Beloved Avondale hair stylist retires, converts backyard to community garden [Video]

CINCINNATI — The kids call her granny. Others know her as Mrs. J. Everyone knows she’s a character.

On one Thursday afternoon, Anna Joiner looks straight into the camera and smiles. She’s already been talking for several minutes, but now she’s ready to begin.

“Go ahead,” she said. “Ask your questions.”

Joiner has been cutting hair in Avondale for decades. She lived through life-altering riots here in the ‘60s, and her salon became a community staple after that.

For close to 50 years, she lived upstairs and cut hair downstairs in her home on Reading Road.

“I love Avondale,” she said.

Joiner also loves to talk. It’s one of the reasons she cut hair for so long because she met people — all kinds of people. And if she could, she tried to help them.

“I can’t tell you how much free hair I’ve done over the years,” she said.

Because her salon was about more than just hair. Over time, it became a gathering place …