JEANERETTE — Tucked away in the middle of the block, in the shadow of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, is a small wood-frame building with a picture window and the tell-tale barber pole on the front.

Besides the barber pole, the only indication that this is a business in the middle of a neighborhood is the large parking lot to the side.

Brignac’s Barber Shop has been right there since 1964, though that particular building has been a barber shop for much longer. Norman Brignac opened his business there in November 1964. Prior to that, Paul “Dinky” LeBlanc cut hair there.

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“This building’s been here, as a barber shop, for about 60 years,” said Charles DeRouen, who was getting a trim Tuesday morning.

“Closer to 70,” said Brignac as he brushes off the clippings and finishes up.

Another customer is pulling up outside as LeBlanc pays for his haircut and collects his cap from the hat rack in the corner.

Brignac is a second-generation barber. His son, Michael, is third-generation. In fact, it’s almost a family tradition with the Brignacs. Norman Brignac’s stepfather Aubin was a barber in Grand Prairie. His brother, Wade, is a barber in Lafayette, and his cousin, Eloi, gave him his start in Lake Charles back in 1959.

Brignac finished barber school in Shreveport before moving to Lake Charles to begin his life’s work. But he stayed there only about three months before heading back up to Shreveport.

“We were three barbers in (Eloi’s) shop. There just wasn’t enough business,” he explained.

He stayed in Shreveport for about 18 months before one of his cousin’s partners quit. That was Brignac’s opening to move back to South Louisiana. He stayed in Lake Charles until he bought his current shop in 1964.

Michael joined his father about 15 years ago after completing barber school, also in Shreveport.

“Jeanerette’s been good to me,” the elder Brignac said between customers as he relaxed in one of the two antique barber chairs in his shop. “When I first started here, we had eight barbers in Jeanerette. Business has dropped off a bit lately, though.”

Now Brignac’s Barber Shop is one of few such businesses in Jeanerette.

“There’s been a lot of changes since I first opened,” he said. “In ’64, there was the long hair, then it went back to short. Now you even see shaved heads, through most of them, once they decide to go there, they do it at home.”

The Brignacs offer shampooing, but not many customers ask for that service.

“We quit shaving about 20 years ago,” Brignac said. “When the AIDS scare first hit, the Barber Association made us stop. Now we can if we want — I just don’t want.”

He said the last year he offered shaves he had “about three.”

“You can’t keep a razor sharp with just three shaves a year,” he laughed.

Brignac will be 67 in July. He recently retired his school bus route after 25 years but has no plans to quit cutting hair. Michael Brignac is 34 and will likely continue in the business if and when his dad hangs up his clippers.

To date, Michael Brignac is the last generation of Brignac barbers.