Title
Also naming the 2200 block of 29th Street, as “Henry ‘Sly’ Schley Way” to honor the life and memory of renowned North Philly barbershop owner and barber, Henry Schley.
Body
WHEREAS, Henry Schley, who was affectionately known as “Sly”, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the second oldest of 6 brothers and a sister, in February 1930; and
WHEREAS, Sly received his education at Simon Gratz High School in Philadelphia, started doing hair in his parents’ kitchen, moved to the bathroom and then the basement which led to him to go to school in New York City to become a licensed Electrologist; and
WHEREAS, As Sly’s customer base grew, he purchased a three-story building at 29th & Dauphin Street in North Philly that would become Sly’s Barber Shop which still stands today; and
WHEREAS, Over the years the three stories consisted of the Barbershop and Beauty Salon on the first floor, a Beauty Parlor and Wig Shop on the second floor, and offices on the third floor that served as base of operations for managing and suppling hair supplies and products to area shops and salons; and
WHEREAS, Through the years, iconic hairstyles like the “Process”, the “Conk” and Finger Waves brought big-time entertainers like Nate King Cole, Sammy Davis, Jr., Johnny Mathis, Dap Sugar Willie, The Delphonics, renowned fighters like Gill Turner, Willie the Worm Monroe, Muhammad Ali, and many other entertainers to Sly’s Barber and Beauty Salon. Sly’s fresh and innovative take on men’s hairstyles kept business booming, and it is believed that the phrase “Fried, Dyed, and Laid to the Side” was coined for when someone left Sly’s sporting a dapper new hairdo; and
WHEREAS, In the 1980s, the shop presented at the Hair & Fashion Show at the Academy of Music in Center City Philadelphia. Sly also had many opportunities to go up to Deer Lake, Pennsylvania to Muhammad Ali’s Boxing Training Camp; and
WHEREAS, Sly received a Citation from the Office of the Mayor, City of Philadelphia, and Cited for City Services from the Strawberry Mansion Learning Center, the Community for a Greater Philadelphia, and featured in Scoop USA Newspaper as Black Businessman for Afro-American Black History Month; and
WHEREAS, When he was not styling hair, Sly enjoyed running, boxing, football, going to the YMCA and Salvation Army to swim, and going to Bible Study at the Martin Luther King Senior Center faithfully on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for over 20 years, Sly was also loving and devoted husband, proud father of six children, grandfather, and great-grandfather; and
WHEREAS, Sly raised his children to know “That You Can’t Go Wrong, Doing Right” and lived by these words throughout his own life, intending “to work 18 hours a day and treat people right.” Sly will be remembered as a man of compassion towards everyone he met, and a life well lived. He passed away February 2023; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That the 2200 block of 29th Street, as “Henry ‘Sly’ Schley Way” honor the life and memory of renowned North Philly barbershop owner and barber, Henry Schley.
End