Gripes about Californians are nothing new in North Idaho. Just ask Louis Pirillo. From 1943 to 1946, Pirillo served in the U.S. Navy as a barber at Farragut Naval Training Station on the south end of Lake Pend Oreille. He told staff writer Jim Hagengruber by phone that he didn't mind the winter here because it "was about the same as what we had here in Iowa." But the Californians were something else. Pirillo was one of 100 barbers assigned to keep 300,000 Navy recruits in shipshape during World War II training. Of the many recruits (called "boots" because of their distinctive footwear) who passed through the training station, the flashy zoot-suit-wearing young men from California stick out in his mind. "You think (young men) have long hair now," Pirillo said, "the zoot suiters had really long hair." A zoot suit, according to Wikipedia, has wide-legged, tight-cuffed trousers (tramas); a long coat with wide lapels and wide, padded shoulders (carlango); a felt hat with a long feather (tapa or tanda); and pointy, French-style shoes (calcos). Think Jim Carrey's 'toon character in "The Mask." Continued Pirillo: "They'd come in there with hair 10 to 12 inches long. We'd cut it all off." One of the barbers sold the long locks to a wig maker and then split the proceeds among the barbers. Pirillo was unable to attend this past weekend's 20th annual reunion of Farragut sailors. He told several stories to Hagengruber while seeking info about the reunion. Pirillo concluded: "I've got a soft spot in my heart for Farragut, Idaho."

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