More Barbershops
Brut aftershave and talcum powder. That smell always brings me back to the Las Vegas Country Club Barber Shop, where I spent countless Saturday mornings as a child getting my ears lowered in my grandfather’s barber chair.
“Papa,” Paul Scaletta, spent more than 20 years cutting hair at the iconic clubhouse, building a clientele with conversation and classic cuts. Old-timers would line up, crisp newspapers and coffees in hand, awaiting their turn under his shears in the blue-tiled space.
My grandfather wasn’t just selling haircuts; he was selling an experience. Sure, a textbook taper or perfectly positioned sideburns are great reasons to skip the Fantastic Sam’s down the street, but in old-school shops like Papa’s it’s the atmosphere that keeps customers coming back.
It’s the honest conversation; the no-bullsh*t, all-bullsh*tting attitude. It’s the gentle ribbing your barber sneaks in between each snip. That is why you visit.
With that in mind, we decided to explore a few of the city’s classic shops—from Strip-side joints patronized by the Rat Pack to a neighborhood spot serving killer flattops and fades. Read on, and consider stopping by one of these chairs the next time you’re in need of a trim. We promise, you won’t regret it. —Mark Adams
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Country club, with shears
The nifty dark wood floors, red leather chairs and blown-up portraits of Vegas showgirls and Evel Knievel jumping the fountains at Caesars immediately inform you this is not your average barbershop.
And it’s not supposed to be. Fino opened in 2008 with the goal of creating an upscale men’s grooming lounge with extensive services and old-school hospitality. Classic cuts start at $35 and a full cut and shave with extra benefits is $75, but that’s just the beginning. There are stylists and barbers ready to help you find your best look, custom tailoring and complete nail services for hands and feet. “We call it foot detailing. You’d be surprised how guys react to a little play on words,” says owner Alejandro Hormechea.
Fino feels more like a country club than a barbershop, but once you’re in the chair, it’s all about friendly banter and relaxation—just the kind of temporary escape you deserve. But you don’t have to escape from everything. The casino execs, attorneys and doctors who frequent Fino have been known to bang out a business deal over a complimentary beer during a haircut. “Once that camaraderie is created, before you know it, this is just part of your normal regimen,” Hormechea says. —Brock Radke
Fino for Men 7207 W. Sahara Ave. #100, 702-566-3466. Tuesday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Reservations recommended.
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No fades, cash only
Ernesto Ortiz sits tall in his barber chair, watching the news. Another half-hour and he’ll call it a day, one more hash mark in a 20-year career cutting hair in Downtown Las Vegas. Not all of those years were inside the El Cortez, but Ortiz’s tiny, un-fussy operation in the vintage wing has quite a rep. Classic. Affordable. Precise.
“I’m from the old school. I do old-fashioned, regular haircuts.”
The menu has everything from hot-foam shaves for $15 to beard trims for $7. Added in marker: “No Fades.” But if you’re looking for a flattop or something high and tight, Ortiz is clutch. The language of cuts was different when he was coming up. You’d ask for “medium,” rather than giving a number for the clipper blade. But hair is still hair. Ortiz has mimicked razored parts clients saw in the World Cup and even styles a few women. Back in the day, he remembers farmers lining up at Downtown shops twice a month for a close shave.
Poker players coming off long games love that treatment, but today he’s working on a hotel guest, an Arizona transplant with a Dapper Dan swoop in need of definition. Clipping, combing, scissoring, working delicately over the part and finally brushing the trim-dust to the floor, Ortiz holds up a mirror.
“Mmm-hmm,” the client says, looking so sharp you’d swear he changed clothes. —Erin Ryan
El Cortez Barber Shop 702-385-5200. Tuesday-Saturday, 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
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One for the ages
The Riviera's Neil Scartozzi looks back on 39 years of celebrities and mobsters on the Strip
To walk into Neil Scartozzi’s barbershop at the Riviera is to walk into a time machine, where the Rat Pack and pretty much all the characters in Martin Scorsese’s Casino once had their follicles trimmed. A big part of that effect is Scartozzi himself, who dresses exactly the way he did when he set up shop in 1975: flashy suits, high-collar shirts, rings on several fingers and a perfectly styled coif reminiscent of Wayne Newton. And this is how he cuts hair.
“First impressions you can never take back,” says Scartozzi, who got his barber’s license in 1966 and started in the back of a Mob joint in Detroit. He moved to Vegas in the early ’70s and worked as both a barber and a baccarat dealer before being offered the Riviera gig. He agreed, with one stipulation: that he be made part-owner. The decades since speak to the success of that relationship. “The Riviera has always been there for me. We’re good for them; they’re good for us.”
