Carl Bowles in the chair at Gus’s Barbershop in Red Bank as barber Augusta Carter works the trimmer. (Photo by Jim Willis. Click to enlarge)
By JIM WILLIS
You don’t need a PhD in sociology – or even a BA in journalism – to know that the best and most scientific demographic sampling takes place in barbershops.
So to get a sense of how folks around the greater Red Bank Green will be celebrating Thanksgiving next week, PieHole, redbankgreen‘s food page, checked in with a few area barbers and hair stylists – and the people in their chairs – to find out what’s for dinner on T-Day.
This is the first entry in a series of quick bites we’re calling ‘Morsels.’ Watch for more in coming days at PieHole.
Gus’s Barbershop, Shrewsbury Avenue, Red Bank.
Carl Bowles, in the chair: We have a family get-together in Tinton Falls. My four brothers and four sisters and my dad, my dad’s 83 and still with us. Maybe another dozen or so grandkids around.
We have turkey, potatoes, macaroni, cranberry, collard greens, sweet potatoe pie, apple pie — the whole deal. All of us have to bring a dish. I’ll probably bring some potato salad. It’s the time once a year when we all get together, one of my brothers lives down in Alabama and he’ll be up. Most of us are in New Jersey. He retired from the service down south after the Army for more than 20 years.
Augusta Carter, proprietor and barber: It’s a family get-together at my home. My wife does the cooking. I do the eating. Turkey, ham, potatoes – whatever she’s fixing, I’m eating.