Lisa’s Hair Design

About Us

781-878-7661

www.lisashairdesigns.info

To contact us:

John's Barber Shop

196 Union Street

Rockland, MA  02370

To contact us call:

781-878-7661  

Lisa’s Hair Design

Years earlier, Rockland’s Union Street business district served as a magnet for shoppers from surrounding towns.  Molla’s business would increase each summer as residents of neighboring towns and vacationers would come to Rockland to shop.  Stop and Shop, A&P, First National Bank and a Movie Theater were Rockland’s retail attractions in the pre-shopping mall era.  While John’s Barbershop thrived, the storefront witnessed the destruction of several nearby businesses, including Woolworth’s, Newbury's furniture store and Kelly’s Tavern, by fire. The latter establishment, Molla recalled, “was a real old-time tavern.  He wouldn’t allow a woman in there.  There were spittoons, sawdust on the floor.  It was like the Wild West.”

Saturdays were the busiest day at John’s Barbershop and they served a dual purpose as a local gathering spot.  “Everyone knew each other.  Some people used to get their hair cut every two weeks, “Molla said.” There used to be a couple of characters who came in with the town gossip.  It was more of a good time than anything.”  In 1968, the barbershop metamorphosed into Rockland Beauty Center as his wife Barbara, a beautician, joined Molla in the business,  For a while, the entire Molla family was employed there:  John Molla Jr. and the couple’s three daughters –Lisa, Linda and Donna-Marie.

It was about that time that Molla began to detect a revolution in men’s hairstyle, a revolution he attributes to a quartet of mop-topped musicians from Liverpool, England. “The Beatles really started it, “Molla said.  “We started noticing it in 1967.” Most of the older barbers in Rockland quit, “said Molla.  The kids started going to beauty shops.  The associated us with wiffles, They thought they were going to get scalped (at a barbershop).

Molla, however, enjoyed a degree of loyalty among his own customers. In fact he counts four generations of the same families as among his clients.  Other customers gave the unisex salons’ a few tries but returned to the old-fashioned barbershop.  The difference, said Molla, is that barbershops specialize in cutting men’s hair. “A barber uses what they call a buzzer –clippers. “he said.  “You can’t (cut men’s hair) with a scissors-and-comb.

In 1981, Lisa Molla bought the business from her father and founded Lisa’s Hair Design.  Molla’s wife Barbara, who has passed away, taught her daughters the trade the pursue today.  Lisa Ingalls and her husband Paul run Lisa’s Hair Design and John’s Barbershop respectively.

 

Rockland Mariner Thursday May 6 1993

ROCKLAND—It was the flat-tops that saved him.  The year was 1953, you could get a haircut for a buck and John Molla didn’t lack for competition when he opened his barbershop at 196 Union St.  In fact, at least nine other barbershops competed for the town’s hair cutting clientele.  But Molla, who had worked as a barber at Otis Air Force Base before striking out on his own, had an advantage. “I used to wonder how I was going to make a living. “Molla recalled.”  (But) I made the best flat-top in town. Last week Molla celebrated his 40th anniversary in the Rockland hair cutting business.  Now semi-retired Molla fills in as a part-time supervisor at John’s Barbershop and Lisa’s Hair Salon, which share the building where he first opened. One barbershop or another had occupied the building since 1929.  Molla bought the shop from 69 year old Harold Blanchard, who was retiring.  Earlier it had been known as Doc Ryan’s Barbershop. The waiting room of the present facility was Molla’s original shop.  Miller Luncheonette was located next door until Molla expanded in 1960.