Guy stuff

For Father's Day, a man's man's man's man's store

by Mike Miliard

MAN'S MAN: Leavitt & Peirce owner Paul McDonald with, clockwise from top left: pewter flask ($29.99), silver-plated cigarette case ($99.95), shaving set ($279.99) with shaving soap ($4), sterling lighter ($160.95), and straight razor ($89.95).

What has become of the modern guy?

Once secure in his primal ascendancy, he's now a rueful caricature of his former suave self. Otherwise self-respecting men try to get in touch with their feminine sides; a recent Atlantic Monthly cover blares "Girls rule! . . . Boys are in deep trouble." Even Susan Faludi takes pity on us poor dumb bastards and writes a book to let us know we've been "stiffed." (Um, thanks.)

Well, nuts to that! Come Father's Day, it's good to have a lifeline back to a time when things were simpler. When men were men and . . . you know. In these parts that lifeline is Harvard Square's venerable Leavitt & Peirce, a pungently aromatic 117-year-old store that, says owner Paul McDonald, "is a great place to come when you want something manly, but you're not sure what."

Being a smoke shop, L&P carries the obligatory selection of pipes, tobacco, and unusual cigarettes. But Dad might be more interested in some of the more obscure (and, to the less adventurous among us, obsolete) items, such as brass shaving sets ($175 to $275) that hold a brush and bowl, for that classy barber-quality shave. Of course, you don't use these with any old aerosol cream -- you use good old-fashioned shaving soap ($5.95 to $8.50). And if you want to take the barbershop experience to thrilling and dangerous new extremes, try one of the straight razors ($49.95 to $99.95). No mistake, that's a powerful shave. Says McDonald, "There's a real return for this stuff. To the older guys who've been coming in all along, this is the only place they can refresh their supplies. And younger guys are coming in now asking about shave brushes and safety razors."

A Stiff Drink and a Close Shave ($12.95 at Barnes & Noble).

For a definitive guide to recapturing the ageless classics of manhood, check out A Stiff Drink and a Close Shave: The Lost Arts of Manliness (Chronicle, $12.95). It's a wry compendium of male accessories through the ages, and L&P might as well be its catalogue store. You can find most of the stuff mentioned in the book there, be it a flask ($39.95 or $79.95), a cigarette case ($19.95 to $49.95), or a really nice lighter ($35 to $200). Leavitt & Peirce is basically one-stop shopping for a clean-shaven, nice-smellin', hell-raisin' night on the town with the fellas or the broad of your choice.

Remember, though: looking good for the ladies is important, but a real man carves out his own identity. "I think it's great that guys are starting to determine their manliness for themselves rather than basing it on what women tell them," McDonald says. "They're taking control of their identity. That doesn't mean they know who they are, but they're finding out."