History Behind the Victory Flagpole - Another good Joe - Behind the Victory Flagpole — Another good Joe

My name is Joe Louden and I am a long-time Camden resident and business man. I was born in 1923 and lived in Camden as a kid. I went to grade school at McKinley, on Dowling and Bryant, and to Patrick Henry High School. As most kids back then had after-school jobs, I worked at Paul Johnson's Meat Market. It was a kind of messy work, as you can imagine, because my job was cleaning the place after the day's work was done. Later, I worked in some of the machine shops in Camden. There, I learned to be a welder.

    When WWII came along, I was drafted into the army and sent overseas to Germany. I got captured by the enemy and was put in a prisoner's camp. Luckily, I and the other prisoners were able to escape. When we were on our way home, it was a happy day for all of us.

    Arriving back in Camden I knew it was time to learn a trade. I didn't want to go back to welding, so I decided I would go to barber's school, at the Minneapolis Vocational High School, on 11th St. and 4th Ave. I chose that line of work because my father was a barber and had his own shop in Camden. I wanted to follow in his footsteps and worked with him for 10 years, until he died. At that time I took over the shop, which was near the old fire station on 41st  and Lyndale. The shop was sandwiched between La Vahn's Plumbing and B&W Donuts. The name of the shop was Joe's Barbershop - named after him and me.

    I worked at that shop for 30 years, cutting hair and getting to know many Camden residents. As you might guess, the prices back then were a lot different than they are today. You could get a shave for $1.25 and a haircut for $1.50. Try to do that today! There were a few other barber shops in Camden at that time, too, but when the freeway came through, it eliminated all of our businesses. But I was not finished - I had to earn a living, so I hunted for other quarters and found a little ‘hole-in-the-wall' shop on Dowling and Fremont N. I didn't think it would go at first, but it worked out and I stayed there until I retired. In all, I was in barbering for 49 years. It made a good life for my family and me, which included my wife, Reva Painter, who I married in 1943, and our two children Dan and Dianne. We later had nine grandkids, none of whom followed in my footsteps in the barbering trade!

    The Behind the Flagpole articles are credited to Barbara Meyer Bistodeau. If you wish to be a guest writer to the Flagpole series email info@camdenews.org