About Gerard Bollei Salon in NYC

When Gerard Bollei Salon opened its doors on the 3rd floor of the newly built Galleria Building on East 57th Street (Manhattan’s Salon Row) in 1978, the experts raved over its “space-age” design…“Functionally clinical”… “Sets the stage for salons of today-no clutter, hidden storage, incandescent lighting”… “The operational word here is glamour.”

The NY Times described it as “hushed-gray elegant,” reporting that one client “…felt she should have had her hair done before she arrived there.” The salon marked the end of the “beauty parlor” and the 70’s kind of “disco-salon” to usher in the “clean stark glamour” that is now the trademark of Manhattan’s landmark salons.

Prior to that, in 1965, Gerard Bollei, stylist extraordinaire, and James Santa, owner and master colorist, had teamed up to introduce a new concept to the NYC beauty industry—a full-service salon that would offer a full gamut of treatments including hair color, cuts, styling, skin care, nails, waxing and more. However, their main specialty would be specialization or a custom-approach to each and every client’s need.

The result is the current Gerard Bollei Salon, now the showcase for “Best in Beauty”, and a model for others to emulate for its abundance of talent and its over-all ambience. Those familiar with its dramatic entranceway know that, contained within this bustling dominion, are NYC’s top beauty experts (67 in all!) in everything beautiful.