Photo: Michael A. Muller

Steve Marks, owner of the popular barber shop in Carroll Gardens, Persons of Interest recently opened his second location in Williamsburg. All the standards of POI are intact, a good soundtrack, a cold beverage, and most of all friendly service and a great haircut. We caught up with Marks over email to discuss his new shop.

Can you give us all the details on the new shop?

The new shop is at 84 Havemeyer right at Metropolitan. It’s a great area. We’re neighbors with Fette Sau and Saltie and Spuyten Duyvil. We’ve only been open a few weeks and already I can tell the shop is starting to build. The feedback we’ve gotten has been great! Everyone loves the space. Guys are really glad to have a barbershop in the area. Meaning a place for guys to get their haircut. Williamsburg is awash in salons but no dude wants to get their hair cut in one.

What are the similarities and differences between this shop and the Carroll Gardens shop, in terms of service and aesthetic?

The new shop has some aesthetic similarities to Smith Street (the luan paneling) but it is by no means a carbon copy, which was intentional. Most notably, the space was not previously a barbershop. We used images of the UN Secretariat as our guide in designing the space. I really wanted it to feel like your dad’s office. I was also very conscious of creating a space that was not too done. That isn’t the spirit of Persons of Interest or the spirit of Williamsburg (or Brooklyn for that matter). I found a 1950 door frame with transom which we installed in the back with glass surrounds. At night we leave the light on in the back so that it glows from the street – I guess you could say this is our mural.

More after the click…

Photo: Michael Williams

Michael Williams and Randy Goldberg return this holiday season with Pop Up Flea #IV. It gets bigger by the year with a list of established and independent labels. Over thirty brands will be participating including L.L. Bean Signature, Red Wing Heritage, Levi’s Vintage Clothing, Billykirk, The Hill-Side, J.W. Hulme, Oak Street Bootmakers, Terrapin Stationers, and many more. They’ve changed location and moved over to 159 Bleecker Street. Pop Up Flea opens today from 3-9pm, Saturday 11am-7pm, and Sunday from 11am-6pm.

Photo: Paul & Williams

AETHER, the outdoor sportswear, is taking their latest collection on the road and setting up temporary residence in different cities. After a month in LA, the AETHERstream is traveling 3000 miles across the U.S. and stopping in NYC. For a month and a half the mobile retail shop housed in a 34’ PanAmerican Airstream will be parked on the corner of Prince and Mulberry. AETHER partnered with designer Thierry Gaugain, Philippe Starck’s former right-hand man, to reconfigure the airstream from leisure to retail space. Gutting out all the essentials for modern living and styling it into a workshop / lodge. Planks of reclaimed oak secure the floors while a hanging fireplace sits comfortably in the back of the trailer, almost every component of the AETHERstream was custom made. The mobile store will open its doors this Thursday, November 17 from 11-7pm, 7 days a week till December 31st.

Photo: Fantastic Man

You know how challenging it is to run a blog? It’s a ball and chain. Once you start, it’s a long road to commitment. Volume is what it takes for returning readers, but there are other sites that are just as good without having to post five to ten times a day. Take Fantastic Man’s Daily Recommendations as an example. It’s a fresh perspective on endorsement with one entry a day. Quite often it’s about style, like a recent week devoted to jumpers or another on denim. Other times it’s simply about a good coffee shop around the corner from the office. The Daily Recommendations is a bite size nugget of daily info that is consistent with their editorial point of view.

Photo: Free & Easy

Only a handful of magazine have been able to create a brand strong enough to exist beyond its publication and expand into products. Monocle is one, Free & Easy is the other. Free & Easy has been operating The Rugged Museum in Tokyo for several years selling vintage American clothing from workwear to military garb. They have since developed the Rugged name into a full collection called Rugged Factory, with offerings from coats to shoes. Now Inventory Magazine reports that they are in the process of opening up a retail space for their line. There’s no mention of a launch date or a location for that matter, only a sketch of what the shop is suppose to look like.

Photo: Hudson hotel

Unlike Japan, vending machines in the United States don’t go much further than offering snacks and drinks for sale. But Morgans Hotel Group and the Council of Fashion Designers of America will change this. The two have teamed up for Semi-Automatic, an over-sized vending machine featuring items from designers taking part in CFDA’s Fashion Incubator. The giant machine will play the role of a hotel gift shop as it sits in the lobby of Hudson hotel. The glowing yellow lights illuminating through the box will be unmistakable, offering designs from Alice Ritter, Gemma Redux, Grey Ant, Jolibe, Public School, Ruby Kobo, and Sang A. Semi-Automatic will be fully operational 24 hours a day throughout the week.

Battersby Brooklyn

By Sarah Williams

Photo: Tuukka Koski

Chuck Miller

By Caroline Hwang

Photo: Michael A. Muller

Journal: Clift San Francisco

By Michael Muller

Photo: Michael A. Muller