One of Chapel Hill's first black beauticians shares story of town's evolution

Lula Alston came to Chapel Hill before the McDonald’s did.

In 1952, when Alston moved to her home on Crest Drive, the only recognizable features of the current downtown scene were the theater, Carolina Coffee Shop, Sutton’s Drug Store and Julian’s.

“There was a 5 and 10 Cent Store,” Alston said. “They don’t have those now.”

Alston, who just celebrated her 80th birthday at a surprise party her children planned for her, has seen a world of changes in Chapel Hill in the 58 years she has lived here.

She was the first black beautician in town, working for white ladies during an era when desegregation was just beginning.

“She was the only black girl that did the hair there,” said her friend Isabel Atwater, who was the third black cashier on Franklin Street.

But beauty school was not Alston’s first career choice — she would have preferred to join the Army.

“Daddy wouldn’t let me go because it was not a place for young girls,” she said.

“I said, ‘Well, I’m not going to be outdone.’ So, I went to beauty school.”

As a beautician, Alston did shampooing, frosting, and rollers.

Some of her regulars included Ida Friday, wife of former UNC-system President Bill Friday, and William Carmichael’s wife, who Alston knows only as Mrs. Carmichael.

“I saw Mrs. Friday yesterday,” Alston said. “Oh yes, she remembered me.

“They always remembered me at birthdays and Christmas time. They were just nice ladies.”

Alston decided to become a nursing assistant at UNC Hospitals in 1966. At that time, nurses were trained on the job, and the clinics were segregated.

Alston said she always tried to help people feel better. She enjoyed meeting and seeing different people as a nurse.

Atwater said the best thing about her was friendship.

“She’s always willing, ready and never says no,” Atwater said. “My husband has dementia … She’s been right by his side, my side, all the time.”

Alston and Atwater are involved in their church, Second Baptist on Graham Street.

Alston has been a busy woman since retiring in 1992, two years after her husband died. She competed in local senior games in sports, including bowling, horseshoe pitching and basketball until last year, when arthritis prevented her from playing basketball.

She is the president of the Golden Age Happy Circle, a local club of the N.C. Senior Citizen’s Association, and is involved at the Chapel Hill Senior Center.

But what really takes up her time is keeping in touch with friends and family.

Her three children kept her in the dark about her 80th birthday party — not even telling her when it was until an hour-and-a half beforehand — and then sent someone to pick her up and drive her to the party.

“He drove me all around Chapel Hill and Carrboro,” Alston said. “I said, ‘Where is it? I know all the streets in Carrboro.’ And he would just laugh.”

They finally arrived at the Carrboro Century Center, where her children had hung a banner announcing her birthday.

“So now everybody in the church knows it’s my birthday,” she said.

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.