Frank's Chop Shop

Profile

To call Frank’s Chop Shop a cutting-edge barber is not just a pun. This tonsorial storefront is the public face of Frank151, a lifestyle brand with a raffish aesthetic stylistically rooted in both Rat Pack nightlife and urban grunge. Once a yarmulke workshop, the joint’s Lower East Side digs maintain a heady twentieth-century air via a trio of thirties barber chairs, a black-and-white linoleum floor, Thelonious Monk jazz overhead, and Diane Arbus�like photos for sale on the walls. The aim is to gather locals�by appointment only�from Chinese immigrants to hipsters with sculpted sideburns to hedge-fund lords with cast-iron lofts. Yet no one will accuse Frank’s Chop Shop of yuppifying the neighborhood: Its painstakingly crafted, attitudinal-yet-classic haircuts, overseen by a colorfully tattooed head barber named Mr. Bee, cost from $25 to $40 (less for buzz cuts, more for rock-star shags). Straight-edge shaves are offered, as are Chop Shop hats. — Karen Tina Harrison

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