. Kennedy High School.

He is a man of short stature who speaks boisterously, with a personality as big as his smile. He’s a father of four, with his youngest being 17. He considers himself blessed and is thankful for the career he has had which allowed him to support his family.

Lewis has always been a barber, starting at 13 years old.

“I gave my brother a haircut and it came out so messed up,” Lewis laughed. “It was like an angle, we called it the ‘Gumby dammit,” -- named after the popular Claymation cartoon of the ‘50s and 60’s where the titular character had a slanted head.

Mistakes are common in the learning process, but in 1999, Lewis would make his last. He was working at Robert’s Barbershop at 5824 Broadway – now under new ownership and called Estilo Master -- and wanted to emulate the style of a fellow barber who cut with scissors and a comb instead of a machine.

“I was trying to be sexy with it,” Lewis said, then he nicked the man’s ear. “That mistake really helped me focus and I haven’t cut an ear since.” 

Lewis quit Robert’s in April 2000 and a month later, Jerry’s Barbershop opened at a building adjacent to his current shop. He moved to 207 W. 242^nd St. in 2017. Throughout the years, he has not only built a loyal customer-base, but he also fostered community.

In the early 2000s, parents would leave their kids at the shop and asked if Lewis could keep an eye on them while they ran errands. It wasn’t uncommon to see a group of children sitting in the shop, watching cartoons.

Lewis recalled a particular pair of twins who would get dropped off by their mother with books to read and were warned to not watch TV. But as soon as she left, their eyes would wander from the pages to the screen.

“They would laugh and I would say, ‘What are you laughing at? You’re not watching T.V. are you?’” Lewis recalled, joshing with the kids.

Those same little bookworms still get their haircut at Jerry’s; one is graduating from Yale and the other from Duke University this year.

But Lewis doesn’t work alone. His fellow barber, Luis Sanchez, has been with him from the beginning.

“I came in on day four,” Sanchez said, who used to live across the street from the shop and met Lewis through his landlord, someone Lewis is incredibly thankful to.

“He believed in me and gave me a shot at one of his storefronts,” he said.

Donna Adorno, Riverdale resident, started working for Lewis in 2022, but has been cutting hair for 32 years. The two met cutting hair met while working at Robert’s, now under new ownership and called, Estilo Master.  

“I’ve actually wanted Donna to come work for me for the last 25 years,” Lewis said.

But Adorno’s loyalty to her customers and her boss – despite her disdain for him – kept her at Robert’s until the place closed three years ago.

“I love it. Best decision I’ve made in a long time,” Adorno said of coming to work at Jerry’s Barbershop.

Those who know the atmosphere around service work understand loyalty is a theme, especially at barbershops and salons. A point a detective emphasized while sitting in the chair last week.

“My barber, I had since I was a kid and he left to go somewhere else,” said the detective who didn’t want to use his name for fear of being reprimanded for getting a haircut while on the job. “As soon as Jerry sang in my ear once, I was done.”

The entire shop erupted in laughter.

Lewis is known for his singing and occasionally attends karaoke night at the Punch Bowl on 238th Street and Broadway, where he sings Bon Jovi’s 1986 hit, “Wanted Dead or Alive.” A trait he likely received from his parents who were both in the music business. His father was a songwriter who co-wrote the 1971 hit “The Thin Line Between Love and Hate” by The Persuaders.

“That hit record moved us to Riverdale,” Lewis said.

Lewis’ father died in 2009 and his mother Geraldine Lewis lives in North Carolina.

“ I thank God for her because she taught me how to be warm, not scared to love, but also how to like know when to cut it off and, you know, protect myself and stay away from bad folks,” he said.

As for his favorite haircut?

“My haircut,” he said. “Skin on the bottom and one-and-a-half on top.”

The numbers refer to the size of the clipper guards, with skin being a zero or no guard at all. Sanchez likes giving a Caesar or as he calls it, “a barber’s paradise” because it is an even one all around.

Lewis will host a BBQ for his customers at Van Cortlandt Park, across from the shop the afternoon of Sunday, May 18 to show his appreciation for their loyalty throughout the years.