咖啡理髮店 打破美食美髮界限

Every couple of weeks, Andrew Livingston, 22, a co-founder of a Brooklyn men's wear company, stops on his way home from work for a drink — either a glass of pale ale or an espresso — in a setting where he typically finds like-minded guys.

今年22歲的安德魯·利文斯頓(Andrew Livingston)是布魯克林一家男裝公司的聯合創始人。每隔兩個星期，在下班回家的路上，他就會去喝點什麼，不是一杯苦啤，便是一杯espresso。在那裏，他總能找到一些和自己志趣相投的朋友。

His destination: the Williamsburg location of Blind Barber, where $45 haircuts are offered alongside 10 types of beer, including four varieties on tap, and cappuccinos made with Blue Bottle coffee and prepared in an airy cafe adjacent to the hairdressing space. Along with his drink order, Mr. Livingston gets a trim while seated in one of four vintage salon chairs.

他去的就是Blind Barber理髮店在威廉斯堡(Williamsburg)的店面，那裏45美元（約合人民幣279元）的理髮服務配有10款酒水飲品，包括4種不同的桶裝啤酒，和幾款在理髮店旁一家通風的咖啡店裏用藍樽咖啡(Blue Bottle coffee)調製的卡布奇諾。利文斯頓坐在店內四把高級沙龍椅中的一把椅子上，一邊選擇飲品下單，一邊等着理髮。

“It’s a nice spot to kind of catch your breath,” he said. “For guys, especially in a place like New York, it’s important to have an environment like that, where you can just kind of de-stress, chill and talk.”

“這是個不錯的地方，很有吸引力，”他說。“尤其是在紐約這樣的城市裏，對男性而言，能有個那樣的環境讓你釋放壓力、好好休息並聊聊天是非常重要的。”

Blind Barber’s co-founder Jeff Laub said: “It’s not just about making $3 on a coffee. That coffee is supposed to stArt a conversation, develop a friendship and then hopefully spark something else.”

Blind Barber的創始人之一傑夫·勞布(Jeff Laub)說：“這不只是爲了在一杯咖啡上賺3美元（約合人民幣19元）。有了那杯咖啡，就可以開始交談，可以建立友誼，進而產生新的想法。”

The cafe-barbershop is a growing trend. Dr. Alon Gratch, a clinical psychologist who wrote “If Men Could Talk: Translating the Secret Language of Men,” said that such a place “seems new, in that it provides a space for conversation.”

現在，咖啡廳式的理髮店越來越流行了。一位寫了《解讀男人心：翻譯男人密碼》(If Men Could Talk: Translating the Secret Language of Men)的臨牀心理學家阿龍• 葛瑞奇(Alon Gratch)說，這樣一處地方“顯得有新意，原因在於這裏提供了一處可以交談的場所”。

“It is bridging the gap a little bit and moving in the direction of what women do, but in a more unique ‘guy’ way,” he said. “The other traditional places for guys to hang out together are bars, which are very noisy, so there’s no real potential for conversation, or sports events, and the same goes for them.”

“這裏把男女之間的差距縮小了一點，原本女人做的事，男人也可以去做了，但方式更加男性化，”他說。“過去，男人們往往在酒吧裏聚會，但那裏的環境非常吵鬧，不太適合彼此交談，再就是一些體育活動，但情況也是一樣。”

Strictly speaking, these establishments do not bar women, but most schedule appointments at tight intervals to accommodate short haircuts. They typically feature straight-razor shaves and beard trims prominently on their concise menus of services.

嚴格來說，這些地方並不拒絕女人，但多數理髮店由於預約都排得很滿，所以接的都是一些剪短髮的活兒。這些理髮店往往都把剃鬚與修髯兩項業務一目瞭然地列在他們那份簡明的服務清單上。

Catering particularly to a style-conscious clientele, these shops list haircut prices several times that of a traditional men’s walk-in barbershop, and the décor has more in common with a farm-to-table restaurant or men's wear boutique than a beauty salon (except for a prominent display of scissors, combs and glass jars of Barbicide).

由於這些理髮店迎合的是一羣有時尚意識的客戶，所以他們開列的價格也比那些隨到隨剪的傳統男性理髮店要高數倍，而且這些理髮店的裝修也更像一家“農場直供餐桌”的餐廳，或是一家男裝精品店，而非美髮沙龍（只不過店內到處都能看到剪刀、梳子與美髮產品Barbicide的玻璃罐）。

Although coifs and comestibles would not seem to have much in common, for a specific demographic, a cappuccino made with locally roasted, ethically grown beans is a natural accompaniment to high-caliber haircuts.

