Liz Vetrano/The Ithacan ITHACA RESIDENT DAN BAKER gets his weekly trim at the Cornell Barbershop from owner Bill Murray. The barbershop has been operating for more than a century.

At the turn of the 20th century, downtown Ithaca looked a good deal different than it does today. The Commons was open to what little traffic there was. The Ithaca Hotel sat, in all its magnificence, across the street from an ice cream parlor run by a man named Simeon. And just below the parlor, at the bottom of a narrow staircase, was the Cornell Barbershop.

Although The Commons has undergone many facelifts since those days, a barber pole still marks the staircase that leads below Simeon’s restaurant to the Cornell Barbershop.

“It’s always been an old-type barbershop,” said owner Bill Murray. “And honestly, it’s never changed.”

A hundred years ago, if an Ithaca resident had walked in, he would have seen a white tile floor and a reflective ceiling of polished tin panels. He would have seen his face (in need of a bit of a shave) reflected in the mirrored wall. Settling comfortably into a plush leather barber chair, he could have greeted the barber by his first name and asked him for a shave and a haircut. If that Ithaca resident’s grandson were to walk into the shop today, his experience would be virtually identical.

Murray said that since he took over in 1970, he has never refurbished the shop, preferring to keep the old-time feel. Nor has there been much need for renovation; the original interiors have held up impressively. The smooth tile floors have needed patching only once, and when the occasional tin panel has pulled free from the ceiling, Murray has repaired it by riveting flattened tin coffee cans on in their place.

The only thing that has changed, Murray said, is the cost of a haircut. In 1970, a trim cost $2. Today, the barbershop charges $12.

The decor is not the only part of the barbershop that hearkens back to old times. Murray’s predecessor was a man named Bob Dickson, a Canadian barber. Dickson taught Murray a lot about running a barbershop, he said.

“[Dickson] looked at people as his friends more than as his customers,” Murray said. “He taught me [that] cutting hair is not just about cutting hair. He taught me simple things that really make a difference.”

So when his customers come through the door, Murray said, he tries his best to make them feel at home.

“That’s what makes a business,” he said.

Along with friendly service, one of the things that makes Cornell Barbershop unique is its longevity. It’s not just the building that has remained consistent. Since the business started, there have been only three owners, Murray said.

The clientele also demonstrate a certain constancy. One of their regulars, retired Ithaca College professor Willard Daetsch, came in one day with his father, his son and his grandson, Murray said. Four generations sitting down in four, decades-old barber chairs.

Even Murray’s family has a history with the place. His grandmother and grandfather remembered getting their hair cut at the Cornell Barbershop when they were growing up, he said.

Now, Murray’s sons are helping to prolong the barbershop’s philosophy and ambience; both of them work for their father.

Matt, a graduate of Atlas Barber School, just came to work for his father six months ago after working all over New York City. He said he is happy to be working in such a unique barbershop.

“Of all the places I worked,” Matt said, “not one cut hair like this, literally.”