Rosey Spivey’s decades of service to Marble Hill celebrated with street naming

Roosevelt “Rosey” Spivey settled into Marble Hill’s International Unisex Salon nearly 65 years ago, and on Oct. 18, his legacy became a part of New York City forever with a ceremony co-naming the West 228th Street intersection “Rosey’s Marble Hill Barbershop Way,” after the informal name used by customers.

Dozens of people of all ages gathered in front of the shop at 151 W. 228th Street, listening as childhood patrons, family members and staff voiced their deep appreciation for Spivey and the sense of community fostered in his shop. The co-naming was led by Marble Hill Council member Carmen De La Rosa.

Spivey graduated from high school in North Carolina and moved to New York City with the dream of becoming a barber. He took classes in Manhattan, eventually buying the spot on Marble Hill Avenue for $800, he said.

“The landlord asked me, ‘You think you can make it here?’” Spivey recalled. “I told him, ‘I’m not sure, but I’m gonna try it.’”

Since then, generations of residents from Marble Hill and beyond have been fiercely loyal to the shop, many for a lifetime. Michael Mullens, now 68 and sporting a New York City Housing Authority Marble Hill Houses jacket at the ceremony, said he was the first person to ever get his hair cut in the shop. His father brought him in after school one day.

“That little-kid chair he has in there, I broke that in,” Mullens said.

Spivey told The Press the street-naming ceremony was the best day at the shop he can remember since opening. He thanked God, who he said gave him the strength to carry on, and the community, which he said he would not have been here this long without.

Senior barber Garfield Myrie started working at the shop as a teenager. He thanked Spivey for the opportunity, and for trusting him with the shop’s keys at a young age.

“Rosey loves Marble Hill,” Myrie said. “Everybody respects him around here. Rosey spent his whole life making people look good, and I feel good because today your name is going to be remembered forever.”

Another teenage apprentice was Curtis Smith, who would go on to found hair care brand Xotics, and work as the personal barber for Usher Raymond, Sean “Diddy” Combs and Maxwell, among other celebrities. None of it would have been possible if it wasn’t for Spivey, Smith said.

Smith was 13 when Spivey started cutting his hair. He visited weekly, watching Spivey’s craft and going home to perfect his own, charging his friends a grilled cheese sandwich for a cut. 

“He gave me a chance when nobody else would,” Smith said.

In 2020, the shop nearly succumbed to a rent hike, The Press reported at the time. Monthly dues were reportedly set to increase from $1,400 to $2,900. Longtime customers were in disbelief then, citing the generational significance of the shop in a largely Black community, according to previous reporting. The Covid-19 pandemic hit soon after, and a statewide eviction moratorium bought Spivey some time to navigate the looming threat. Elected officials and Tony Edwards, president of the Marble Hill Tenants Association, helped Spivey secure a lawyer and halt the rent hike, The Press reported.

De La Rosa’s office pointed to the fight for Rosey’s as a reflection of the importance of preserving small businesses as neighborhoods evolve.

“Preserving Rosey’s means protecting more than a storefront,” De La Rosa’s office wrote in a pamphlet distributed to attendees. “It means safeguarding a piece of Marble Hill’s history and honoring the generations of residents who have made the shop part of their lives.”

Spivey is a pillar in the community, said Malik Walls, a Marble Hill Houses resident who said Spivey watched him grow up. He’s a good person to be around, and an inspiration, he said.

“He’s a safe haven for people to come and talk,” Walls said. “He helps a lot of folks and, as you see, that love is reciprocated”