Manhattan Barber Shop

Eddy, the owner of Freestyle Barber Shop, has been a barber since the early 1980s. He got his start in his homeland of Russia, a country that I learned is known for barbers, thanks to their advanced equipment and scissor skills. In 1995, Eddy and his brother started a barbershop on Seventh Avenue, around the corner from his current location. Since then, he has never strayed from Chelsea. He opened Freestyle Barber Shop in 2005, keeping many of his regular customers with him. He is proud to say that he has had many of the same barbers working on his team for fifteen or sixteen years. “The crew is very friendly, ” he told me. “And I like my customers. ”When I visited in 2016, Eddy had just performed a renovation on the shop - and it looked beautiful. Despite the fact that there are so many salons and barbershops in Chelsea, Eddy is not worried about Freestyle’s ability to survive. “People in the area know us – we’ve been here for twenty-one years, ” he said. “You don’t find other barbershops where the same people have been working here this long. ”

Xavier Cruz has been a stylist since the mid-1980s, but he did not make the decision to focus solely on men until 2014. His reason for the shift, he said with a cheeky smile, was because he “was really bored. ” All joking aside, his true reasoning revealed a clever mind who saw a niche in the salon world and decided to fill it. As Xavier pointed out, there are almost no male salons in New York City. There are barbershops, yes, but not upscale men’s salons where you can get hot towel shaves and buzz cuts but also coloring and other processes. “We’re stylists, not just barbers, ” Xavier clarified, adding, “When guys choose Barba, they know they’re not just coming in for a trim. ”When I visited Xavier in 2016, he had recently moved his salon a couple blocks west on 19th Street. He explained that his old location had grown too small for his clientele – “Guys were literally standing outside! ” The new spot is highly modern, with black and chrome interiors and an atmosphere that echoes the feeling of high-end nightclubs and spas. In this space, Xavier has continued to offer many services, including single and double process color jobs, beard trimming with scissors as opposed to a razor, and beard dying. He also has perfected the art of gray blending, a way of making men’s gray hairs look softer and more natural. Thanks to his unique menu of services, Xavier has amassed a clientele base throughout the city and beyond: some out-of-state customers make a day of coming in to Manhattan to get pampered. “We are a safe haven for some men, ” Xavier informed me, explaining that some guys often feel uncomfortable going to a salon. Barba provides a space where they can get their hair dyed without fear of being judged. It has become such a safe social space that Xavier has considered hiring a nail technician so that the men can have a manicure along with their hair. Many men have told him, “If you did nails here, I would get my nails done. ” Another service Xavier is hoping to add in the future is Scalp Micro-Pigmentation, or SMP for short. It is a special tattoo drawn onto those who are balding to make it look like you have stubble on your head. As far as Xavier knows, there is not one salon in the state that offers SMP, and so he is excited to be the first. And if anyone needs an example of SMP, they need look no farther than Xavier’s own head – he pointed to the front of his scalp, and I was surprised to realize that what I was sure was shaved hair was actually a tattoo. Despite the variety of high quality services, Xavier feels that the prices are still reasonable – “between an average barbershop and an average salon, ” he estimated. Customers are guaranteed excellent service, since “everyone’s super talented” in the salon and everyone who walks through the door is offered coffee, tea, and wine. I was also pleased to witness the camaraderie in the salon: Xavier admitted that many times, “stylists are out for blood, ” but that Barba stylists share clients and get along well. He concluded by emphasizing that anyone who comes to Barba is “in for a treat! ”

Being a barber runs in Sam Chulpayev’s family. His grandfather had his own barbershop in his native Uzbekistan and Sam’s uncles have also opened various barbershops and salons. After working at someone else’s salon for many years, Sam was proud to follow in his family’s footsteps and open up his own place at 170 West 23rd Street. The salon was tiny, however, with only five chairs, and he had amassed many devoted clientele while working in New York. He quickly realized that he would need more space, which led to him expanding across the street to number 169. I spoke to Daniel, Sam’s brother, who works on the business side of Made Man. He was a banker before, but he decided to join the family business after Sam’s second location opened. He feels it is very important to “help out your own family. ” He showed me around the barbershop, telling me about different aspects that made it stand out from other salons in the area. “It’s the little things that count, ” he said, mentioning the method by which the barbershop keeps track of appointments. They custom built the electronic system entirely from scratch based on customer feedback. That means that even before someone steps into the shop, they are receiving personal attention from Made Man just by booking an appointment. Daniel also informed me that the barbershop offers many free services to their loyal customers. The barbers give free clean-up services in between haircuts, including beards, and complimentary massages are given with haircuts. “We really want to build a relationship with our clients, so we offer little freebies, " he said, adding, "We’re the kind of shop that’s always hoping to give more for less. ” Though many customers are local, there are a good amount from New Jersey and Westchester. Daniel took me past a cupboard filled with antique barber tools. I learned that they come from a collection that Sam has amassed since 2010. It became clear that Daniel loves working with his brother. “When you’re working in a family business, the return on investment is definitely better, ” he told me. “It’s your passion and your ideas. ” The brothers’ passion can be seen in every aspect of the salon - even the chairs have been custom made using specially chosen prints and designs from the 1940s and 1950s. The devotion was also evident in the care and attention given to every customer. “Anything you can think of at a salon, you can get in our barbershop, ” Daniel assured me. “We take their appearance very seriously. ”Before I left, I spoke to Sam, who was finishing a client’s haircut. His statement was heartwarming: “I come from humble origins, but I’ve made a really beautiful high-end establishment with every client in mind. ” He explained that though his barbershop is definitely top of the line and can lean towards being pricy, he is always careful to keep things reasonable. “I don’t want to deny people service just because they can’t afford it. ” It was touching not only to meet someone who had created something wonderful from the ground up, but also someone who remembered his roots.