And Scartozzi has collected stories over those decades. He calls Milton Berle the best tipper ever, “but he was the biggest P-R-I-C-K that ever lived,” micromanaging the experience until Scartozzi watched the comedian blow-dry his own hair. James Caan was so impressed with Scartozzi he had several Godfather publicity stills autographed, grouped and framed for him, along with a Cohiba cigar and some 9mm bullets. Mobsters Anthony Spilotro and Lefty Rosenthal were regulars, and the barber remembers being followed by FBI agents for a brief period in the ’80s.
He distanced himself from Mob life at an early age, but embraces the colorful culture in his second career as an actor—including a performance as a hitman in two episodes of The Sopranos. “I learned in acting school that if you really want to polish your craft, never stop working.” Scartozzi’s decades of satisfied clients would probably agree. —Ken Miller
Celebrity Club Men's Barber Salon Riviera, 702-794-9459. Monday-Saturday, 9 p.m.-6 p.m.; Scartozzi is there every day except Wednesday.
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A treasure trove and a trim
A first step into this bustling joint—tucked into the same Chinatown plaza that houses Lee’s Sandwiches, Pho Kim Long and Hot N Juicy Crawfish—comes with a sensory flood, the buzz of 10 electric clippers, the smell of shaving cream and, above all, a feast for your eyes. Former owner Gerardo Carranza still cuts hair in the front-right corner of the shop he founded a decade ago, and he’s spent a lifetime traveling and collecting the items packed throughout its interior, from antique barbering relics like a set of manually operated clippers and several chairs he says are more than 100 years old (including one he was told served as Al Capone’s seat for a trim in Chicago) to keepsakes he’s received from satisfied clients (see: the boxing gloves gifted by welterweight fighter Marcos Maidana). Stop in for an affordable cut ($11-$15), a straight-razor shave ($20) and a trip inside this weird and wonderful mini museum. —Spencer Patterson
Gerardo's Classic Barber Shop 3869 W. Spring Mountain Road, 702-431-3420. Monday-Saturday, 8 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sunday, 8 a.m.-3 p.m.
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Inside the man cave
The ripped-out centerfold from a recent Playboy lies on a leather, ox-blood-colored sofa—the Playmate’s ass exposed to the shop’s fire engine-red walls. Look up, and there’s enough kitschy man memorabilia to make Adam Carolla jealous: a framed picture of a red martini glass (a maraschino cherry dipping its toe into the cocktail), a signed boxing glove, a trophy and a graphic rendering of Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Johnny Depp playing billiards together—because why not? We’re in the man cave, baby.
“The Patriots!” a barber bellows from inside the shop—the Rihanna song playing over the radio quickly drowned out by football-speak and laughter. “We’ve gotta teach Peyton who’s boss,” the barber yells. “Who’s the real Lord of the Rings?”
As rowdy as Fresh Cuts seems at first, 22-year-old owner and barber Alejandro De La Cruz means business. He’s all about his customers, his vision and, of course, hair.
“Usually people go for the more classic barbershop look,” De La Cruz says, “’cause they want to keep it original from back in the day. But we’re in the 21st century. I want to do something that’s different and hip.”
The shop offers traditional cuts and on-trend ’dos—military styles, undercuts, faux-hawks and flattops. De La Cruz says Fresh Cuts has been picking up every day since it opened in December 2013, and while I’m there a handful of walk-ins come through the door, looking to get cleaned up. And they have plenty of reading material while they wait. —Leslie Ventura
Fresh Cuts 4533 W. Sahara Ave., 702-272-2887. Monday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-7 p.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
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The cut
Blame it on Mad Men. From pompadours to high-and-tights, retro hairstyles for men have seen a resurgence in recent years, and nowhere is that more evident than at Hi-Rollers. The Huntridge neighborhood barbershop specializes in old-school cuts, and there’s rarely a chair available—they also don’t take reservations, and wait times can hit an hour-and-a-half.
What’s the cut that brings them in and makes them stay? Owner and barber Martin Corona says it’s the side-part with a pomp.
“Some people like to call it a comb-over,” but not the kind that comes with balding and denial. The style is clipped very short on the sides and back, with more length on top that’s parted to the side and swept over in a sleek swoosh worn high above the forehead.
Corona estimates that 97 percent of his clientele are requesting comb-overs at this point. “That haircut became mainstream,” he explains. “You’ve got a lot of celebrities wearing it,” guys like Adam Levine and Robin Thicke. And, thanks to Hi-Rollers, a lot of Las Vegans, too. —Mark Adams
Hi-Rollers Barber Shop & Shaving Parlor 1120 S. Maryland Parkway, 702-382-6790. Tuesday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
