Man Kwi Park plans to treat June 30 like any normal Tuesday. She will open Hair Art, her one-chair salon at the corner of Linn and Court Street, at 9 a.m., and spend the next 12 hours cutting the hair of whomever walks in. (And it will be walk-ins; Park does not take reservations.)
At 9 p.m., Park will lock the door for the night, just as she’s done countless times since 1998. But this time it will be different. After 28 and a half years cutting hair in Iowa City, and surviving one F-2 tornado, Park is closing down Hair Art and retiring.
Park shakes her head and laughs at the idea she might hold some sort of celebration to mark the end of her long run. She then evokes Gen. MacArthur’s famous words about his retirement.
“Like an old soldier, I’ll just fade away.”
For almost three decades, Hair Art has been a go-to destination for both settled Iowa Citians and college students wanting good haircuts that are also inexpensive. People who went there as kids have brought their kids to Park for a trim and a lollipop from the Dum Dum tree (a wooden pole in the waiting area). In a city where things frequently change, Hair Art has been a stable fixture: The same person behind the barber’s chair. The same hours. The same prices. “Cash only,” as the homemade signs say.
Man Kwi Park’s dedication — 12 hours a day, Monday through Saturday, and 11 hours on Sunday — is all the more remarkable when you realize she wasn’t interested in cutting hair while growing up in South Korea.
Park has a Master’s degree in music and was the conductor of the choir at a large church in South Korea, something that’s reflected in the music that plays in Hair Art. She also has a passion for art, and the large and colorful paintings on Hair Art’s walls are her own work.
What started her on the path she is completing at the end of the month wasn’t a sudden interest in hair. It was an international economic crisis. In the summer of 1997, Thailand’s currency collapsed, sparking a financial meltdown in many Asian countries. South Korea was one of the hardest hit.
Park had been in Iowa City for three years when the crisis hit. She moved here in 1994, when her husband accepted a position at UIHC.
“He’s an MD/Ph.D.,” Park explained. She was looking forward to working on choral chamber music in her new American hometown, but the economic crisis changed that.
“We lost a lot of assets in South Korea, so we had to start over here,” Park said. “I became a cosmetologist.”
She enrolled at La’ James International College in Iowa City, and while there decided that what she really wanted to do was open a shop that offered affordable haircuts. After graduating, Park worked briefly at Cost Cutters to get experience, giving about 30 haircuts a day. But she always had a plan to open her own place.
When Park debuted Hair Art in 1998, the price of a basic man’s haircut was $9.95. It still is.
“I kept that price to the end,” Park said. “I’m so happy to never change.”
Like the famous Costco hotdog combo, Park’s pricing did not change, and neither did her dedication to the work. She compares herself to a racehorse with blinkers on, just focused on getting to the finish line.
“My personality is, once I decide, I go straight forward and keep going,” Park said.
One thing that has changed over the years is Hair Art’s location. It was originally in the now-gone Rebel Plaza, a former motel on Clinton Street. But in 2006, an F2 tornado tore through Iowa City, and the plaza was in its path.
“April 13th. Thursday. 8 p.m.,” Park said. The date and time is firmly imprinted in her memory.
Park was in Hair Art with her husband and one of their two daughters when the tornado hit. They had no experience with tornados, and didn’t really understand what was happening.
“So, so, so scary,” Park recalled. “We prayed.” She called it “the experience of a lifetime.”
When the storm was over, Rebel Plaza was wrecked. Out of its 26 units, 25 were damaged. Windows were smashed. Rooftops torn off. Only one unit at Rebel Plaza was undamaged — Hair Art.
The following day, Park did what she always did: she opened her door and welcomed clients in. Park kept Hair Art open until the city shut off the electricity and water to Rebel Plaza.
Hair Art moved to a space on Burlington Street. What remained of Rebel Plaza was torn down. Two years later, Hair Art moved to its current location at the corner of Linn and Court in the new Telluride Building.
The Telluride was built on the former site of St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, which was also wrecked by the April 13 tornado and moved to rebuild.
“This was holy ground for 126 years,” Park said, seated in her barber’s chair. “I moved from one tornado place back into another tornado place.”
The new (relatively speaking) place is much bigger than the Clinton Street location, which Park said was so small it only had room for two plants. Now Hair Art has almost enough plants to fill a garden. And room on the walls for Park’s large colorful paintings, as well as a few photos of her conducting choirs back in Korea. There’s also a wall of currency, with more than 150 bills from different countries on display. They were all gifts from clients, and its an appropriate display for Hair Art, which has been cash-only for 28.5 years.
One holdover from the first location is Park’s barber chair. It’s also one thing she will be taking with her when Hair Art closes. She’s had it for 25 years.
“A third of my life,” Park said, patting the chair, which she’s had to reupholster three times over the years.
After giving it much thought, Park, who turned 71 in May, decided it was time to give up her 83-hour workweeks. She will be staying in Iowa City. She’s been a U.S. citizen since 2003, and all her family lives in the area. Retirement will give Park more time for painting and music, and a chance to travel, including a trip back to South Korea. But first, she’s going to take a month or two to just relax.
Although she’s ready to give up the long hours, there is one thing Park said she’ll miss — her clients.
“I really, really appreciate my clients who have become friends, shared their sorrows and joys and everything else,” she said. “I will miss them every day.”
Watch LV’s 2018 interview with Park:
Video and story by LV contributor Shirley Wang
