Laura Sturza
BURBANK -- For a man who has held barber's shears in his fingers
nearly every working day for 63 years, Peter Mora is looking forward to
having time on his hands.
Mora trimmed his final head Thursday, after cutting men's hair for 25
years at his shop, Hairport, at the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport.
Cutting the hair of Lockheed employees, he had the chance to meet many
high-ranking officials, but stopped short of dropping names.
"Everyone's just [as] important," said Mora, 76. "When someone's in
the chair, you never know who he is."
Retired Burbank Police Officer Bill Richmond, 67, started going to
Mora's shop in the 1970s.
"He never cut me once," Richmond said. "He was always good at the
extras."
Mora's method had everything to do with listening to his customers,
trimming a bit, then asking, "Is this OK?"
After moving to California from New York in 1977 with his wife, Edith,
Mora found his airport post by responding to a newspaper ad.
He built up business that year by offering $2.50 haircuts when the
going rate was $7. By year's end, he had a thriving customer base. When
the shop closed Thursday, cuts cost $10.
His former shop space, which is behind the skycap podium for Terminal
A, will be used for law enforcement activities, though details have not
been finalized, airport officials said.
Mora learned the trade in his native Poland at 13 and emigrated to New
York City in 1949, where he continued to practice his craft.
After working most of his life -- with his wife joining him at the
shop most days for the past 38 years -- Mora said he looks forward to
getting up in the morning and not having to go anywhere.
"This is big stuff for us, so we don't know yet what we're going to
do," Edith Mora said. "We're going to get busy doing volunteer work and
things like that."
THE MORA FILE
* WHO: Peter Mora, barber at Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport for 25
years
* FAMILY: Wife Edith, three sons.
* A CONVERSATION AS RELAYED BY CUSTOMER AL SHAPIRO:
Shapiro: "I don't have lot of hair. Cut it short."
Mora: "I'll cut it the way I want. It'll look better."
Shapiro: "I like it short. This way [your way] I have to keep coming
back."
Mora: "So what?"
