Rob O’Brien, co-owner with two of his brothers of the Denver-based Floyd’s 99 Barbershops, ticked off the hairstyle crazes that came and went over the past 10 years since the company started.
“The George Clooney Caesar, the pushed- up Caesar (same thing but elevated in the front), guylights: guys dying their hair with highlights, the fauxhawk and the Bieber Fever, which is in full effect now,” Rob said. “One can only imagine that the mullet can’t be far behind.”
For women, Rob recalled that the Jennifer Aniston look was all the rage when the chain started.
Floyd’s 99 founders Rob, Paul and Bill O’Brien owned food concessions in eight Major League Baseball stadiums when they decided to bail in 1999 — the year the Floyd’s concept (named after the fictional Mayberry barbershop) was born.
The concession business barely survived the baseball strike of 1994, and with another one threatened in 1999, the brothers opted out.
The entrepreneurs decided to trade concessions for cuts and color, and put together a plan to open a fast-growing chain of service- and value-oriented barbershops.
“We couldn’t get anyone to lease us a space,” Paul said. “(Landlords) would say they don’t want a barbershop, that’s a dying business.”
But they persevered, and the first Floyd’s opened at 11th Avenue and Broadway. Then came the blizzard of 2003 that collapsed the building’s roof and nearly put them out of business. But that was then. Today, as the company marks its 10th year, the business boasts 52 stores with the goal of opening 99 corporate- owned and franchised shops by the end of 2012.
Modernized Monaco.
Hotel Monaco general manager Von de Luna calls the 189-room renovation “the Hotel Monaco all grown up.”
During a tour Thursday of the new digs, de Luna showed off the $13 million new decor that graces all 189 guest rooms.
The pale yellow and green furniture and wall graphics have been replaced with a primarily brown and orange palette with accents of turquoise. Other design touches in an accent pillow, cow-print throw and horse-head bedside lamps pay homage to Denver’s western heritage.
“There’s a unique design to each hotel that focuses on the local flavor of that city’s Monaco,” de Luna said.
Next up is a redesign of the lobby and meeting rooms. The biggest hurdle, Luna said, is whether to change the big- top-circus-like painted ceiling in the lobby or to work around it.
“That’s the big conundrum,” he said.
App-le of her eye.
She may be of a certain age, but no one can call Pat “Gabby Gourmet” Miller old school.
The Gabster, who’s published the restaurant bible Gabby Gourmet Restaurant Guide for 25 years, has gone all techy with a new dining application available on iPhones and Verizon Droid smartphones.
The app — $2.99 to download — contains information on more than 500 local restaurants listed in the Gabby Gourmet guide. Features include a GPS search to find nearby restaurants, as well as searches by location, restaurant name, cuisine, price and rating. The “make reservations” option connects to .
“I still use the book, but this is great when you are out, and it helps you find a restaurant right where you are,” Miller said.
For sale.
Father and son George I. and Mark A. Rosenthal, the team behind Raleigh Enterprises, are selling the family’s Jigsaw Ranch, a 90-acre Aspen estate, for $48.5 million.
The Rosenthals’ interests include hotels, movie and TV studio complexes, commercial real estate, and Rosenthal Estate Wines. The estate has been owned by the family for 37 years.
What does $48.5 million get you? Two main houses, one with 21,000 square feet with five bedroom suites and 10 baths, and the other with 11,000 square feet and a walking bridge entrance from across a creek. There’s also a guest house and a log cabin gatehouse.
The property is listed by Joshua Saslove of Joshua & Co. Los Angeles-based George Rosenthal told The Wall Street Journal he’s selling the house because “it’s time for me to go on and look at other challenges,” including building a yacht.
EAVESDROPPING
A man after jogging:
“I saw another fox on Wolff Street while running this morning. It’s unlikely I’ll ever see a wolf on Fox Street, though.”
Penny Parker’s column appears Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Hear her on “Caplis & Silverman” between 4 and 5 p.m. Fridays on KHOW-630 AM. Call her at 303-954-5224 or e-mail pparker@denverpost.com.
