BAR:
BAR LUXE
Bar Luxe at 231 Milwaukee St. looks like the hippest lounge in town. It’s all white leather, marble and mirrors at the bottom of a brick stairwell. It’s known for its extra-cool clientele — of all colors and persuasions. On any given Friday, expect a mob, especially during the 5-8 p.m. happy hour. And Bar Luxe fills up easily at about 1,200 square feet, 18 bar stools, six booths, a tiny patio and a capacity of 112. The menu is all about small plates — and, folks are quick to point out, great hamburgers. Open 5 p.m.-2 a.m. every night except Monday.
GRILLED:
CHARLIE PRICE
Charlie Price, 39, is probably Denver’s best- known hairdresser, especially after his runner-up star turn last summer on Bravo’s reality series “Shear Genius.” Born in Denver and raised in Aurora, he went to Smoky Hill High. He’s been an in-demand stylist (very in-demand) in Cherry Creek for 21 years, previously at Planet and, for the past three years, at Click — which is about 5 feet from Bar Luxe. He wears black. He shaves his head. He orders a chardonnay.
BH: Is that what you drink? Chardonnay?
Price: Crack for white women.
BH: Do you drink much?
Price: I drink white wine because I really want to drink Jack Daniels. I love Jack Daniels but I have to drink 10 of them, and I don’t want a DUI.
BH: Do you hate the idea of jail?
Price: I think it’s terrifying, except I love the show “Oz.”
BH: How’s the salon business right now?
Price: The economy has affected our business. But it’s definitely getting better.
BH: What’s the salon world like?
Price: It used to be so concentrated here. It’s a lot less cutthroat than it used to be. And there are a lot less crazy-looking people. That moment in time has passed.
BH: How much do you charge?
Price: $150 for a haircut. I raised my prices after the show, but with the economy, I didn’t want it to be prohibitive.
BH: Do you like Cherry Creek restaurants?
Price: I like Campo and Cucina Colore. I like Second Home; it’s got a sexy environment and feels like an exciting place to be. Not like Cherry Creek Grill or North or Elway’s.
BH: I saw that Bravo was on the TV in your salon.
Price: I am a Bravo freak. I love that channel.
BH: Did you like your 15 minutes of fame?
Price: Luckily for me, it was about my job. It enhanced and amplified what I do. And it’s playing in 22 countries right now. I get e-mails from Australia and Brazil and wherever. Who knows how long that’ll last.
BH: What do you like on TV?
Price: The reality shows, “Dexter,” “The Tudors.”
BH: What did you think about the Miss California USA flap with Perez Hilton?
Price: First of all, it was an inappropriate place for him to ask that question (about same-sex marriage). I don’t think that it was a moment for his personal agenda and politics. It really wasn’t fair of him. But of course, I didn’t like her answer.
BH: Do you go to church?
Price: I was raised Baptist. I believe in God. I don’t believe in church.
BH: You like to be called a “hairdresser” rather than a “stylist?”
Price: It’s less affected.
BH: You read newspapers?
Price: Sporadically. I’m a magazine junkie. Vanity Fair, New Yorker, W. All the foreign fashion magazines like Italian Vogue and French Vogue. French Vogue isn’t afraid to show a nipple. In American magazines, all the girls are jumping and happy. The French women are naked and smoking.
BH: Would you be caught dead wearing what I’m wearing right now? Tassel loafers, chinos, Izod shirt?
Price: No.
BH: What book are you reading?
Price: “Drood.”
BH: That’s a real doorstopper. You’re not afraid of a door stopper?
Price: This is a very easy read.
BH: Best memory?
Price: I’ve had a very happy life. My parents both loved me and were nice to me. They weren’t alcoholics and didn’t do drugs, and they loved me. Everything I have ever wanted to do in my life, more or less, I’ve gotten to do.
BH: Do you dream?
Price: Oh yes. I’m always dreaming that I have all this hair. If I let my hair grow out, I’d look like Dr. Phil. And I have dreams that I am in high school still, but it’s more like a mall, and I can’t find my classes. I don’t have nightmares.
BH: What do you drive?
Price: A BMW Z4. But I drive as little as possible. I’m terrified of a car accident.
BH: Christopher Buckley just wrote a book . . .
Price: “Losing Mum and Pup.”
BH: Yes. And in it he wrote, “No one truly appreciates a really great lady more than a gay man, and vice versa.” You agree?
Price: Well, yes and no. Gay men and women can have great relationships. One thing I don’t like about straight women and gay men relationships is I don’t love playing the clown for women. I don’t want to be the faaaaaaaabulous person going out and having martinis. I’m not that kind of gay guy.
BH: Does that offend you?
Price: No. It’s just boring. I don’t want to be a clown in that cliched way. I don’t want to be the “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.” I don’t like that, screaming and running around all the time. It’s buffoonery of the worst sort.
BH: What’s your idea of total misery?
Price: Being crippled. Being blind or deaf. Anything like that.
BH: What’s the most overrated virtue?
Price: Fidelity.
BH: What about dying.
Price: I am terrified of dying.
BH: Your motto?
Price: Some people think they have no one to impress. Well, I am here to impress everyone, every day.
Interview conducted, condensed and edited by Bill Husted: 303-954-1486 or bhusted@denverpost.com.
