January 18
...serving up your daily dish.
Yes indeed, as rumored, Bangz is planning a move to the Masonic Temple, just a little up the street from its current location at the tip of the pie wedge where Church, Fullerton and Bloomfield all meet.
Bangz confirmed the news for us today (while we were in their making an appointment). The renovation is expected to take until the summer of 2007.
The move will give the hair cuttery an extra 4,000 square feet of space (they have 6,000 now), which will allow them to expand spa services. They also plan to offer valet parking in the new location.
Sounds like the vacancy will make room for Ricky's Candy, Cones and Chaos, which is what Dick Grabowsky wanted there all along. But a year and a half? That's a long time to wait for a cone.
Does anyone else find this hysterically funny? A hair salon in a Masonic Temple? Calling Weird NJ!
Posted by: Miss Martta (8T) | Jan 18, 2006 4:34:42 PM
I can't get over this one, I seriously can't. Looks like Cathar has somewhere to get his haircut now!
Posted by: MyManMisterC (#before9,letter after s) | Jan 18, 2006 4:38:44 PM
Is this an active or a former Masonic Temple? Like, do I get a farcical aquatic ceremony with my wash and cut?
Posted by: State Street Pete | Jan 18, 2006 4:52:33 PM
Will a member of the Illuminati be doing my color?
Posted by: Miss Martta (8T) | Jan 18, 2006 5:01:15 PM
"in THERE making an appointment."
Blame it on the wind.
Posted by: Grammar Police | Jan 18, 2006 5:04:34 PM
I am a member of Essex Lodge #7 of the Free and Accepted Masons in Caldwell. Maybe I can get the Shriners to perform at the opening.
Posted by: The Iceman (8T) | Jan 18, 2006 5:12:43 PM
Will we have to give a mysterious handshake to get a perm?
Posted by: quaker-oats | Jan 18, 2006 5:20:06 PM
What does a haircut cost in that clip joint, anyway? I've wondered.
Posted by: Surrounded | Jan 18, 2006 6:02:06 PM
They have to change the name from Bangz to something else.
Bangz is so, well, "Jersey"
Posted by: Karen | Jan 18, 2006 6:37:34 PM
Okay. To get all Masonic here, we meet on the square and part shorn on the level. And as Joseph Smith is said to have said when he was shot, "Is there no hope for the widow's son?" Not here, I guess.
It is weird. Really weird. I can't even imagine, either, that a mere hair salon has the kind of money with which to do this kind of renovation. But if they do, haircuts there are probably too rich for my blood. And Bangz is already 6000 sq. ft? Sure doesn't look it. Perhaps there's one haircut level for the plebs, another for initiates a (and still a third for that Grabowsky blond curly "mannie perm").
Interestingly, this Masonic temple is actually larger inside, based on that 10,000 sq. ft. figure, than Rosslyn Chapel. But you can still get married there, which you can't do yet at Bangz.
And where are they going to put the Master's Chair? The ritual sword, gun and blindfold? Are they going to ear Mason's aprons while working on heads? MyMan is right, I'm going to try and scrimp and save elsewhere so I can make an appointment, I have 18 monts to do it!
Posted by: cathar (8T) | Jan 18, 2006 6:51:54 PM
Cathar, makes for a very NYC-ish gimmick, right? I'm reminded of Limelight (which goes by another name these days...)
Posted by: Billy Gray | Jan 18, 2006 9:20:27 PM
Limelight= Club Avalon
http://www.velvetlist.com/Avalon.php3
picture here:
http://tinyurl.com/czaap
Posted by: badd_patti | Jan 18, 2006 10:25:36 PM
I like the "32 degrees of beauty" quip.
So Limelight is Club Avalon nowadays? I guess when known drug dens get closed in NYC, they can reopen under a new name, unlike in NJ. I'd bet the club is just as scuffy, though. The few times I was there, I always thought the demimonde was purposely trying too hard precisely because the place was a former Episcopal church.
