Remembering the past while making way for change in the Central District
As an excavator tore into the green-and-white awning of the old Earl’s Cuts and Styles barbershop in Seattle’s Central District neighborhood, Earl Lancaster filmed the moment with his phone.
“There it goes! There she goes, my baby,” said Lancaster, the founder and owner of Earl’s Cuts and Styles, which transcended doing haircuts long ago to become a community hub.
“There it goes! There she goes, my baby,” said Lancaster, the founder and owner of Earl’s Cuts and Styles, which transcended doing haircuts long ago to become a community hub.
Seattle barber Earl Lancaster remains amid swirl of displacement
Barber Earl Lancaster (standing, right) of Earl’s Cuts and Style, has been cutting hair in Seattle’s Central District for 30 years. The shop currently operates in a temporary space at 22nd Avenue and East Union Street but will move in about six weeks to the new Liberty Bank Building. Here, Lancaster cuts new customer Ernest Cooper, who recently moved from South Carolina to Seattle.
PSBJ Interview: Earl Lancaster adjusts to change in the Central District, ‘but it came at a price
Barber Earl Lancaster of Earl’s Cuts and Style has been cutting hair in Seattle’s Central District for over 25 years and he was interviewed by the PSBJ at his temporary location at 22nd & E. Union St. on April 16, 2019 before he moves into his permanent new space in the under-renovation Liberty Bank Building.
Once troubled Central Area corner now on verge of transformation
By Lornet Turnbull Originally published February 18, 2013 at 12:00 am Updated February 19, 2013 at 10:43 am
It’s a Friday night and just down from the corner of 23rd Avenue and East Union Street, a small knot of smokers is chatting outside the doors of The Neighbor Lady.
Inside the subtly lit bar, with its funky wall hangings and even funkier vibe, rock and soul and some country music jockey for background attention. It feels like customers never stop coming through the door.
And if you’ve been paying attention to this gritty, long-troubled corner at the heart of Seattle’s Central Area, you begin to see something different is happening here.
Inside the subtly lit bar, with its funky wall hangings and even funkier vibe, rock and soul and some country music jockey for background attention. It feels like customers never stop coming through the door.
And if you’ve been paying attention to this gritty, long-troubled corner at the heart of Seattle’s Central Area, you begin to see something different is happening here.
Barber’s New Lease Signals Growth Within Central District
by Tracy Decroce And Dean Forbes April 26, 2019
Earl Lancaster and other African-American owned small business owners are benefiting from a Seattle U program that is helping them to remain and thrive in the community.
Earl’s Cuts and Styles—the iconic Central District barbershop owned and operated successfully for nearly three decades by Earl Lancaster—is claiming a slice of Seattle’s rapid growth and development. Lancaster is among several local business owners working with Seattle University’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center to retrofit their current business models in ways that provide passage into modern retail spaces in this historically African-American neighborhood.
Amazon in Seattle: Economic godsend or self-centered behemoth?
By Robert McCartney
SEATTLE — On an upper floor of Amazon’s Day 1 tower, foosball tables and beanbag games dot the shared spaces filled with mostly young employees and, occasionally, their dogs. Looking through tinted windows to downtown streets below, the workers can see five new Amazon buildings under construction in the three city blocks immediately around them.
The new buildings — four towers and a low-rise — will house some of the 9,000 new employees the company plans to hire in the near future. They will add another layer to the explosive growth that has made Amazon Seattle’s largest private employer and taxpayer in less than a decade.
Two miles to the east, in the historically African American Central District, the impact of Amazon’s rapid expansion is visible. A chain-link fence surrounds Earl’s Cuts and Styles, signaling that the neighborhood landmark is slated for demolition.
The new buildings — four towers and a low-rise — will house some of the 9,000 new employees the company plans to hire in the near future. They will add another layer to the explosive growth that has made Amazon Seattle’s largest private employer and taxpayer in less than a decade.
Two miles to the east, in the historically African American Central District, the impact of Amazon’s rapid expansion is visible. A chain-link fence surrounds Earl’s Cuts and Styles, signaling that the neighborhood landmark is slated for demolition.
“I never thought I’d have to lose it,” he said. “I love this space on 23rd and Union. It’s done a lot for me.”
A bold plan to keep black residents in Seattle’s Central District!
Earl Lancaster has been cutting hair at the corner of 23rd and Union for a quarter of a century.
“Some of the highlights have been cutting some of the Sonics, Mariners. Cutting young kids and turn into fathers and cutting their kids’ hair. It’s been amazing,” Lancaster said as he glided his clippers along a man’s scalp.
Earl’s Cuts & Styles used to be surrounded by other black-owned businesses, and a working-class community. Today, most of those businesses are gone. To live across from Earl’s will cost you $1,725 a month for a tiny studio in glassy new construction. The wrecking ball is coming for his barber shop, in the Midtown Center shopping complex, next.
“Some of the highlights have been cutting some of the Sonics, Mariners. Cutting young kids and turn into fathers and cutting their kids’ hair. It’s been amazing,” Lancaster said as he glided his clippers along a man’s scalp.
Earl’s Cuts & Styles used to be surrounded by other black-owned businesses, and a working-class community. Today, most of those businesses are gone. To live across from Earl’s will cost you $1,725 a month for a tiny studio in glassy new construction. The wrecking ball is coming for his barber shop, in the Midtown Center shopping complex, next.