Bobs, Beatles Bowls and Buzz Cuts, Reseda-Style
They line up. They hang out. They drive from Hollywood, or from as far away as Orange County. The price is right: $15 for a cut and blow dry, and no appointment needed. But that’s not the only reason the trendiest of the trendy go miles out of their way to get their hair cut at Antenna, a 2 1/2-year-old Reseda hair salon that never advertises in the media and has been crowded since the day it opened.
“At other places, they really don’t have any idea what I want,” explained Steve Gardner, who lives in Brea and plays in the San Fernando Valley band Soma Holiday. Gardner, 19, has a peace medallion around his neck and wears his hair in a mop-top style reminiscent of the Monkees. “It took this guy about five minutes to figure it out.”
That’s not surprising, considering that “this guy,” Antenna owner Mitchell Field, was cutting hair in mod ‘60s style when the ‘60s were really happening. Field, who is originally from England and now lives in Studio City, dropped out of high school in 1963 and promptly went to work for Vidal Sassoon in London.
Something Different
If customers want a ‘60s bob or a bowl cut like the early Beatles had, Field knows what they are talking about. He also understands the concept of creating something completely different.
In one corner on a busy Friday afternoon, 21-year-old Monica Thompson of Playa del Rey was getting her bleached blond hair cut in a “bowl-buzz”--the top layer hangs like a bowl over the buzzed-off back and sides. Thompson, who wears pink nail polish, spiky black heels and heavy eyeliner, is having buzzed-off part of her cut decorated with shaven, abstract geometric shapes.
“I’d rather drive the miles to get something I like,” Thompson said. “They’re basically the first shop I went to where you get what you want. You’re not embarrassed to walk around town with it.” At Antenna, Thompson usually lets Field suggest a pattern for the buzzed part of her cut. “A lot of places, you do that and you’re asking for trouble,” she said.
Buzzed-Off Rectangles
At the other end of the room, Mark Nine, a musician who teaches guitar to Bob Dylan’s children and hosts the cable television show “Big Fun With Music,” is having assorted buzzed-off rectangles on his head painted bright fuchsia and orange. Nine lives in the Koreatown section of Los Angeles and first encountered Field when Field worked at a Hollywood salon. When Antenna opened, Nine followed him to Reseda.
“I like Mitchell’s work a lot,” says Nine, “but I really admire what he’s done here. He’s come to an area that’s culturally vacant, really like a land of zombies, and made it become a hub. It makes people think.”
Field, an energetic, amiable man who rarely says a critical word about anyone, is more charitable. He makes no apologies for being in what some people call “deep Valley.” On the contrary, he really seems to like Reseda.
“Valley kids have a certain freshness,” he said. “When I was working with Atila, I realized half my client list was from the Valley,” he said. Atila is a Hollywood hairdresser who caters to the new-wave set.
Valley Called Hip
Is the Valley hip? “No question about it,” Field said. “It’s a well-kept secret for me. I’m in no hurry to open up in Hollywood at all.”
Field opened up a second store, more than twice as big as the original 700-square-foot Antenna, in Burbank last week. Why Burbank? “I like the town; I like the people; I like everything about it,” he said cheerfully. The new shop will be called Antenna’s Modern Salon, followed by the slogan: “Serving the East Valley since 1985.”
Although Antenna doesn’t advertise in the media, Field does periodically print cards and flyers with slogans: “The Valley isn’t the end of the world, but you can see it from here”; “Antenna: Modern hair for a modern world,” and “I’m soooo bored with my hair! Think I’ll go to Antenna!”
Boredom doesn’t seem to be a problem at all in this salon. If people tire of looking at other people sporting purple Mohawks or “Eat at Joe’s” shaved into their buzz-cuts, they can always amuse themselves with a basket of toys kept in one corner of the waiting room.
‘I Feel I Belong’
“I come here because I like to play with the dragon,” said Steve Gardner. “I come here because I feel I belong,” deadpanned Vince Garma, one of Gardner’s 17-year-old band mates.
Or they can look at the hundreds of snapshots of previous clients taped to mirrors around the salon. “We keep pictures of all our cuts,” said stylist Stacie Yurtchuk, who wears her hair in dozens of long synthetic braids. “Sometimes you forget things you do, and this way you remember things you had fun with.”
There seems to be a real camaraderie between clients and staff at Antenna. The stylists mill about and chat when they are not working, and the customers sometimes keep them company behind the counter. Lisa Keeney of Tarzana, a 22-year-old student and mother, began going to the salon seven months ago because she was a friend of one of the stylists.
“I like the atmosphere,” said Keeney, holding her year-old baby on her lap as the finishing touches were put on her spectacular violet and black Mohawk with tiger stripes shaved into the side. “Not your typical Valley housewife,” Field said.
Parents No Problem
People often ask Field if he doesn’t fear angry complaints from parents after their offspring return home with half their heads shaved or dyed purple and pink. “I was afraid of that in the beginning,” said Field, “because I was trying to outrage. But these parents are young enough themselves to relate to what we’re doing.”
They can also relate to the inexpensive rates. “In the beginning,” Field said, “I think the chief reason parents let their kids come here was because the price was right.”
But, although Antenna specializes in cuts on the wild side, not all of them are that outre. Field points out one teen-age girl in a corner, wearing her hair in a simple cut that is full on top and short on the sides. “By Valley standards, it’s not that conservative,” he said. “But people used to yell out their car windows at her a couple of years ago.”
Red Flecks
Another customer, 30-year-old Jackie Henken, has her long, dark hair subtly highlighted with red flecks, a new color process from England that Field uses on brunettes who want highlights but not obvious roots. “This allows me to go right into an office situation and look different,” said Henken, who lives in Studio City and does free-lance production work for movie studios. “But I’ve never lost a job because of the color of my hair.”
Field does have a few older customers, “women in their 40s and 50s in the real estate business. I don’t do Mohawks on them. It wouldn’t be appropriate. And that’s why I don’t wear one. But, on young people, you can do anything.”
Antenna’s no-appointment-necessary policy, plus its evening and Sunday hours, keep a steady stream of new young customers coming in. “That way everyone gets to do a new haircut occasionally,” Field said. “That’s what keeps you fresh--you don’t do the same clientele every week.”
Antenna has often been compared to Astor Place in New York, the celebrated barbershop where East Village types line up for hours to get their hair cut and shaved in just the right way.
“I’ve heard that a lot,” Field said. “It’s the same thing: fast work, moderate prices and the right cut.” He sees his Reseda location as the Southern California version of downtown versus uptown. “In the Valley, everyone’s trying to be Ventura Boulevard,” Field said. “We offer an alternative.”