| Newton MA News and Politics BlogSix years ago I wrote this piece about the mysterious defunct Legion Barber Shop in Upper Falls.  The shop was shuttered in the 1990’s and has remained untouched ever since.  Its even more amazing now, since six more years have passed, and still the ghostly barber shop looks like the barber walked out yesterday.

The brick building that houses the Legion Barber Shop is also the home to the fabulous Jean & Lee’s Kitchen next door, a bustling restaurant with plenty of activity.  That makes it all the stranger that the other half of the building remains a frozen shrine to long-ago haircuts.

That building is the only property on the massive block not owned by Northland.  If the massive Northland development project goes ahead as planned, I love the idea of the tiny ghost barber shop remaining amidst it for the next 20 years.

A few years ago, a journalism student contacted me.  He had stumbled upon the original piece I wrote about the ‘ghost ship’ barber shop and became intrigued.   He asked me everything I knew about it which was not much.  He then spent a week trying every way he could think of to dig out more information – trying to track down the owner, the tenants who live up stairs, the neighbors, the city.   He called me back a week later and said “it’s REALLY weird..  Every single person I spoke to said ‘no you shouldn’t write anything about that’.  Nobody would tell me anything.  After a week of digging he hadn’t learned a thing.

The mystery remains and the ghost ship barber shop continues to float into the future.