Nestled in a hidden alley off a bustling thoroughfare within the coronary heart of the Egyptian capital sits an unassuming little manicure store concealing a historic legacy.
Immediately, Madame Lucie’s small institution is dwarfed by the modern facades of contemporary cafes, vogue boutiques and quick meals chains which have all however snuffed out Cairo’s previous grandeur.
However a long time in the past, the store’s seats had been occupied by the likes of Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz, worldwide singing sensation Dalida and cinematic heartthrob Omar Sharif, all of whom sought the now 88-year-old manicurist’s knowledgeable hand.
For over six a long time, Layla Abdel Hakim Mekhtegian — extra generally recognized by her sobriquet Madame Lucie — has presided over her little store, standing guard over its wealthy historical past.
For individuals who step contained in the store, which claims to be the nation’s oldest manicurist, it’s a step again in time to Cairo’s cosmopolitan heyday of the Nineteen Fifties and 60s.
“The whole lot right here is because it was 64 years in the past,” the French-educated girl of Armenian descent informed AFP.
– Frozen in time –
Established in December 1960, the salon exudes old-world appeal.
Exterior, the title Lucie greets prospects in previous fluorescent signage in each Arabic and French.
Inside, vintage manicure tables sit in entrance of sepia-toned pictures of the illustrious patrons of bygone instances.
“Clients inform us, ‘Do not change a factor’,” she mentioned.
The checklist of Madame Lucie’s clientele reads like a roll name of Egypt’s cultural pantheon.
“Mahfouz would are available for a trim whereas followers waited exterior to have his autograph,” Madame Lucie remembers with a nostalgic smile.
“Dalida? All the time punctual.”
“Her followers used to come back right here after they heard that she visits the salon,” she continues.
“And Omar Sharif,” she provides softly, “didn’t discuss a lot, however he was so charming.”
Madame Lucie is a part of a era of Armenian entrepreneurs who formed a lot of downtown Cairo’s business life within the mid-Twentieth century.
She and her enduring salon are amongst only a handful of companies that survived former president Gamal Abdel Nasser’s nationalisation drive of the Nineteen Sixties.
Previous to that, Egypt’s Armenian neighborhood had peaked at 45,000 within the Nineteen Fifties, taking part in a vibrant position within the nation’s cultural and financial panorama.
– Loyal buyer base –
Lucie acquired her craft on the age of 14 below the steerage of Marie, her mentor at Bata, the now-defunct, once-renowned division retailer in Cairo.
Collectively together with her husband Jimmy and with the assistance of a Jewish investor, she remodeled a printing home in downtown Cairo into her salon.
She has held quick to conventional nail therapies, shunning the extra trendy traits supplied by many nail spas these days.
However her work goes past aesthetics, and lots of of her shoppers come for aid from painful circumstances like calluses, ingrown nails and useless pores and skin buildup.
She has in flip preserved not simply the store’s historic stature but additionally a loyal buyer base for almost as lengthy.
“It’s extra of a remedy than a beauty factor,” mentioned Effat Adel, a housewife in her fifties who has been visiting the salon for 37 years.
Sabry Ghoneim, an 89-year-old veteran journalist who has been a loyal buyer for over 4 a long time, mentioned: “This place provides me peace of thoughts.”
Regardless of strategies to develop, Lucie refuses.
“Why would I? This place is dwelling,” she mentioned.
“Yearly, I replace the signal exterior to indicate how lengthy we have been right here. This December, it’s going to say 65 years.”