Does anyone, by the way, know if the Masonic Temple was always one? Looks awfully church-like for a Freemasons' Hall, they're not usually that, well, ecclesiastical-looking. And again, 10,000 sq. ft. in which to cut and color hair? That's an awfully big space.
Posted by: cathar (8T) | Jan 18, 2006 11:18:58 PM
Nevermind...I've answered my own question. They have a site: http://www.bangz.net/home.php
Posted by: Surrounded | Jan 18, 2006 11:21:24 PM
they sure do have a lot of folks working there!
http://www.bangz.net/staff.php
Posted by: badd_patti | Jan 18, 2006 11:32:51 PM
The Limelight, wow, what a place. During the 80's ( 81 - 87 ) I produced fashion shows ( for buyers when they came in for market week ) at various NY clubs, the Limelight was one of the Key clubs to do shows in at that time.
( anybody remember the Red Parrot, 4D, or Visage )
They had the best staging area, DJ booth, dressing area, and light and sound systems. They even once painted the entire stage and walls pink for me when I produced a show for Jantzen Swimwear. ( all the outfits were pink, and my theme was the Pink Panther ).
For a majority of those shows, Rich, one of the owners of Bangz, and a crew of about 8 stylists ( some still work there now ), did the hair & make for the models..and they were great.
ah, those were the days....
I wish them well..they are a good neighbor.... they add beauty and a Look that is Montclair.
Posted by: wayne robbins | Jan 19, 2006 12:07:18 AM
>>Does anyone, by the way, know if the Masonic Temple was always one? Looks awfully church-like for a Freemasons' Hall, they're not usually that, well, ecclesiastical-looking
Cathar,
That's not very unusual for Masonic temples. Take the big one in Philadelphia, for instance, right next to City Hall:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pintado/79380953/
i wonder if links work in the comments?
Posted by: Billy Gray | Jan 19, 2006 12:29:56 AM
Wayne, those decidely were not "the days." Junkies, slumming OC members, drug dealers galore, bouncers who just loved beating the crap out of the weak and the stoned, assorted other low-lifes, skimming club personnel....you seriously never noticed this stuff? And all of them trying their damnedest to assure their admission into hell. Because, I will always believe, they knew they were in a deconsecrated church. Whichever Episcopal bishop or board of trustees approved this sale should be dragged through the streets of Manhattan and spanked with a crozier.
On a surely related note, bike clubs have long referred to their weekly meetings (which are usually held on Monday nights) as "church."
And yes indeed, and thanks, Billy Gray, links do work as comments. Congratulations, too, you seem to have done correctly what only ROC seems to have been able to previously do.
Posted by: cathar (8T) | Jan 19, 2006 12:43:29 AM
Yes cathar,the Limelight was a crazy place ( as was most NYC clubs in those days ), but, I had a special VIP area upstairs, a private party for our designer ( Jantzen in this case,and all their buyers ) open bar and food all night, VIP parking, and we got paid ( the agency I worked for ) $ 1.25 for every person who showed up with our invite ( they mailed out about 8,000 for each show, with about 15% showing up )
I was able to avoid all those bad things you mentioned...and had a great time doing what I did ..that 'was the days' I was referring to.
Posted by: wayne robbins | Jan 19, 2006 1:05:44 AM
Wayne, you are either extremely ingenuous or very naive. And "crazy" isn't necessarily an ap synonym for behavior that would have been a disapproving stare at times even from Messalina. I covered discos for years during that period for assorted publications, and there were mornings after when I wished I could bathe in disinfectant.
Here, however, is clearly where our worldviews differ: you cite how much money your agency made, the private bar, the food, basically all the fripperies. I focus on the human garbage and the assembled scumbags. "Wear a smile and a Jantzen," indeed. They may have been your "days," Wayne, but the wreckage is still being cast up on society's shores from those happy times.
And so to bed.
Posted by: cathar (8T) | Jan 19, 2006 1:41:32 AM
