Harry Irving opened his salon, Gone Hollywood, on Main Street in Wareham in 1989. After stops in Boston, and a longtime location in Marion, Irving has returned to Main Street, opening a new location this week at 203 Main St. in the former home of Picture Perfect.

"Being back on Main Street is such a great move for me," Irving, a native of Hamilton Beach and a three-sport athlete at Wareham High School said. Although he has always provided a social, and comfortable atmosphere where friends are free to stop in and chat, the village atmosphere on Main Street, and the floor-to-ceiling windows at the front of his shop, encourages more people to stop in than his previous location on Rt. 6 in Marion.

"That was more of a dragway," he said. "People fly be there. There's a big difference watching cars roll by here versus watching cars fly by at 60 mph."

A pedestrian knocks on his window and waves, perfectly illustrating his point.

"There's Skippy Cleveland," he said. "I was a couple years ahead of her in high school."

The new salon, at 800 square-feet, is three-times the size of Irving's previous location in Marion. Irving said that although it is still a work-in-progress, he already feels at home in the light-filled shop.

"I like the building; it's nice, old and well-kept," he said. "I think it's [the type of building] our village could use more of."

The salon will have three chairs and is in the process of hiring an assistant. He says that he will continue to personally do all hair services including cuts, shampoos, and coloring.

"This June will be my 27th year in the business," Irving said, "I like my job."

Irving also likes Wareham.

"Honestly, there's not a lot in terms of the people I encounter," Irving said, comparingMain Street in 1989 with Main Street today. "Some faces have changed and some businesses have come and gone, but Wareham has this hometown atmosphere where everybody knows each other."

He said he noticed change more when he opened on Main Street in 1989. At that time, a lot of land had just been developed for housing, and he saw a lot more unfamiliar faces.

But since then, the people and conversation in his salon hasn't changed. Many of his two son's friends are the sons and daughters of Irving's own high school classmates. And the most popular topics of discussion at Gone Hollywood are local sports, especially basketball, which Irving has followed since his own days as a Viking hoops player - "I was the first athlete at Wareham High School to use a blow dryer in the locker room," he joked - and now tracks particularly closely as the father of a varsity player.

He describes his clientele as about 75 percent female and extremely loyal. In fact he is not concerned about opening on a street that already has two barbers and five hair salons.

"There was nothing that was going to prevent me from coming back here," he said.