Do Drop In Barber Shop
Do Drop In (also Do-Drop-In) was listed in the Green Book as “Do Drop In Barber Shop — 4 Eagle Street / Best Haircut in Town — Vernon Miller, Prop.” from 1960-1961.1
The Do-Drop-In at 4 Eagle Street first appeared in the Asheville city directory in 1931 as “Smith & Miller.” The business name was changed to Do-Drop-In in 1934. The barber shop was owned and operated by Vernon Miller.2
Vernon Miller was born in Greer, South Carolina in 1902. Prior to opening the barber shop he worked as a bellhop at a hotel in Asheville. He married Asheville native Lula Abbott in 1947.3
A 1959 advertisement for the barbershop included its motto, “Courteous Service,” and noted that the shop had 6 chairs. Miller relocated the barber shop to 26 S. Market Street between 1960 and 1961. The barber shop remained at this location until at least 1973. Vernon Miller was retired at the time of his death in 1976.4
Essay by Brandie K. Ragghianti, 2022
Notes
1. Victor Green, 1960 Green Book, 72; Green, 1961 Green Book, 62.
2. Miller’s 1931 Asheville City Directory, 471 (alphabetical listing); The Directory Company 1932 Asheville City Directory, 701 (classified listing); “Do-Drop-In Barber Shop” (advertisement), Asheville Citizen-Times, March 22, 1964, digital p. 44, accessed from www.newspapers.com.
3. 1930 United States Federal Census, Asheville, Buncombe County, digital image s.v. “Vernan Miller,” accessed from www.ancestry.com; Vernon Miller, Asheville, Buncombe County, North Carolina, U.S. World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947, accessed from www.ancestry.com; James Abbott and Vernon Miller, Buncombe County, North Carolina, U.S. Marriage Records, 1741-2011, accessed from www.ancestry.com.
4. “Do-Drop-In Barber Shop” (advertisement), Asheville Citizen-Times, July 20, 1959, digital p. 12, accessed from www.newspapers.com; Hill’s 1960 Asheville City Directory, 183 (classified listing); Hill’s 1961 Asheville City Directory, 167 (classified listing); “Youth Held in Beating Faces Additional Charge,” Asheville Citizen-Times, August 3, 1973, digital p. 25, accessed from www.newspapers.com; “Vernon Miller” (obituary), Asheville Citizen-Times, July 23, 1976, digital p. 11, accessed from www.newspapers.com; “Do-Drop-In Barber Shop” (advertisement), Asheville Citizen-Times, December 27, 1961, digital p. 18, accessed from www.newspapers.com.
Did you know?
- This entry was listed in the Green Book in bold font with a second line advertising “Best Haircut in Town--Vernon Miller, Prop.”
