After Closing Shop, Longtime Tribeca Business Owners Offer Note of Thanks

The name on the window is all that now remains of Lance and Ivy Lappin's Tribeca hair salon, which the couple opened in 1985. Photo: Carl Glassman/Tribeca Trib

Ivy and Lance Lappin recently closed their hair salon after 38 years at 123 West Broadway. They asked the Trib to post this letter of gratitude to the neighborhood and to their customers. 

Dear Tribeca,

Thirty-eight years ago we’d never heard of you. Never knowingly set foot in what would become our home for the better part of four decades. We happened upon the area because we were invited to our friend Joe’s birthday party being held at the Acute Cafe; soon to be known as HSBC Bank located directly across the street from what would also soon become Lance Lappin Salon.  

The neighborhood itself was a stunning surprise. The architecture, even in the dark on our way to the party, was fantastic. Low buildings, wide, largely empty streets.  Everything we did not experience on the Upper West Side, which is where we lived at the time. We immediately knew we wanted to be here and when I say we I mean Lance. We were scouring the entire city for a space to put a salon and lo and behold we struck gold.  

We found a home in the space at 123 West Broadway. It was boarded up that night but we knew as soon as we saw it that it would be the perfect place for us to live…. and experience more than we could have even dreamed of.

You’ve been nothing but a great friend; supportive before, during and after every major event we’ve faced together. The first attack on the World Trade Center, the financial crisis, the attack on September 11, 2001 and finally the pandemic that shut us all down in 2020.  

Which brings me to this moment of Gratitude. 

Tribeca and everyone who traveled to visit us over these last 38 years; your support and encouragement through the trip that this has been leaves us with full hearts and memories that will take us until the end of our lives. It’s impossible for me to put into words; especially these days when it’s best to keep things short. Thank you seems so insufficient. But thanks is what I have to give. I’ll never be able to express what this community means to us; both as a business and a family that got to participate in a small town community that lives within the greatest, largest city in the world.  

For those who are interested: Lance and Ivy will be at Arte Salon 212- 941-5932, Nicole, Lau, JV, Kiyo and Norma at the Cutler Salon 212-308-3838, and Marco Michelus at 917- 371-7186.                                         

— Ivy and Lance Lappin