Floyd’s City Barber Shop

Mount Airy, North Carolina

Floyd, whose real name is Russell Hiatt, has been barbering in Mount Airy since the late 1940s, and was the inspiration for Floyd the barber in The Andy Griffith Show. He had planned to retire at 65, but then Mount Airy was reborn as "Mayberry" and his barber shop was renamed "Floyd's" (which wasn't his idea). Business boomed. Floyd was inducted into the National Barbers Hall of Fame. He estimates that a half-million people have signed his guest book since 1989 (the year of the rebirth). Floyd will still cut your hair for $8.00, and the wall opposite the barber chairs is covered with 35,000 photos, all carefully thumbtacked in place, of people who've visited. Our favorite: Lou "Incredible Hulk" Ferrigno.