JULY 2007-
we've garnered Baltimore Magazines "Best Of' once more! "If it's a metrosexual exrtravaganza you crave, you'd best look elsewhere. But if fresh coffee, ample newspapers, jazz, and local art are more your speed, pete babones's BEATNIK BARBERSHOP is the place for you. Babones's approach is refreshingly back to basics: Come in, relax, get a good haircut, and be done with it. The small storefront space is unassuming, bright ("I don't understand how you can get a haircut in a place with muted lights" babones says) and decidedly low key. Oh, and no need to make an appointment, either: They only accept walk-ins."

SEPTEMBER 2006
Although we hesitate sending you to anyone wielding a straight razor with "nik" in his shop's name--or "beat" for that matter--where else in town can you get coffee and a haircut for $15? Starbucks charges that much for a couple lattes. Granted, Starbucks' coffee might be better, but the haircut alone is definitely worth it. In fact, the warm shaving cream and razor to the back of the neck is worth it all on its own. The conversation and consistent cuts put Beatnik over the top, and there are usually two chairs available, so keep your lid on your coffee and don't mind the occasional brief wait.

SEPTEMBER 2005
It’s only been open for a month, and Peter the barber is just four months out of haircut-college in Dundalk, but we were lured by the trim look of the Mount Vernon storefront and the coffee & a haircut: $12 sign. And fuckin’ A if this ain’t the best men’s haircut in Baltimore. You walk in, read a little New York Times, sip some joe, and wait for Peter to finish up with the guy who walked in before you. Then you settle into one of three deluxe chairs and Big P. gives you a cut that’s just as good as the “styling” available elsewhere at a fraction of the cost in half the time. Peter says he can take on any length hair, ethnicity, or race, but no girls—unless she wants a boy’s cut. Let’s give the man some business, so he never has to go back to waiting tables in Little Italy.