The Jungle Country Club History Project: Prohibition Era Gangster "Fred the Barber" Gehring

I received a note last week with a picture dated March 28, 1931 of "Fred the Barber" Gehring with Babe Ruth in front of the Jungle Hotel.

I just wanted to write to tell you I love your blog!

My great-great grandpa was the Barber at the Jungle hotel; apparently close with Babe Ruth, bc we have a photo of the two of them sitting in front of the hotel!

His name was Frederick F. Gehring, but he went by "Fred the barber".

I don't know much about him, but I do know that he suddenly left his family in Massachusetts and went to St Pete (1926), remarried a woman named Anzevino (they lived on Park Street) and came back to MA in the mid-to-late 1930s... Meanwhile, my great-great grandma & fam mark him down as dead!

All very interesting to me as it seems to line up quite well with Prohibition...and, he kinda just looks like a gangster. Anyways, family never spoke of him, so all I know is what I've gathered from records I can find.

I attached 2 photos - one of Fred & Babe in 1931 & one of just Fred. The back of the photo of Fred said "compliments of Fred the Barber" - sounds pretty mobby to me! haha

From what I've gathered, he went down to St Pete the first time in '24; a few more times before moving there in '27-'28 - where I found his first job posting in the paper. He married Emma McFarland Anzevino in '30 (she also worked at the Hotel, but I can't tell doing what) - even though he's still technically married to my GG-Grandma in MA, who lists herself as a widow. He doesn't come home for his daughters wedding in 1930 - but sent her these photos in '31. So - I know at a minimum my great grandma Edna Mae knew he was alive and in FLorida. My mom says she thinks there's a photo a few years later of my GGpa (Edna Mae's husband, Sam) with Babe (in the 40's or so?) - but haven't been able to locate it. And of course, no one in the family talked about Fred - all the more reason I find him nefarious!

I've got an overly active imagination, so it's likely I've filled in the blanks with mob stuff - but just seems INCREDIBLY suspicious!
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There was mob activity in the Jungle area during the prohibition era (1920-1933). It's rumored that Al Capone and his henchmen spent time at the Jungle Hotel. The current residents of the hotel - Admiral Farragut Academy cadets - believe that bumps in the night could be the spirits of Al Capone and Babe Ruth. A few blocks up the road on Park Street, the Gangplank speakeasy on Boca Ciega Bay had a passageway for surreptitiously unloading bootleg liquor from boats arriving at its pier. Today, JP Tavern occupies that same 1925 building and corner (back to the wall) booths are called "gangster booths."

Given the evidence, it seems probable that "Fred the Barber" was a gangster and was up to no good. It is suspicious that he had a Park Street address on a barber's wage. Had he married into the Anzevino crime family? And why was he hanging out with major league baseball players? Was he involved in fixing games?

Wait a minute. Stop the presses! An article by esteemed historian Will Michaels in the Northeast Journal describes Al Capone's movements in St. Pete - it seems unlikely that he ever stayed at the Jungle Hotel.
A NEW LOOK AT AL CAPONE IN ST. PETE – PART 1
A NEW LOOK AT AL CAPONE IN ST. PETE – PART 2

So those mysterious sounds in the night must be coming from Babe Ruth and FRED THE BARBER!

Then again, maybe ghosts aren't real and maybe "Fred the Barber" Gehring was just the Babe's barber - we may never know.

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