1951: Bus Driver Studies Beauty, Observes Women's Hair

Women riding the Park Line bus late in the afternoon may think the driver, Al Grasham. is making eyes at them. The 41-year-old bus operator is only looking at their hair. Before Grasham goes on duty each day at 4:18 p. m., he spends a number of hours at the Tri-State School of Beauty Culture at 712 North Oregon street. Grasham is the only male student at the school, where his wife, Emma, is an instructor. The combination bus-beauty operator first became interested in beauty culture in 193S, when working at a shipyard in his home town of Mobile. Ala. At the time, his wife was operating her own beauty shop. Grasham went home one evening and decided to try his hand at fixing hair. "To my surprise," he said, "I found the work interesting and relaxing. I discovered I met a lot of wonderful people. The first thing I knew I was helping my wife." Grasham later sold and demonstrated beauty equipment and supplies. In recent years, he has had several jobs, but kept up with his beauty culture. He has been employed as a chef in a hotel, road construction worker, shipyard worker, salesman, bus driver and milkman. He has worked in Mobile, Dallas, Fort Worth and now El Paso. "I like operating both a bus and beauty shop," he said. "I plan to keep my job with the bus company after I get my Texas beauty culture license in August."