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13 OCT 04: THEY MUST BE GOING
The only sign of something different on First Avenue was a white wreath. It was attached to a door Tuesday afternoon, next door to Club Odyssey -- but thankfully, it had nothing to do with that same-sex marriage amendment on the Georgia ballot.
The wreath rested below a Ledger-Enquirer obituary, was taped to the glass door. James Richard Holt, who owned Holt's Barber Shop on First Avenue, died last Saturday. His funeral was Tuesday afternoon - where we hope no one was mean enough to make any "final cuts" about him.
Holt's Barber Shop sits so modestly near 12th Street and First Avenue that it's easy to ignore. I've walked by it many times. But I never went inside, and I was never really sure if anyone did. Perhaps downtown executives have gone there on their lunch hour -- men who consider shorter sideburns an "extreme makeover."
The First Avenue business doubles as a beauty shop, so perhaps that aspect will continue. But will it remain a barber shop, with James Holt gone? Will some all-knowing consultant suggest it's the perfect spot for a tattoo parlor, so close to
Broadway nightclubs?
This death could be significant because of the changes downtown Columbus has seen in recent years. Will there still be a place for barber shops, in an area turning into an art-and-nightlife zone -- filled with people who often consider haircuts a sign of evil conformity?
A quick check of the Yellow Pages Tuesday night found there are only two other barber shops in downtown Columbus, besides Holt's. One is in a motel, and the other is "Donna's Corporate Barber Shop" on 12th Street -- probably the perfect
place to drop a 3:00 p.m. shadow before a 4:00 board meeting.
A little more than a mile away, an even more surprising change in Columbus business occurred Tuesday. Miriam's Café was passed to a new owner, as Miriam Tidwell leaves the restaurant business. How can the organizer of "God Bless Fort Benning" do this? Has she forgotten an army runs on its stomach?
Miriam Tidwell told WRBL she's leaving the restaurant business after almost a decade, because her first love is helping cancer patients. Better to cook cells with radiation, than chicken with a wine sauce....
Miriam Tidwell will help her husband Jack run the Tidwell Cancer Treatment Center. Faye Simmons says she'll run the restaurant on 13th Street, but keep the Miriam's name. Yeah, sure -- who wants to guess when it will become Faye's-Miriam's, like Rich's-Macy's?
. So what will happen to Miriam Tidwell's weekly talk show on TV-16? She'll probably have more time to spend on it. And who knows - maybe she'll start a series of debates on proper health care with "Duke and the Doctor."
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