My column today is dedicated to telling the story of the historic Barber’s Hall located at 1402 W. Oxford Street in the heart of North Philadelphia. The building, built in 1893, the same year as the historic Metropolitan Philadelphia on North Broad Street, is engulfed by the campus of Temple University.
Back in 1949, Black Barbers in Philadelphia were so well organized that they put their money together and purchased the structure at 1402 W. Oxford Street, and that’s when it got the name “Barber’s Hall.” The Black Barbers organization owned the property until 1978. By that time, the original members of the Black Barbers group had all become older men– some had passed, and the remaining members knew it was time for them to sell the building.
As the story goes, the Black Barbers had two stipulations in their decision as to whom they would sell the building to; 1) They wanted the new owner to be a Black business owner, and 2) they wanted the new owner to agree to keep the name of the building Barber’s Hall.
Jake Adams fit the bill–he agreed to what the Black Barbers organization was asking of him and became the new owner of Barber’s Hall. However, there was another challenge back in 1978. Jake Adams couldn’t find a bank that would give him a mortgage to make the deal a reality in the purchase. The Black Barbers organization put their money together so that he could get a mortgage on the property. The Black Barbers took the mortgage. They said, “You can pay us, and we’ll be your mortgage company,” said Adams.
“After my brother and I purchased the building in 1978, “Jake Adams said, “We renovated the building. We had the building fixed up–the building has three floors. It has a bowling alley in the basement. The main floor has two bar areas and a nice-sized dance floor. We have a kitchen on the main floor that is open every day, from 1 in the afternoon until 10 pm in the evening. People rent Barber’s Hall out for all types of affairs, from weddings to wedding receptions, cabarets, jazz concerts, political fundraisers, birthday parties, anniversaries, retirement events, and more.” In terms of political events, “We have a list of Mayors who hosted events here, and we had one of our past governors who hosted an event here, and we also had former Congresspeople who have had affairs at Barber’s Hall; Barber’s Hall is well known and well respected.”
More recently, Jake Adams says, due to an event outside of his place of business, having had the police called for assistance, it seems that some powers (that be) are trying to use that one incident as a reason to try and shut Barber’s Hall down. Adams explained it this way:
“On March 5, 2024, we had an incident outside of the establishment where somebody had gotten shot outside. Police officers came to Barber’s Hall during that situation to investigate and assist me. The police made everyone leave the building–who was inside for an event because they said whatever happened outside must have been connected to something that happened inside Barber’s Hall, so they wanted me to close down. So, I closed my business down that evening. And then, after the police finished investigating, they said everyone could come back in now. But by then, everyone had left.”
Jake Adams continued, “Several weeks later, I received a letter (in the mail) stating that my business was considered a critical nuisance bar. That was based on one incident. In over 40 some years and never having a problem at Barber’s Hall, they shut me down. The next thing I did was to reach out to Captain O’Donnell. Captain O’Donnell seemed very surprised that my establishment had been labeled as a critical nuisance establishment. The Captain (himself) said he had been a Temple University student and that he was very familiar with Barber’s Hall. He even said he regularly came to Barber’s Hall for lunch here while he was enrolled at Temple. In reference to the letter labeling Barber’s Hall as a problem, the Captain said he would get back to me.”
Mr. Adams questions if the law has been changed, re: how and when a business can be deemed a nuisance, and how business owners have not been notified that the law has been changed. “If I am to believe the letter I received,” Adams said, “If you have one incident outside in front of your establishment, you can be charged as a critical nuisance facility and be shut down. Prior to March 5, 2024, Jake Adams says the law, as he knows it, in Philadelphia, is that if you own a business and have three incidents of violence in one year outside in front of your establishment, and certainly if there are three incidents inside your establishment in a twelve-month time frame, you could be shut down. I’ve had one issue outside in front of Barber’s Hall in the forty-six years–I’ve been on Oxford Street, and they want to shut me down. I think that’s very unfair for them to do things like that.”
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