NYC’s Iconic Barbershop Where Street Culture and Legacy Collide
Step off Orchard Street and into the thick of New York culture. You’ll smell it before you see the shop. hip hop, classic rock punk, and even reggaeton echoing through vintage clippers, and a french bully named Lilo keeping watch. Welcome to Frank’s Chop Shop, the Lower East Side barbershop where celebrity fades, weed drops, hardcore history, and cultural collisions happen daily. No appointments needed.
“This is Mike Malbon and that’s Lilo,” says the shop’s founder, nodding to the dog lounging next to him on their world famous bench. “And we’re right here at Frank’s Chop Shop. Established in 2006, working on 20 years of being out here sitting on this bench. Chilling.”
It’s a stop on what some call the “Oregon Trail”—New York’s unofficial cannabis corridor. “Over the last 20 years, not counting the last seven [statute of limitations], everybody pretty much comes through here. I mean, from back in the day, the Canadians to now the California guys. I mean, get a haircut, show some bud, meet some new people. Why not, right?”
The shop’s legendary pre-4/20 party has earned mythical status in the weed world. “We do this event right before 4/20 where all the big, big weed guys… Terps Army, I mean Golden State Banana, Astor club , Champelli and so many wax companies. And everybody comes and they get cuts and they just all mingle and show strains and show new product. And it's just a really cool thing.”
The diversity of the crowd mirrors the city’s evolution—and Frank’s is the mirror. “The clientele here—it is the most diverse barbershop in the world. I would put my money on that for sure,” Mike says. “We get everything from Wall Street guys—but the cool ones—to real hardcore drug dealers, the street guys, graffiti guys, hardcore music, hip hop. All the Wu-Tang Clan’s been here. We’ve had Anderson Cooper, Jake Linhof… every race you can imagine.”
And every haircut comes with culture. “All the barbers are master barbers… A lot of people, they don’t know what they want, so I just tell ‘em, bring a picture of something and the barber will nail it every time.”
Frank’s isn’t just where hip hop legends come for shape-ups. It’s also where growers meet buyers. “Literally a grower could meet a buyer, and they both could be getting haircuts. And it’s just a perfect match… I just provide a space where you can get a good cut and service and enjoy yourself and meet some new people,” with no financial gain for him.
He sees it all evolving as New York’s legal weed market grows—but slowly. “The legal cannabis shops are faced with a dilemma… they’re not gonna have weed as far as some of the stuff that’s coming in from Cali. They’re not gonna be able to get to that level right away.”
Mike’s tastes are still with the legacy market. “My friend just opened up legal dispensary and I went and did a little tour… He’s like, ‘You want some weed?’ and I’m like, ‘No, I’m okay,’ because I know NYC legal market is not on the same level as we would smoke.
Beyond the barbershop, Malbon’s real peace is found on the water. “Fishing’s been my passion since I was a kid… You get on the water, there’s beaches, there’s marsh, there’s wetlands, there’s waterfowl… It’s just so incredible how good the fishing is here. And nobody knows.”
He fishes the East River regularly. “It’s like having a pond in my backyard… My daughter wants some ice cream, I’ll be right back. I’ll be back with the ice cream in an hour and I catch a couple of fish, throw ‘em back.”
Frank’s reach now goes beyond New York. The shop has expanded internationally. “We got shops in Japan. He has shops in Kyoto, Fukuoka, Kagoshima, and Okinawa Mike says. “Everybody says, why not Tokyo? I was like, let me do what everybody thinks can’t be done, he says he has done that, and mastered that, and then maybe we’ll do Tokyo.” The barbers train between countries. “A lot of my guys from here go out to the Japanese shops and do three-month guest spots… And then the Japanese guys learn more of the street aspect… So it’s definitely a win-win.”
At Frank’s, the energy isn’t curated—it just is. “Hip hop really lives here,” Mike says. “So does metal and hardcore, for that matter. It’s a spot for the culture.”
