When John Gimigiliano, a North Cambridge cobbler, opened his shop 52 years ago, Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill Jr. had recently graduated from St. John's High School.

Now, as O'Neill is preparing to leave the speakership of the House of Representatives, Gimigliano, still in business, takes great pleasure in tracing O'Neill's career through photos that line his shop's walls.

Starting as a representative to the State Legislature in 1936, O'Neill moved up slowly. He was elected to the Cambridge School Committee in 1946, became the speaker of the Massachusettes House in 1949 and ran for John F. Kennedy's congressional seat in 1952.

But in the 33 years since he left, Tip has continued to leave his mark on the North Cambridge neighborhood that gave him his start.

On his trips back, Gimigliano's small shop at 2386 Mass Ave. is always one of his first stops. "He'll get a shine, a pair of heels, whatever he needs," says Gimigliano.

Moving from his feet to his head, O'Neill then stops next door at 2384 Mass Ave. for a quick trim by barber Frank Manelli. "He waits for his turn just like anybody else," says Manelli, who was sixteen when O'Neill first ran for congress.

According to associates, Manelli is the only barber O'Neill will use. Michael Ralph, who is in charge of O'Neill's Boston office, recalls the time O'Neill was returning from Cape Cod to do a TV show in Boston. Already an hour behind schedule because of traffic, O'Neill called the office and said, "I'm going to Frank's for a haircut--I'll be a little late."

When he returns to the neighborhood, most of O'Neill's friends can tell he's been hard at work. "When I fix his shoes he wants a whole new bottom," says cobbler Gimigliano.

Lately his duties as Speaker of the House have kept him in Washington even more often. Says Manelli, "He lets his hair grow too long. But, he's a busy guy."

Throughout his political career, O'Neill has always stayed in close touch with his neighborhood roots. Every year, O'Neill goes back to the North Cambridge VFW hall for the 'Barry's Corner' reunion, a meeting of people who used to hang-out on the front steps of the Barry house, at the corner of Russell and Mass Ave north of Porter Square.

"He's the same with the gang at [the] Barry's Corner [reunion] as he is with Mrs. Thatcher," says congressional aide Leo Deal. Many of O'Neill's friends and associates say that he still remembers everyone's names, even people he hasn't seen for years.

Another of O'Neill's friends, Frank 'Red' McGrail, who has worked on O'Neill's campaigns since 1952, says of O'Neill's extraordinary memory, "He never forgets a face or a name...In Washington, the cabdrivers, the guys who are raking the lawn at the capital, they all love him."

City Councillor, former Cambridge Mayor, and life long North Cambridge resident Thomas Danehy calls O'Neill "a real down to earth individual who never tried to impress people with his power."

Manelli says that he never realized how influential O'Neill is until he went down to Washington last summer. "We were walking down the corridor and Jack Kemp came up to him and called him 'Mr. Speaker'," Manelli recalls. "I always called him Tom."

For many of his supporters, O'Neill represents a type of ethnic and neighborhood based politics that is rapidly disappearing. Red McGrail recalls, "Tip's a politician 24 hours a day, he doesn't just come out the week before election."