雖然美髮與美食似乎相去甚遠，然而，對某些特定的人羣而言，一杯以栽培得當、當地烘焙的咖啡豆烹煮而成的卡布奇諾，自然與那些高檔理髮店相得益彰。

“It’s definitely the same group of customers,” said Steve Marks, who owns Persons of Interest, a barbershop that teamed up with Parlor Coffee to serve espresso drinks at its Williamsburg location. “It’s all one piece. The same people who are going to get a great haircut are the same people who are keen to have the best coffee.”

“這顯然是同一羣客戶，”Persons of Interest理髮店的所有者史蒂夫·馬克思(Steve Marks)說，他在威廉斯堡的門店與Parlor Coffee咖啡店攜手合作，爲客人提供espresso咖啡。“沒有差別。願意做漂亮髮型的是那些人，喜歡喝上等咖啡的也是那些人。”

As Dillon Edwards, the founder of Parlor Coffee, put it, “The guy that will spend $45 on a haircut will also spend $5 on a cup of coffee.”

正如Parlor Coffee的創始人狄龍·愛德華茲(Dillon Edwards)所言，“願意花45美元做頭髮的人，自然也願意再花5美元喝杯咖啡。”

Even in neighborhoods saturated with coffee bars and hair salons, new combination businesses along these lines continue to pop up, having acquired the necessary cafe or liquor licenses. In March, Cotter Barber opened in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, complete with a La Marzocco manual espresso machine perched on a reclaimed wood counter in front and four antique barber chairs in back. (It is somewhat more unisex, but the majority of the clientele is male.) At the Williamsburg location of Fellow Barber, coffee service was introduced in February. Both cafe-barbershops get their coffee beans from artisanal roasters (San Francisco’s Four Barrel Coffee and Tandem Coffee of Portland, Me.).

即便在已經遍佈咖啡館與美髮店的社區裏，這種二合一的新型商業模式也在不斷涌現，它們還取得了咖啡酒水類產品的經營執照。今年三月，Cotter Barber理髮店在布魯克林的綠點區開業了，店內配有一臺La Marzocco的特濃咖啡手動烹調機，就放在前面一個可循環利用的木質櫃檯上，另外還有四把古董美髮椅放在後面（雖然這家店男女皆宜，但大部分主顧都是男性）。Fellow Barber理髮店於今年二月在威廉斯堡的門店中開始提供咖啡。這兩家店目前都在向一些手工烘焙咖啡豆的商家（例如舊金山的Four Barrel咖啡店與緬因州波特蘭的Tandem咖啡店）購買咖啡豆。

The combination of barbershops and beverages extends well beyond Brooklyn. In Toronto, for example, there is a bar inside Rod, Gun & Barbers, where cigar smoking is also encouraged. In San Francisco, Peoples Barber & Shop serves cold beer, as does the Duke Barber Co. in Philadelphia. The Modern Man, a chain of five salons in Portland, Ore., offers beer and bourbon from local purveyors. Fellow Barber plans to add a bar to its Detroit location.

而這種酒水結合理髮的服務已不再侷限於布魯克林了。例如在多倫多，理髮店Rod, Gun & Barbers在店內設有一個吧檯，在那裏抽雪茄是受到鼓勵的。在舊金山，Peoples Barber & Shop 理髮店可提供冰啤，而在費城，Duke Barber Co.理髮店也一樣。在俄勒岡州的波特蘭市，有五家門店的連鎖美髮沙龍The Modern Man可提供來自當地供應商的啤酒與波旁威士忌。而在底特律，Fellow Barber理髮店正打算在其門店內增設一個吧檯。

In the years before the new breed came along, the popularity of barbershops was on the wane. According to “Encyclopedia of Hair: A Cultural History,” they went into a slump in the mid-’60s, and thousands went out of business. In the ’90s, books like “The American Barbershop: A Closer Look at a Disappearing Place,” by Mic Hunter, and “The Vanishing American Barbershop: An Illustrated History of Tonsorial Art 1860-1960,” by Ronald S. Barlow, suggested they were all but finished.

