Geneva’s Shear Perfection Barber & Beauty Salon, an institution in Northeast Portland for 30 years, has closed its doors. From its location on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, the business had built a loyal and expansive customer base that included Portland Trail Blazers, dignitaries, and members of the African American community.
Paul Knauls, Jr., whose parents, Paul Knauls, Sr., and the late Geneva Knauls, opened the salon and barbershop, confirmed Saturday that the closure is effective immediately. He said the news of the closure had come out earlier than he had anticipated, and that, for the moment, he preferred not to go into greater detail.
“I think we’re going to let the community heal right now,” Knauls said. The family still owns the property where Geneva’s is located, he said. “It’s tough right now,” Knauls said. “And decisions like these aren’t easy.”
On his Facebook page, Knauls addresses the news of the closure, which he says has to do with the realities of trying to operate a personal care business such as Geneva’s amid the coronavirus crisis, and the restrictions recommended to avoid spreading the pandemic, which has been hitting African Americans especially hard.
“The world has changed,” Knauls wrote. “COVID-19 is a Pandemic and it appears that the poor leadership of the country is not making it a priority to keep 70-80 percent of people that look like us in some areas of the country alive. We have a moral obligation to the village. We have always operated a safe environment for the families and employees in our community, and it’s one of the many reasons for our success in all of our enterprises.”
Knauls goes on to say that, “It is absolutely impossible from our point of view to operate our business safely. With the threat of this deadly virus ravishing the people we love it was not an option we were willing to consider. Too many people to track and trace in a business where people are in such close quarters. If you have four barbers who sometime see over 60 clients a week that’s at least 240 people in week and could reach 1,000 in a month. Stop and wrap your head around that for just a second. If you consider those numbers COVID-19 will inevitably show up at our doorstep. The science is absolute. That’s too large of a burden to bear if the worst happens. Add stylist and their customers to that including the children of the next generation the risk is just not worth it.”
The salon and barbershop is one of many businesses opened and operated by Paul Knauls Sr., and his late wife, Geneva. Knauls Sr. is affectionately known as the “Mayor of Northeast Portland,” and his career includes running the now-gone Cotton Club (which drew such famous names as Sammy Davis Jr.) and Geneva’s Restaurant and Lounge, serving as a Portland Rose Festival grand marshal, and remaining an activist in Northeast and North Portland even as gentrification forced many African American residents to move away.
On Knauls Jr.’s Facebook page, reactions to the closure of Geneva’s Shear Perfection are pouring in.
Loretta Smith, a former Multnomah County Commissioner who is currently a second-time candidate for Portland City Council, wrote, “You and your family will be missed. I have no words to tell you how you have changed the trajectory to many lives by creating jobs and giving us a safe consistent place that we all can call home. Your family legacy is strong and will never be forgotten.”
Jo Ann Hardesty, the former legislator who ran against Smith for City Council in 2018 and won, wrote on Knauls’ Facebook page, “Sending hugs and love to you and your family. Challenging times call for courageous actions.”
“Geneva’s Shear Perfection was the definition of a cornerstone in Portland’s black community,” Chris Johnson, a Portland stand-up comedian, wrote. “What Paul Knauls Jr and The Mayor himself created was one of the most important examples of a black business that represented more to the community than just a place to get a haircut. I’m lucky to have grown up getting my haircut here. The memories are countless. If you’ve ever seen the movie ‘Barbershop’, that’s about how important this shop was to us, even after a lot of us were displaced to other parts of the city. Thank you so much for the years of laughter and passive wisdom I gained absorbing the dialogue and history that held that place together for so long.”
Knauls wrote that he intends to compile a list of every employee who has worked at the shop over the 30-year period, to express gratitude. “To the children that grew up in the shop and went from little kids to engineers, doctors, lawyers, pro athletes, teachers, mentors, chefs, airline pilots, stylist, husbands and wives, and so much more,” he wrote, “thank you for making us a part of your life story and you a part of ours.”
Of these times, Knauls wrote, “We’ll ride it out together by sharing the love. We all need each other now more than ever.”
— Kristi Turnquist
kturnquist@oregonian.com 503-221-8227 @Kristiturnquist
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