Floyd's City Barber Shop

Mount Airy, North Carolina

Floyd, whose real name was Russel Hiatt, began barbering in Mount Airy in 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 guessed that a half-million people signed his guest book since 1989 (the year of the rebirth). Floyd passed away in 2016 (he was born in 1923) but you can still get your hair cut in his barber shop. The wall opposite the barber chair is covered with 35,000 photos, all carefully thumbtacked in place, of people who've visited. Our favorite: Lou "Incredible Hulk" Ferrigno.