Gene Hartman was cutting a customer’s hair when the walls began vibrating Thurs­day afternoon at the Campus Barbershop on Fry Street.

At 3 p.m. sharp, a large yellow excavator began pulling down the walls of the former Bagheri’s Italian Restaurant on Fry Street.

“I believe they’re here to get it done and over with,” Hartman said, standing across the street from his shop to avoid any fallout from the falling debris.

The final demolition of the eclectic 1920s retail strip had begun after more than a year of protests by residents and current and former University of North Texas students angered by plans to raze and redevelop the area. Houston-based United Equities Inc. bought most of the block surrounded by Fry, Hickory, Welch and Oak streets and recently unveiled plans to build Fry Street Village in a similar architectural style.

“It took them 15 minutes to knock down Bagheri’s,” Hartman said as a crowd slowly began to form when bystanders noticed the noise.

Demolition quickly followed release of the site by Denton Fire Marshal Rick Jones, who was investigating the remnants of The Tomato, gutted by fire late Wednesday.

“They [demolition crew] had two choices — put up a rather expensive fence or get on with the program,” Jones said. “They chose to get on with the program.”

Hugo Careña, an employee of Cain Fence, was standing in front of the Copy Pro Copy Center at 1300 W. Hickory St. watching the teardown.

“We got a call unexpectedly to come out and remove the fence,” Careña said. “They did it fast.”

Standing silently in front of the pile of bricks, glass and other materials, UNT student Erin Clancy said she was seeking closure.

“I have mixed feelings,” she said. “It is sad to see it go.”

From the back of her blackened 2004 Nissan Altima, Jessica Prose pulled a melted jacket from the trunk of the car that just happened to be parked in front of The Tomato when it burned late Wednesday.

Prose was enjoying an evening with friends at Riprocks when her friend, Amber Isaacs, ran inside, telling her The Tomato was on fire.

“I ran out dangling my keys,” she said, adding that firefighters told her it was too late.

The car, parked in front of the former pizzeria, was totaled.

On Thursday afternoon, several passers-by snuck to the front of The Tomato site behind the yellow caution tape, grabbing broken bricks as souvenirs of the once-popular college hangout.

Becky and Mike “Ski” Slusarski, former owners of The Tomato, stood across Fry Street from the charred remains of the building that once housed their restaurant.

They learned of the fire when their son called at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday.

“My daughter was real upset,” Mike Slusarski said. “She didn’t want to see it go that way. It’s bad enough that they’re going to knock it down.”

The couple raced to their computers, searching a MySpace.com page created for The Tomato, finding photos of the blaze already posted.

“I was worried about the people down here,” Becky Slusarski said. “I thought, ‘God, don’t let anyone get hurt.’ It’s hurting enough.”

The couple continued to hear from former employees and friends as the blaze burned through the wood-laden building.

“I’m ready to get this over with,” she said, wiping tears from her cheeks. “And then something like this happens.”

Paul Singleton, who lives atop Voyager’s Dream within view of The Tomato, said he saw the fire start just as he walked out of Zebra’s Head on Fry Street.

“I heard the initial pop, like a glass breaking sound,” he said. “I could see across the street, in the windows, it was glowing.”

By the time he walked to the corner of Fry and Hickory less than a half a block away, the second floor was ablaze.

“By 11:05, the whole thing was a big fireball,” Singleton said.

“It’s crazy,” he said. “I was scared for my life.”

The blaze damaged nearby power lines. Hartman said the electricity was still out when he arrived at his barbershop early Thursday, but it was back on by 7:10 a.m.

The fire, he said, reminded him of other fires. The CharBar, a former restaurant where The Tomato once sat, burned during Christmas 1960. Across the street at Fry and Hickory streets, the former Wimpy’s Cafe burned in 1970.

That building, where Copy Pro Copy Center now sits, actually has been aflame twice, said copy shop owner Al Glidewell, who has seen the charred beams hidden by ceiling tiles. Other businesses burned in the Fry Street neighborhood include the former Bari’s Italian restaurant, the old Rick’s Place and the previous home of the Delta Lodge.

Heat from overnight fire cracked Copy Pro’s windows facing Fry Street but did not damage the interior, Glidewell said.

Against a wall inside, eight panes of tempered glass windows sat with a cardboard sign saying: “Take home a piece of The Tomato.”

Glidewell, who had bought the glass panes during a recent auction benefiting Habitat for Humanity of Denton County, said he had planned to use the glass as a third pane for his windows eventually.

“I never would have thought we would have to have them because of this,” he said.

He plans to get the panes resized soon, adding a little extra meaning to his new windows.

“In memory of our good friends, Becky and Ski,” Glidewell said. “The Tomato will live on in Copy Pro.”

Staff writer Karina Ramirez contributed to this report.

DAWN COBB can be reached at 940-566-6879. Her e-mail address is dcobb@dentonrc.com