Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Lauri Montani works on client Joyce Johnson in her garage-themed hair salon.

This auto shop has style

By Shari Kaplan

As customers enter the small shop at 635 N. Santa Cruz Ave., they may first notice the sprawling Snap-On Tools floormat, or perhaps the metal garbage cans, a clock made from a circular saw blade, a Lincoln Mark IV grille jutting out from the ceiling or the antiquated license plates and hubcaps adorning the walls.

But first impressions can be deceiving. What initially may appear to be an auto garage is, in actuality, a hair salon called Hair Mechanics Etc.

The 4-month-old business is the brainchild of owner Lauri Montani, a San Jose resident who has spent the past 14 years or so building her clientele at various hair and beauty salons in the Los Gatos area.

"I'm always in the garage; when my friends come over, they have to drag me out. I'm always making things," Montani says.

This was her inspiration to open a salon reminiscent of her garage, where she enjoys making jewelry as well as doing leatherwork, woodwork and general "fix-it" tasks. Montani also loves motorcycles--she has her own Harley-Davidson--but auto work is the one thing that doesn't really send her. The ambiance does.

"A lot of this is just junk from my own garage," Montani says as she surveys the salon. She procured the rest of the decor from pick-your-own auto parts lots, antique shops, hardware stores and from the bequests of friends.

She particularly likes the bright-red Craftsman tool chests, which roll around on the floor, their drawers filled with tools of the hairdresser's trade. Montani says men who come to the salon are often incredulous when they see where she and stylist Rhonda Brodsky keep their supplies.

"They ask, 'What do you mean by using your tool chests that way?' Well, these are our tools!" says Los Gatan Brodsky, who also happens to be into the motorcycle scene.

"You know how guys have their favorite tools? So do we!" adds Montani with a grin. She says that male customers who otherwise may be anxious about frequenting a "salon" become very much at ease after they've checked out the creative decor.

Male and female customers alike may experience momentary shock when they place their heads in the washbasin and find themselves eyeing bottles of Slick 50 engine treatment lining the rim. But the bottles contain only the hair treatments of shampoo and conditioner.

Other industrial items that gain a new lease on life at Hair Mechanics Etc. are retractable reels that contain rolled-up electrical cords hanging from the ceiling.

"As hairdressers, we're always tripping on cords or wrapping them around customers' necks. But not anymore!" Montani explains.

In the future, Montani hopes to see Hair Mechanics Etc. popping up in other cities and is seeking business investors. Although she says the idea for the salon began as "a whim," she believes it fills a niche that she has not seen elsewhere.

"I just wanted a place where I can do hair and jewelry. I thought, 'Where can I go to be comfortable?' So, I made it like a garage," she says.