Landlord Gives East Harlem Barber The Boot After 60 Years In Staple Shop
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A close shave is turning into a fresh start for an 80-year-old East Harlem barber.
Claudio Caponigro has been cutting hair and making friends at his barbershop at E. 116th Street for the past 60 years.
"They say, 'Claudio you gave my father a cut, my son a cut, three generations of haircuts," Caponigro, who is known in the neighborhood simply as "Claudio the Barber," said.
1010 WINS' Juliet Papa reports
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This week his new landlord decided to raise the rent and oust Caponigro in favor of a new Chinese eatery.
"I'd be happy if I were to stay at this barbershop because this barbershop gave me everything," Caponigro told 1010 WINS' Juliet Papa.
Now, he is packing up his green barber chairs, mementos, and a cash register older than him.
"When I took down my grandchildren, my daughter's pictures I wanted to cry, believe me," Caponigro said.
But he won't be going very far.
Dr. Alex Greenstein, a surgeon at Mount Sinai Hospital who owns a four-story walk-up just a few doors down from the shop, stepped in and made a deal with Caponigro to take over the ground floor where the shop will live on.
