Why did we ever do our hair before hitting the scene?

By Laura Randall

April 29, 2004 12 AM PT

Special to The Times

On a recent Saturday afternoon, Addison Henderson deftly steered a tray of sour-apple martinis around a high-ceilinged room filled with original artworks by Damien Hirst and Andy Warhol. A cool lounge beat from a Hotel Costes CD pulsated around him.

Swank Beverly Hills cocktail party? Happy hour at MOCA? In reality, it’s just a routine workday for this employee of frank.studio, a Santa Monica hair salon where cuts and highlights come with flavored martinis, tattoo consultations, personalized water bottles and other perks that were never a part of your mother’s beauty parlor.

“I think beauty parlors have had their day,” owner Frank Galasso says. “It’s time to reinvent them.”

A former independent stylist who worked with Gianni Versace on print and runway campaigns, Galasso wanted to avoid what he calls the “pump-station” feel of a typical salon when he opened his own in Bergamot Station five years ago. So he created an environment that combines high art with a comfortable living room.

It’s a concept that more Los Angeles-area salons are embracing. Allowing busy customers to multi-task during their $80 trims -- and have fun while doing it -- has become a way to stand out among the city’s overwhelming number of salons.

Taking a cue from Beauty Bar, the Hollywood nightclub that gives free manicures with their martinis during happy hour, some salons have started offering free cappuccinos, club-quality music, even frequent flier-style reward programs.

David Dickson, a stylist at Azalia Salon in Brentwood, gives his clients the ultimate multi-tasking experience: an opportunity to check their e-mail and surf the Web on a 17-inch flat-panel computer monitor he installed on a wall in front of his station. “Clients ask me questions about all kinds of things, and we’ll Google it,” Dickson says. “We look up medications, real estate listings. Sometimes they ask me if I’ve seen Jennifer Aniston’s new hairdo, and we can go look for that.”

At Wax Poetic Salon in Burbank, customers who show up for a haircut or a facial can also check out a rotating art exhibition, get an astrology reading or browse for books on the occult. Monday through Thursday, the salon throws a “Free Cocktail With Cut” happy hour from 4 to 7 p.m. The drink relaxes clients, many of whom work at nearby studios, says owner Kerry Hite. It’s also an incentive that steers more people toward less-busy weekday appointments.

“I always joke that I got my MBA by doing this,” says the 33-year-old former actress. Next she plans to open an elixir bar so clients can sip herbal tonics.

Business-minded salon owners are also launching reward programs to keep clients happy. Wax Poetic offers $10 off any service to customers who refer a friend. Customers at Modem Salon in Silver Lake get a ninth cut free after purchasing eight haircuts from the same stylist.

Other establishments prefer using music or art to create a vibe. Bigoudi International Salon in Woodland Hills has its own staff curators, Paulina and Javier Granados, who organize two or three shows a year in the salon’s 2,400-foot industrial-like space (it also throws after-hours fashion shows and Valentine’s Day parties for its single customers). Goodform in the Fairfax district is known for its clubhouse ambience and cutting-edge music (it often gets CDs before they’re released). The salon has a 300-disc CD changer and a sound system loud enough to provoke regular complaints from neighbors, but customers love it, says manager Audrey Moshier.

Rudy’s Barbershop also favors loud music at its garage-like facility in Silver Lake. On weekends, a DJ occasionally shows up to spin music for people waiting for a chair to open up. Other diversions include two Foosball tables, a pinball machine and a retail area that hawks Adidas sneakers and an eclectic collection of rock and electronic CDs.

While creative ideas alone may not boost a salon’s bottom line, it has managed to keep customers like Katy Wetterstrand happy. The Paso Robles resident drives 200 miles each way to get her hair cut and colored at frank.studio. On Saturday, she was one of the clients sipping an apple martini while she waited out a coloring procedure.

“I love it here. I usually come with a girlfriend and make a day of it,” she said as she helped herself to a fresh-baked chocolate chip cookie.

Multi-tasking salons

Azalia Salon

Internet connection for e-mail or style consultation.

11638 Barrington Court, Brentwood, (310) 471-8894.

Bigoudi

In-salon art gallery and after-hours fashion shows.

21720 Ventura Blvd., Woodland Hills, (818) 887-3627

Frank.studio

Sour-apple martinis in an art gallery setting.

2525 Michigan Ave., Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, (310) 998-1920

Goodform