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Pedro, the barber, has left the building

 
Published Sept. 1, 2015

ST. PETERSBURG — Longtime barber Clyde "Pedro" Holladay swept up hair for the last time Friday at the shop in One Progress Plaza where he's been a downtown institution for 25 years.

Today, he stands behind a different chair at 4200 Fourth St. N. "I feel positive about it," said Holladay. "A lot of my customers live in this part of town. I don't think I'll lose too many downtown customers." He's leasing one of three chairs at Eddie Dunn Hair Systems.

The 66-year-old barber actually started his St. Petersburg career in 1977 working in a shop Dunn owned on First Avenue S next to what was then the Trailways bus station and is now the Rowdies Den.

A nail salon is moving into his old spot at One Progress Plaza. Holladay learned his lease wouldn't be renewed via a letter under the door from the management company in May.

(His sidekick, Mark Ammons, will start soon at Nouvelle Beauty Bar at 475 Central Ave.)

"I'm still calling my business Pedro's Tonsorial Parlor. I still answer my own phone," Holladay said. He'll have all the accoutrements of his old shop — the vintage barber tools, the lending library, the Alabama football memorabilia — at the new one.

There are six customers in the book for his Fourth Street debut.

Contact Katherine Snow Smith at KSSmith@tampabay.com. Follow @snowsmith.