在這些新生代的理髮店出現之前，傳統理髮店的人氣多年來已經每況愈下。據《美髮百科：一部文化史》(Encyclopedia of Hair: A Cultural History)記載，在20世紀60年代中期，理髮店數量驟減，成千上萬家店面關門大吉。而在90年代，諸如麥克·亨特(Mic Hunter)的《美國理髮店：近距離觀察正在消失的地方》(The American Barbershop: A Closer Look at a Disappearing Place)與羅納德·S·巴洛(Ronald S. Barlow)的《正在消失的美國理髮店：圖解1860-1960理髮藝術史》(The Vanishing American Barbershop: An Illustrated History of Tonsorial Art )等書就曾指出，理髮店差一點就不復存在了。

“They were associated with a generation of postwar men — either World War I or World War II — who had very short hair, very corporate hair,” said Dr. Allan Peterkin, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto and the author of three books on men’s grooming. “Then you get into the ’60s, with the hippies, and the ’70s, with the mustache swingers. In the ’70s and ’80s, you started to see more unisex salons, when men had more elaborate haircuts, and they thought that the barber couldn’t do it.

“這種情況涉及戰後那一代的男人——不管是‘一戰’還是‘二戰’——他們當時都留着非常短的頭髮，有非常好打理的髮型，”多倫多大學的一位精神病學教授阿蘭·彼得金博士(Dr. Allan Peterkin)說，他還寫了三本關於男性穿着打扮的著作。“然後進入60年代，流行嬉皮士，再到70年代，流行長鬚浪子。在70年代至80年代，你開始看見，有更多男女皆宜的美髮沙龍，那時候男人梳着更講究的髮型，但他們覺得這樣的髮型在理髮店裏做不出來。”

“Today, a lot of men are wearing their hair short — the hipsters wear short, short cuts, even if they have bushy beards — so it’s a swing back to shorter hairstyles; barbers were always the ones who were the best at those.”

“如今，有許多男人都留起了短髮——那些嬉波士們(hipsters)則留着超短髮，哪怕他們蓄了濃密的長鬍須——所以，髮型潮流又回到了較短的風格；這是理髮師們從來都很擅長的一種髮型。”

The cafe-barbershop hybrids are regaining the cultural territory held by barbershops in the days before the decline.

這種咖啡理髮混合的商業模式重新佔領了傳統理髮店衰落之前所攻佔的那片文化領域。

“These combinations are almost like community centers,” said Emma McKay, the executive editor of AskMen, a male-centric website. “In modern society, guys are lacking men-only spaces, and the barbershop still works as a male-first space.”

“這些結合了兩種服務的門店幾乎成了社區裏的中心地帶，”一家男性門戶網站AskMen的執行編輯艾瑪·麥凱(Emma McKay)說。“在現代社會中，男人們都缺少僅供男性交流的空間，但這些理髮店作爲一個男性優先的地方仍然有這樣的作用。”

Stylish men find the environment at such places more inviting than that of a no-frills neighborhood barbershop.

有些追求時尚的男性發現，這些理髮店的環境比沒有裝修的社區理髮店更吸引人。

Carlos Garcia, 32, a restaurant management consultant, still goes now and then for the $10 haircut at a walk-in shop near his apartment in Gowanus, Brooklyn, where he waits his turn while sitting in a vinyl-covered chair. But he has found the experience at Cotter Barber to be more pleasant. There he sits with an Americano in hand; on nice days, he can relax in the shop’s backyard.

今年32歲的餐廳管理顧問卡洛斯·加西亞(Carlos Garcia)仍然會偶爾光顧在他的布魯克林區格瓦納斯(Gowanus)公寓附近的一家10美元（約合人民幣62元）一次、隨到隨剪的理髮店，他坐在店裏的一把塑料椅子上等着輪到自己理髮。但他發現，在Cotter Barber理髮店的體驗更加愉快。他手裏端着一杯美式咖啡坐在店裏；天氣好的時候，他還可以在這家店的後院裏消遣。

“I totally appreciate going in and having coffee I enjoy, since there’s usually a long wait,” Mr. Garcia said.

“我真的很願意進去點一杯我喜歡的咖啡，因爲通常都要等上好一會兒，”加西亞說。

Jon Wilde, an articles editor at GQ who lives in Brooklyn, said the cafe-barbeshops are “making that haircut feel like an experience and not an obligation. These places are inching us toward that hashtag ‘treat yourself’ moment, where you don’t mind going and taking care of yourself a little bit.”

《GQ》雜誌的編輯、現住布魯克林的喬恩·王爾德(Jon Wilde)說，這種咖啡廳式理髮店“讓人覺得理髮像是一次體驗，而不是什麼必須做的事情。這些地方讓我們漸入佳境，懂得要‘善待自己’，因而不妨常去，對自己稍微好一點兒。”

“Yes, the haircut might be a bit more expensive,” he said, “but you can have a beer if you want, and they are going to take good care of you.”

“是的，在這裏理髮可能有點貴，”他說，“但如果你願意，可以喝杯啤酒，而且，他們讓你非常享受。”