Barbers to Know: Red’s Classic Barber Shop Co.

In the art of manliness, Red’s is a high-quality replica of the original—or at least the concept of the original that may never really have existed outside of Disney and Pleasantville. But Red’s—the brainchild of three hospitality professionals, including (fake gasp) a woman named Red—certainly looks and feels like one of downtown’s well-worn institutions.

The shop’s interior doubles down on the old-timey. To the left, an elevated wooden shoeshine stand—the place for an original pedicure—offers the promise of buffed wingtips and glossy lace-ups for $8 ($9 for boots, $7 for drop-offs). The waiting area features deep, leather club chairs and varnished displays holding an array of men’s grooming products and tools, haberdasher-worthy fineries, and hats. In the shop’s back, black-vested men working at six spacious bays deliver bracing straight-edge shaves ($28) and precise cuts ($23), from contemporary to, yeah, that Pleasantville look.

Regulars include downtown professionals, famous drop-ins (Andrew Luck’s beard hair regularly graces Red’s floors), and groomsmen celebrating what, for some, will be their last gulp of the masculine bonhomie sold here. Which is kind of the genius of Red’s and the shops it evokes: In two to four weeks, you can always go back in time. 22 E. Washington St., 636-7337, redsclassicbarbershop.com

This article is part of Indianapolis Monthly’s May 2016 Shear Genius barbershops package. For more slick advice, a crop of local grooming products, and buzzworthy barbershops, click here.