STYLE

The Bee Line

by Katie Haegele

BEEHIVE HAIR SALON
2319 Fairmount Ave.
215.235.4483

At just 28, Amy May, co-owner of the Beehive, a hair salon in Fairmount, has realized her goal of becoming her own boss with her partner Peg Shaw. Open for just a year and a half, the Beehive has already garnered lots of attention and one employee: Sean Korban, a stylist who has been with them for nine months.

Billed as a salon styled after an old-time barbershop, the Beehive is a place where people drop by to catch up on gossip, share a pot of coffee or visit with the dogs (two sleepy black Labs known as Mac and Molly). One man, says May, comes by once a week just to pick up his copy of the Philadelphia Gay News and chat. Other drop-ins include local business owners and friends. (Everyone has found a sense of community, it seems. Molly was slated to sleep over Casey's house the night we were there; Casey is the dog who lives at the flower shop a few doors down.)

And although the decor is hip and the hairstyles are as fashion-forward as you can take 'em, May says they also cater to older women and lots of small children who go to the neighborhood's two grammar schools.

The Beehive, it seems, is as varied as the neighborhood it lives in.

Owners May and Shaw also have some refreshingly old-fashioned ideas about community and what it means to truly be a part of a neighborhood.

"There's a lot of people here who don't want to see more corporate stuff go up, like CVS, and I don't blame them," says May. "I don't wanna see it either."

The co-owners say they have a personal stake in the business' Fairmount environs. Business as well as romantic partners, the couple lives only four blocks away and see small businesses like theirs as a real way to give the area a soul.

The Beehive used to be home to a pet groomer. A friend who lived nearby kept bugging May to check out the space when the business was about to move.

The owner ended up holding the building for a few months until May was ready to put the money down. This it-takes-a-village business sense has remained a part of the Beehive's mission. The co-owners are even making arrangements to carry locally made soaps, since there isn't an abundance of boutiques in the area that carry stuff like that, and they too want to support local business.

But the Beehive has some decidedly modern elements as well. For one, they're backed in part by a micro-enterprise lender called Count Me In, which lends money only to female entrepreneurs.

Co-owner Shaw also recently transformed the back room into a modern space where she does shiatsu massage. There's an ongoing art exhibit called "White Light," and periodic openings and art parties make the space more than just a place of commerce.

There's a steady stream of good punk on the radio courtesy of Drexel University's WKDU, and the conversation in the place is casual and pleasant.

"Sean has a nickname," May says about their sole employee. The former makeup artist for South Street's Trixie L'Amour is still called Sharky for the stripe of hair, or fin, he used to have running down the middle of his head. Since it's good practice to notice what kind of hair your hairdressers have, it's worth noting that May rocks a cute punked-out and bleached 'do, while Shaw has a warmer, more tousled thing going on.

"Your ends've totally gotta come off, dude," May says to her client--a PW test subject--before making arrangements for another visit. Our subject declares the Beehive the first place she's felt comfortable having her hair colored in the two years she's lived here.

Everything about the Beehive--from its retro decor to its investment in the neighborhood--makes a person feel infinitely more comfortable than sleek chrome accents and rail-thin people wearing black.

Go figure.