While the digital age has allowed us to streamline many services, there are some art forms that must remain analog. One trip to Best Shoe and Bag Original Repair on W21st Street in Chelsea and you’ll be convinced that the time honored art of cobbling is one that can’t be replaced. It’s an art that has been passed down to owner Marcia Sailema from her father, who ran the shop for decades until he retired in 2015. Marcia said that in addition to helping her dad run the family business, she took classes at FIT to sharpen her skills in repairing luxury shoes and bags, which are the businesses specialty. “I learned so much industry vocabulary that I never knew before – like the way that the first part of a shoe design is called the last — and ‘the last comes first! ’” she laughed. She quickly acclimated to the delicate art of making much-loved, long-worn bags and shoes look like new by making delicate leather, paint and stitching matches to designers from Dior to Chanel and in fragile vintage pieces. The intricate work — which Marcia proudly showed us can make a nearly unusable bag or shoe look fresh off the shelf – has led to a loyal customer base. For Marcia, it’s a labor of love. “I really like working on the bags, ” she said, admiring a classic Louis Vuitton monogram bag that she’d recently completed repairs on. “Look at these zippers! ” 

Merakia occupies the space that housed Kat & Theo from 2015-2017 - and while the restaurant maintains the same ownership as before, it also has a different mission. The modern Greek steakhouse prides itself on its meats and classic seafood items, while maintaining a classy, hip atmosphere in its cavernous space on 21st Street. “We built a new team… and a new vision, ” managing partner James Paloumbis shared with the Manhattan Sideways team when he spoke of the switch from Kat & Theo. He then went on to highlight Merakia’s differences from other Greek restaurants. “It’s not white and blue like every other place in New York City. Our menu is not the copy paste of any other place. ” The menu is heavy on steaks and seafood, boasting their signature lamb on the spit ("the only restaurant in the city to do so") while, surprisingly, offering some robust meat-free options as well. “Everything is farm to table, we use fresh ingredients, [and] we make everything from scratch on a daily basis. ” James told us that part of his mission is to bring back the adventure of going out to eat, a phenomenon he has noticed declining over the years. “People don’t like to go out anymore just to eat. You can eat at home, you can eat down the street, you can order your meal online. But to get an experience of nice service, some nice flavors, nice music, nice drinks - it’s worth your while to go out again. ” Husband and wife team behind Kat & Theo - Renee and Andreas Typaldos - seem to have orchestrated a smooth transition from their previous restaurant. As their past executive chef, Paras Shah, believed, "there should be a movie written about the couple's romantic backstory and that he “couldn’t have worked for better folks. ” Andy is originally from Greece, and the restaurant was named after his parents, Katerina and Theodosios. Andy came to New York on a scholarship from Columbia and met Renee, who is from the Bronx. He took her out on a first date “with holes in his shoes and with no winter jacket, ” according to Renee. She added, “The romantic, poetic way people get together. ” Today, they are paying homage to Andy's Greek heritage and according to James, “People have to trust their stomachs and their palates with a restaurant, so that’s what we’re trying to do here. Trust us - our food is fresh, our food is made with care, and we love what we do. ”

Calvary-St George’s church moved to Gramercy Park in 1832. It has a strong history of influential members and it was here that Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence was set. In addition to movie nights and summer programs for children, we witnessed a small, delightful concert performance along the sidewalk while walking one day.

Perhaps the attitude of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, ” works well at Society Billiards. They seem to know that sometimes a classic pool hall is just what people need. Extremely spacious and stocked with countless pool tables, anyone looking to get lost in the game will be sure to love this dimly lit, relaxed, yet classy spot.

As we peered behind the counter at Joe, we saw what looked like a machinist’s shop or a technological artist’s studio, and yet the rich aroma of coffee was unmistakable. Joe is a place for serious coffee, and they hope to make serious coffee-drinkers out of their customers. The front of the shop holds a regular coffee bar, with three stools, and a display with some useful coffee tools for at home brewing. The majority of the space, however, is filled by the coffee studio in back where customers can watch the machines whir and the experts work their magic. For those of us not as knowledgeable in the coffee arena, Joe offers regular classes on topics ranging from brewing technique to what they call “coffee theory. ” While they have several locations throughout Manhattan, Joe's on 21st street serves as the “pro shop” and headquarters.