BAYSIDE REMEMBERS
A COMMUNITY ICON
Beloved barber who spent decades cutting hair and building friendships dies at 72
BY MARK HALLUM
The camaraderie is still alive at
Hair Studio 41, even in the wake
of Angelo Vellucci’s unexpected
death on Feb. 6 after a short battle
with lung cancer, an illness that his
family believes could possibly be
the effect of Agent Orange exposure
during his service in Vietnam.
His fellow barbers, Mark and
David Jacobs, the father-son team
who also own the shop, could not
help but smile thinking of times they
had with Vellucci over the last 10
years, or the 47 years he was known
by the people of Bell Boulevard.
“He was the mascot of Bell
Boulevard,” Mark Jacobs said.
“Yesterday, I had a customer, he
said ‘Angelo was the only barber I
had since I was 4 years old — he cut
my hair for 44 years.’”
Vellucci was born in Italy on
April 9, 1946, but migrated to
Montreal as at the age of six and
later made Corona his home when
he was 14 years old. Apart from his
two years in Vietnam with the U.S.
Army, Bayside was where he made a
name for himself as a barber and a
friend to many long-time residents.
Bell Boulevard once had a barber
shop call Pace, pronounced in the
Italian fashion, where he worked
before making the move to Hair
Studio 41 about a decade ago.
He spent years playing the
numbers of his home address in
the lottery until one year he won.
Vellucci gave part of his $5,000
jackpot to his wife of 41 years and
daughters, Valeria Giannotti and
Vanessa Brown — the rest was
spent on dinner for family and
friends at Uncle Jack’s Steakhouse
on Bell Boulevard.
Brown remembers her father’s
devotion to her mother Laura, an
Ecuadorian immigrant who he
instantly fell in love with in 1978.
Vellucci embraced his wife’s family
and culture as his own and invited
his mother-in-law to move into
their home in 1980s, the younger
Vellucci said.
One Hair Studio 41 client who
goes by the nickname Raven
claimed to have the honor of being
Vellucci’s last client and said the
d Angelo Vellucci spent 47 years cutting hair in Bayside.
barber was always putting his
family above all else, providing
whatever he earned to his children
and grandchildren.
“He took care of his daughters,
grandkids — his grandson is
supposed to have his communion
next month. He said to his daughter,
‘I’ll pay for it all, don’t worry about
it. It’s on me.’ That’s how generous
he was,” Mark Jacobs recalled.
Brown said Vellucci was not
only loyal to his immediate family,
but there were nieces and nephews,
too — a whole extended family that
loved Vellucci’s “table talk” and
ayside.
he Courtesy of the Vellucci Family
storytelling ways.
Vellucci had a talent for
making Sunday sauce and
antipasto platters. He was also
fluent in four languages: English,
Spanish, French and Italian,
according to Brown.
y rs.guages:h wn.
o la He’s survived by his wife and
daughters, his two grandchildren,
Anthony and Angela Brown, as well
as a brother and sister, Adriana
and Mario.
Reach reporter Mark Hallum by
e-mail at mhallum@m@schnepsmedia.
com or by phone at (718) 260–4564.
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