The future for Michael Stejskal is a walk through the pastor maybe just a seat in a comfortable, vintage-style barber's chair.
Stejskal, 34, spent about 10 years as a furniture designer. He loved the job, "but I got to the point where, while creatively I was fulfilled, I was lacking the social aspect of a career and just a life in general." He worked with only a few people daily and sat at his computer all day, designing furniture for very wealthy clientele. "I just felt very disconnected from my everyday life," he said.
So Stejskal went a different direction with his work. He first went to Success School in Chicago, a nine-to-five gig for his barber's certification, and just over a year ago started cutting hair. He often was styling with a scissors at his apartment until 9 p.m. during the week. On weekends, he worked at a salon in Lake View.
Stejskal last fall learned he won a year of free rent, $20,000 to build the shop and design and marketing help through #FLATSprojectan initiative designed by the city and a real estate group, FLATS Chicago, and its parent company, Cedar Street, to bring local small businesses to vacant storefronts in Uptown. Stejskal is the first of several winnersand he is now the proud gay owner of The Public Barber, 1319 W. Wilson Ave., which opened March 2.
"I was thrilled," to hear that I won, he said. "But it also was an 'Oh, crap' moment. It was thrilling and scary at the same time."
tejskal quickly purchased, and read, several "Starting a Business For Dummies" books.
"I knew what I wanted it to look like; I knew what I wanted the vibe to be, but I had never started a business," he said.
The Public Barber is a sparklingly clean with a nod to the past. The decorations are a reflection of Stejskal personally, as most of the relics are from his apartment.
The Public Barber is open daily, except Sunday, with Stejskal and Garfield Wilson each now manning their own chairand two other chairs are yet to be filled. Wilson formally worked in Boystown. Forget watching sports plastered on large, flat screen TVs; that's not Stejskal's way. Instead, music is played, and there also is a book exchange area.
"The interior is very reflective of who I am," Stejskal said.
About 40 percent of the clientele is LGBT, he said.
"I named it The Public Barber because I want it to be inclusive to everyone, regardless of one's sexual orientation or other [personal] factors; I want everyone to feel comfortable here," he said.
Stejskal eventually would like to expand to a second location, possibly on the South side.
"Once people come in, I think they realize that there is a difference for the money [spent] here as opposed to a chain [cuttery] … the overall experience," he said.
For $25, customers get a haircut, hot towel service, a free neck shave … and a shot of bourbon, if they want it. And about a third of his customers so far have opted for the liquor, he said.
"We try to make it 30-minutes of the customer being pampered, just simply enjoying yourself," he said.
For reservations at The Public Barber, call 773-754-7363.