Democratic Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich left Pacific Palisades last week looking a little more presidential after visiting Joe Almaraz, longtime owner and operator of the venerable Palisades Barber Shop on Antioch Street. The Ohio congressman, who came to town to see the acclaimed art collection of his friends Bernard and Shirley Kinsey, was having coffee with several of his campaign staffers at Caf’ Vida, early Wednesday evening. Almaraz explains what happened next: ‘We had about 10 minutes until closing, and an attractive lady came in and asked if we were willing to take someone after we closed. She said, by the way, ‘It’s a presidential candidate.” That ‘lady’ was Kucinich’s wife, Elizabeth. And when they entered together along with Hollywood publicist David Brokaw, she asked if Almaraz could make him look ‘more presidential’ before a candidates forum he planned to attend the following day at the Morongo Indian Reservation in Cabazon. Almaraz obliged and offered some suggestions. ‘He is a very pleasant man with very beautiful but flat hair,’ he said. ‘I suggested cutting it short enough to maybe even spike it. I wanted to make it fluffy and not so flat.’ But according to Almaraz, the congressman’s liberal streak didn’t extend to hair fashion. ‘He was conservative,’ Almaraz says. ‘He didn’t want to do anything crazy, so I cut it short.’ Kucinich was charged $30 for the after-hours cut, and’in the words of Almaraz’left the Palisades looking more ‘presidential.’
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