Johnnie Hill remembers charging 35 cents for a haircut and 10 cents for a shave — that's how long he's been a barber.

But some things haven't changed in the hair-cutting business.

“Flat tops,” the 74-year-old businessman said. “They were popular then with all the college students and we are still getting a lot today.”

About 33 years ago Hill closed his Johnnie's Barber Shop in Burlington, Iowa, and moved to the Coachella Valley, where he opened a barber shop in a Palm Springs hotel, he said. He then moved the shop to Cathedral City in the 1970s.

Hill gave control of the shop to his daughter, Renae Samaan, 52, about seven years ago. She may one day pass it down to her son, Mark Green, 31, who also cuts hair at the shop.

“I love this job,” Samaan said. “It's a family niche.”

Green said, “It's always been in the family and I have been coming into the shop since I was a kid.”

Customers may only see this generational trio cutting hair simultaneously a couple of times per week, as Hill now works two days a week.

Their business is modeled after old-fashioned barber shops. It has a traditional barber's pole, messy pile of newspapers on a table, American flags throughout, and a TV tuned to the news. Unlike modern shops, there aren't any props advertising the latest hair gel.

“They are real barbers,” said 67-year-old John Blair, a regular who works nearby.

Still, the shop does not evoke for Hill the exact feel of yesteryear, regardless of how it's decorated.

“It's much brighter here,” Hill said. “Back then it was dark and dungy (with) 10 or 15 guys meeting and trying to solve all the world's problems.

“They are still trying to solve the world's problems, just different ones,” Hill said of the older customers who drop by in the morning and contribute to the informal, public opinion forum.

The shop's prices reflect simpler times as well. The price of a haircut was lowered this year from $14 to $10, which is what it cost in 1995.

“We wanted to give people a break because of the economy,” Green said.