In certain circles, on certain heads, Dewey McCandlis has been to Everett what Gene Juarez is to Seattle.
In 1978, five years after Juarez launched his beauty empire to the south, McCandlis opened a chic salon on Hewitt Avenue.
His was not your grandmother’s gum-snapping beauty shop. The spa experience began when clients changed into wrap-around robes and didn’t end until they walked out the door feeling freshly shorn and pampered.
A minivacation is now the norm at upscale salons, but in the early ’80s that ambience was new to Snohomish County.
In the years since, McCandlis guesses he has snipped his way through 60,000 haircuts. But no more.
Drive by what was his trendy Dewey McCandlis Salon at 6915 Evergreen Way in Everett. There’s a sign of his new life. The business is now Pacific Wine &Kitchen.
Inside, where customers once had a shampoo, tint or the latest cut and where patrons and stylists divulged personal ups and downs, there’s been a transformation. A well-stocked culinary boutique and a posh, wood-walled wine room will open next week.
"They’ll call forever and ask, ‘Is he doing hair at all?’ " said Dewey’s wife, Lindalee McCandlis, whose Pacific Kitchen Co. on Mukilteo Speedway sells cookware and gifts.
The answer is no, he isn’t doing hair at all — not after hours, not on weekends, not for a rich tip.
"You get to that point in life when you want to have fun and enjoy it," said the 54-year-old, who’s long been an in-demand stylist. "The salon has been really lucrative. I feel fortunate I can do this.
"If we all had 1,000 years on this planet, we could try a number of things," he said, adding that wine has long been a passion.
"I’ve had a love of wine. I started going on vacations to the Napa Valley 30 years ago," he said.
He and his wife have taken wine and cooking classes in Seattle and California’s wine country, immersing themselves in everything from famous vintners’ histories to Tuscan architecture.
After his wife opened her shop several years ago, Dewey McCandlis began pondering how he could turn his zest for wine into more than an avocation.
Lindalee McCandlis still runs the Mukilteo store, and with the new shop they have also opened the Pacific Culinary Studio (425-353-6468) in a lavishly renovated building behind the old salon. Cooking classes have begun under the direction of chef Brett Bumgarner.
The guest instructor list is a who’s who of the Seattle food world, including Tom Douglas, owner of Palace Kitchen, Etta’s Seafood and the Dahlia Lounge, a star on the Northwest culinary scene.
As excited as he is for this next phase, Dewey McCandlis knows he owes much to the clients he served for decades.
"It was really hard the last couple of months," he said. "I started cutting hair more than 30 years ago at my parents’ salon in Snohomish. I had people I literally had been doing their hair since I started."
News that he was quitting "was really quite a shock for them," he said. "I’ve been through everything with them — marriages, divorces, the births of their children, lots of tears."
There were tears, too, when he told his staff ofeight stylists that his salon was closing. The group moved together to Brecyn Salon near Everett Mall, where McCandlis now gets his own hair cut. He’s surprised how relaxing a trim can be now that he’s not in charge.
Kendra Wanzenried had her hair done by Dewey McCandlis for nearly 20 years. "You definitely form a relationship. They get accustomed to all the quirks of your hair," the Everett woman said.
"He was always really current on hairstyles," said Wanzenried, 53, revealing that McCandlis once nixed her desire for an asymmetrical cut. "He told me nope, he wasn’t going to do that until it came into fashion.
"When I heard he was leaving — oh my gosh. But I wish him well in his new endeavor," she said.
For Dewey and Lindalee McCandlis, food and wine are the essence of the good life, little luxuries that in some ways are an extension of the pleasurable business he leaves behind.
Still, he has a haircut to do.
His one and only client, whose long blond hair was pinned up the other day, said with all the details of her husband’s new venture, he hasn’t had time.
Columnist Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlsteinjulie@heraldnet.com.
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