“Drama” puts the finishing touches on one of his trademark stylings. — Photo by Jessica Amodeo

"Can I take your picture?" 

"Ok."

"Who did your hair?"

"Him," the kid said.  "He did it." 

The kid with a green mohawk and painted red flames shaved onto his head points me toward the man responsible.  Rocky Rivera’s leaning against a battered car on Broadway, between Locust and Park, under the tracks of the JMZ. 

Outside, on the sidewalk that runs alongside Dixiara Unisex Salon & Barbershop is a green alligator that costs 25 cents a ride and lasts under a minute.  Inside, there’s the shampoo bottles and black leather chairs, towels, hair dryers, customers, and pictures of commercial models looking smooth and somewhat plastic. Here, a tailored design cut with Rocky will cost you around 25 dollars, and 20 minutes of your time.    

This is his station.  I step in and walk over small lumps of hair. Rocky has someone in his chair.  No designs, no colors, just a short buzz cut.

His partner, Drama, mans the chair next to him. One of the kids that hangs around the shop climbs up into Drama’s chair.  A booster seat is slipped under him and a black smock is flipped around his neck.

Rocky Rivera learned how to do hair in jail.  He was born and raised in the Bronx, but he’s of Puerto Rican descent.  His accent is thick.  When I ask him how long he was in jail, I mishear him. 

"You were in jail for two years?"

"Nah, too many years." 

If you ask him why, he’ll grunt, pause, and then laugh.  "It’s complicated,"  he says. 

We move on.  In barber school, they taught Rocky the basics, but he’s developed his own approach. "They taught me, you know what I’m saying, and from there you pick things up and change the way you cut.  That’s how I learn." 

Drama pulls out a spray can and I realize that the color commitment is minimal, only temporary.  Rocky says it only lasts a few days, depending on how many times you wash your hair. No, it doesn’t burn your scalp.  Is it more expensive for a girl?  Drama takes this one. "Well, if it’s a good-looking girl, then I’ll do it real cheap.  You know how it is."

The space is somewhat new to them.  Four weeks before, Rocky and Drama rented chairs down the street, over on Graham, but the owner ran their customers out.  "She don’t know nothing about business.  She don’t understand.  Strange people come in for haircuts, it don’t matter.  Every barber shop you got, it’s gonna work like that.  She didn’t like that, so we left." 

The doors at Dixiara are open 10am – 8pm, seven days a week.  All are welcome and the work speaks for itself. 

Rocky describes what he does as a hobby.  He calls it fun.  Sometimes we don’t choose our passions; our passions choose us. 

I give it one more shot, and then I’m done. 

"Are you going to tell me what you did time for?"

"You really want to know?"

"Yeah." 

Rocky tells me…

Like he said, it’s complicated.

Cut.

Dixiara Unisex
855 Broadway | 347-573-8048
10am-8pm, 7 days