Las Vegas

ENCYCLOPEDIA VEGAS: BRIEF ENTRIES ON EATING, ART AND FUNKY THINGS

The old cutting edge

Classic cut

Even in a Vegas filled with fauxhawks, highlights and slick coiffures on dudes, I'd imagine that for most men the act of getting a haircut is prosaic. Enter shop, get chop.

However, there is a specific cultural element to be found in old school barber shops – I'm not talking “Greatest Clippers” chains here. At places like Ashton's Classic Barbers in southwest Vegas, there's a distinct aura of authenticity and the feel of yesteryear. This is with good reason. Some of the barbers at Ashton's have been plying the trade for five decades.

I happened on this friendly joint after a journalist friend asked me about men's grooming  establishments. I'd never heard of it. So when I got a little scraggly, I decided to discover Ashton's for myself.

Ashton's has all the manly accoutrement like National Geographic magazines, football on one TV screen, CNN on another and a blue-and-red striped barber's pole. Now this is not to say it's a men's only club. Ashton's is owned and operated by Barb Saldana, and my first cut was done by young and cute Monique. Mothers bring in their kids, girlfriends their boyfriends. But I also met Rex Rodgers, who has been a barber to Vegas guys since 1958.

I went back the following weekend to talk with Rex. His barber shop tale is nothing but historic.

His grandfather was a barber and Rex followed in his footsteps for over 50 years. Rex grew up in the Meadow Valley wash, where the railroad track goes north from Vegas to Caliente and beyond. For decades he owned a barber shop on the north end of The Strip (it was across the street from Olympic Gardens).

Most interestingly, I found out that Rex practices the art of the razor cut, something I was entirely unfamiliar with beforehand. He told me it was the Roffler technique, a school of hair cutting that once flourished but is today a bit more obscure. It  involves using a straight razor instead of scissors. It's said to make hair lay flatter. I later looked at the Roffler website – it's definitely a hair cut type with history.

While I interviewed Rex, he was cutting a man's hair who had been a customer since '58. He'd followed Rex from downtown to Henderson and then southwest to Ashton's (Rex has retired a couple of times). I was astonished – this man had started going to Rex twelve years before I was even born, in a whole different era. Now that's called never going out of style. Sure, Rex has seen flat tops, fluffy John Fogherty-ish 'dos, glam shags, disco perms and more come in and out of vogue, but he's always wielded a finely honed length of steel for those who wanted the razor technique.

I'm going back to see Rex for a razor cut in a few weeks. I'd like to experience some vintage blade stylings and not have flyaway, stick-out hairs, which indeed scissors do not relieve.

Check out my video report on Rex Rodgers, Vegas' razor-wielding barber.

Ashton's Classic Barbers

8090 S. Durango, #109

240-BARB

Really, really good dog food

This is a great time to be a beloved pet. Dog and cat food is sharing in all the gourmet, healthy upscaling many of us humans are enjoying these days.

While I am currently petless, I am best of friends with a certain black lab/moose hybrid by the name of Luna. The beautiful big baby of two close friends, I take Luna for Red Rock Canyon hikes and dog sit when her masters are on vacation.

Luna loves me, for I represent fun excursions. I also bring her treats.

My/her favorites are the pastry/cookie replicas available at Three Dog Bakery, a tony franchise shop in Summerlin.

Three Dog Bakery offers dog biscuits that look as good as any French bakery éclair or petit fours. These elegant dog treats are made with whole grains, vegetables and glazed with canine-safe carob.

Here's a photo of bella Luna about to enjoy a decorative treat/bribe ...

I also found that It's A Grind on Desert Inn and Durango offers complimentary “puppuccino” for animal companions to bipedal customers enjoying macchiatto and other coffee drinks. (It's a bowl of frothed milk.)

The coffee revolution has now reached across multiple species demographics.

Three Dog Bakery

2110 N. Rampart

737-3DOG

It's A Grind

8470 W. Desert Inn

360.4232

Foodie moment

The other day I was paying for my groceries at Whole Foods. On the store's sound system, R.E.M.'s  “The One I Love” started to play.

The video for this song, which broke the band into the mainstream, featured über culinary star/scientist Alton Brown as Director of Photography. This was well before his Food Network days. I definitely envy Brown's career. So me in honey, I thought it was a true and  tasty synchronicity.

As a side note, I was buying shrimp, leeks, shallots, tomatoes and yellow zucchini. They are destined to be oven-roasted and served over that pearly delight that is Israeli couscous.

Bonus: The best food-related television commercial, ever

There is so much to be said about a great meatball. There can also be too much of a good thing. To wit, relish the a-spicy-a meat-a-balla-fest of a classic early '70s Alka-Seltzer ad. Mangia with your eyes. It is saucy and sublime.

(This blog entry was composed with a delicious side order of The White Stripes' “Icky Thump.”)

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