What’s Up about the two-story Politician/Voter outhouse behind Rustic Cuts barbershop in Silver Lake? Barber Don Baird, 76, built the outhouse from barnwood he had leftover when he built his barbershop 6 years ago as a statement about how voters get dumped on. (Dan Bates / The Herald)

What’s Up about the two-story Politician/Voter outhouse behind Rustic Cuts barbershop in Silver Lake? Barber Don Baird, 76, built the outhouse from barnwood he had leftover when he built his barbershop 6 years ago as a statement about how voters get dumped on. (Dan Bates / The Herald)

Everett barber makes a statement with lampooning latrines

I happened upon Rustic Cuts in south Everett while on a quest talking to barbers and stylists for an upcoming story about fixing Donald Trump’s hairdo.

At first I was confused: The barnwood shop looked like a saloon on a Wild West movie set, but with striped barber poles instead of swinging doors.

I was greeted by Don Baird, 76, who was busy clipping a customer into a Caesar cut, not slinging a whiskey.

“Want to know how I feel about politics?” he said. “Go look out there. That’s how I really feel.”

He pointed the scissors toward the back door window. I expected to see a donkey or elephant or Sarah Palin’s rifle, but instead saw an outhouse.

A double-decker outhouse, with the top marked “Politicians” and the bottom marked “Voters.”

What’s up with that?

“I’ve always kind of felt like the people have been dumped on,” Baird said.

He and a construction friend built the barbershop and outhouse six years ago. The rectangular shop at 1921 110th St. SE is in the same footprint as the Sears catalog kit house that had stood there for 70 years before.

Baird got the outhouse idea some years back from a political cartoon he saw. “I felt like, yeah, that’s how I feel,” he said. “When I had that leftover wood from building this place, I just kind of stuck it up there. People get a laugh out of it, but that’s how I really feel about it.”

During the heated Trump-Clinton campaign season, a farmer in New York who thought politicians were full of bull erected a similar two-story outhouse and it went viral.

Other political-themed outhouses on the internet have toilet seats inside marked “ballot boxes.”

Baird didn’t go that deep. “Nothing in there but about a thousand pounds of sandbags to keep it steady so it won’t blow over.”

You can’t see his lampooning latrine from the street. It’s behind Rustic Cuts, on the drive-thru loop for Steamers Espresso on a sidestreet off a busy stretch of 19th Avenue SE near Silver Lake.

It turns heads from coffee stand patrons, but what really generated interest was the Pokémon Go craze this past summer.

“It’s a Pokéstop, so there were a lot of people coming here for that,” Baird said.

He’s been known to send customers out there. “There are a few who say, ‘Can I use your restroom?’ and they start walking outside. I let them go, just for a joke.”

The doors are a facade and don’t open; only virtual pocket monsters can go there.

There are indoor facilities in the four-chair shop, where his daughter, Autumn, is an apprentice barber.

Baird, a California native, has been barbering since 1964. He had a brush with segregationist Alabama Gov. George Wallace in 1968.

“He was on a presidential campaign in West Covina, California,” Baird said. “They called the shop where I worked and said they had an entourage of about eight people that wanted haircuts, and would we stay open later in the evening, and they would pay us handsomely for it.

“George Wallace came in with all of his little state troopers and bodyguards and everything. I cut his hair. He was just this guy running for president and I was all happy to see him and shake his hand. I wasn’t into politics and didn’t understand what he stood for.

“I gave him a decent haircut. He had black hair that lay close to his head. The haircut looked good. I did my best, which I regret. Had I known what he stood for, I would have put the clippers on his forehead and went right straight back like a skunk all the way down. Well, I probably wouldn’t have had the courage to do that, but I would have refused to cut his hair. Wallace was a racist.”

He got a handsome $20 tip from Wallace’s aid.

As a barber, he has studied the hair atop Trump and other big names.

“George W. Bush had good hair, but I thought he never got really good haircuts,” he said. “Pete Carroll’s another one who gets bad haircuts. My guess is that beauticians cut his hair, not barbers. I would like to cut his hair.”

What would he do if The Donald sat in his chair?

Find out Sunday in a Herald story about how he and other local hair pundits would style Trump’s hair.

Andrea Brown: 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @reporterbrown.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Life

Snohomish County Dahlia Society members Doug Symonds and Alysia Obina on Monday, March 3, 2025 in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
How to grow for show: 10 tips for prize-winning dahlias

Snohomish County Dahlia Society members share how they tend to their gardens for the best blooms.

What’s Up columnist Andrea Brown with a selection of black and white glossy promotional photos on Wednesday, June 18, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Free celeb photos! Dig into The Herald’s Hollywood time capsule

John Wayne, Travolta, Golden Girls and hundreds more B&W glossies are up for grabs at August pop-up.

The 2025 Audi A3 premium compact sedan (Provided by Audi).
2025 Audi A3 upgradesdesign and performance

The premium compact sedan looks sportier, acts that way, too.

Edmonds announces summer concert lineup

The Edmonds Arts Commission is hosting 20 shows from July 8 to Aug. 24, featuring a range of music styles from across the Puget Sound region.

Big Bend Photo Provided By Ford Media
2025 Ford Bronco Sport Big Bend Increases Off-Road Capability

Mountain Loop Highway Was No Match For Bronco

Cascadia College Earth and Environmental Sciences Professor Midori Sakura looks in the surrounding trees for wildlife at the North Creek Wetlands on Wednesday, June 4, 2025 in Bothell, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Cascadia College ecology students teach about the importance of wetlands

To wrap up the term, students took family and friends on a guided tour of the North Creek wetlands.

Mustang Convertible Photo Provided By Ford Media Center
Ford’s 2024 Ford Mustang Convertible Revives The Past

Iconic Sports Car Re-Introduced To Wow Masses

Kim Crane talks about a handful of origami items on display inside her showroom on Monday, Feb. 17, 2025, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Crease is the word: Origami fans flock to online paper store

Kim’s Crane in Snohomish has been supplying paper crafters with paper, books and kits since 1995.

The 2025 Nissan Murano midsize SUV has two rows of seats and a five-passenger capacity. (Photo provided by Nissan)
2025 Nissan Murano is a whole new machine

A total redesign introduces the fourth generation of this elegant midsize SUV.

A woman flips through a book at the Good Cheer Thrift Store in Langley. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Pop some tags at Good Cheer Thrift Store in Langley

$20 buys an outfit, a unicycle — or a little Macklemore magic. Sales support the food bank.

The Mukilteo Boulevard Homer on Monday, May 12, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
‘Homer Hedge’: A Simpsons meme takes root in Everett — D’oh!

Homer has been lurking in the bushes on West Mukilteo Boulevard since 2023. Stop by for a selfie.

Two visitors comb the beach at Kayak Point Regional County Park on Friday, June 14, 2024, in Tulalip, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Nate Nehring and WSU Beach Watchers to host beach cleanup at Kayak Point

Children and families are especially encouraged to attend the event at Kayak Point Regional County Park.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.