John Vargovcsik cut hair in a rented room at the Rialto Hotel until he could build his own barbershop in 1946 where the Fields store is now. (Courtesy Paul Konradsen)
These days there are several barbershops in Osoyoos and for most people the only inconvenience is having to wait their turn.
But back in February 1943, the Osoyoos Board of Trade had to write to John Vargovcsik, the first and only barber in the village at the time, asking him to extend his hours.
“At our meeting on Monday, Dec. 8, it was decided to ask you if you would consider opening at 10 a.m. on Saturday instead of at 1 p.m. as before,” E.W. Hatch, secretary-treasurer wrote to the barber. “We think this change would considerably benefit yourself as quite a number were obliged to go to Oliver for their haircut due to overcrowding in Osoyoos.”
At the time, Vargovcsik was renting a room at the Rialto Hotel, where the Owl Pub is now, to use as his barbershop on Friday evenings and Saturday afternoons, said Paul Konradsen, Vargovcsik’s son-in-law.
Vargovcsik came to Osoyoos in 1938 and started farming but began barbering here in 1942.
When he began operating at the Rialto, he charged 25 cents for a haircut and 15 cents for a shave. He also made house calls for the same price.
Konradsen, who is anxious to defend Vargovcsik’s legacy as Osoyoos’ first barber, shows a collection of documents outlining his background, including barbering credentials Vargovcsik earned in Regina in 1927.
It was in Regina where Vargovcsik’s first barbershop burned down in 1929.
Vargovcsik, who went on to serve as a commissioner on the Village of Osoyoos council at least from 1946 to 1957, was originally from the former Yugoslavia.
Konradsen, who is “a Swede from Denmark, a Viking without the horns,” married Vargovcsik’s youngest daughter, Nellie, in the 1950s. Nellie is now deceased.
Konradsen had been an underground miner, working in many parts of Canada. During a visit to Osoyoos in 1955 to see Nellie, then his girlfriend, he was coaxed into working at a sawmill. He’s been here since.
He’s said Vargovcsik brought two brothers and two sisters to Osoyoos from the old country, though he’s not sure which present-day country in the former Yugoslavia the family was from.
In September 1945, weeks after the Second World War ended, Vargovcsik purchased a lot at what is now the Fields store for $150. A year later, he built his own barbershop along with the village’s first bowling alley and pool hall.
He eventually sold the building in 1964 and moved to the Fraser building, across 85th Street from the Bank of Montreal, where a barbershop continues to this day.
Konradsen isn’t sure exactly when Vargovcsik retired from barbering, but he believes it was around 1974.
He describes his father-in-law as always helpful. He was friendly, but only joked sparingly. He says he was an excellent barber.
Over the years, other barbers came along, including Ted Mint, who bought Vargovcsik’s business in 1951. Vargovcsik later bought it back. And for a while, Vargovcsik was on call to work for other barbers, including Mint, when they got busy and needed help.
Bill Shippit also opened a barbershop in Osoyoos in the early 1950s, which Konradsen said was the village’s second barbershop. For a while, he said. Mint and Shippit engaged in a price war when Mint cut his haircut price to 50 cents from a dollar.
After Vargovcsik sold the building where Fields is now in 1964, he began buying up old houses to fix up and rent out, said Konradsen.
Vargovcsik died of a heart attack in 1982 at the age of 77, and by the time Konradsen made it to the house, it was too late to save his father-in-law.
To share your memories, contact Editor Richard McGuire, 250-495-7225.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
