Julie thu

A booming barbershop empire (20,000 cuts a month) that offers free beer or cider whether it’s a girl cut, a guy cut, or a girl-who-wants-a-guy cut.

We’ll get to the improbable story of Birds Barbershop in Austin, Texas, in a moment, y’all (as its website says). But first, we’ll tell y’all about Erin Portman’s pandemic bicycle accident because, after all, Erin is the tennis player we’re spotlighting and the accident has everything to do with her spiraling tennis game. 

It’s not an overstatement to say that the bike accident in June 2020, when Erin was 44, turned into an unorthodox way to rekindle her love for tennis.

Four years before, after a 22-year break, she had resumed casual tennis, hitting about once a week. Then, out cycling in the throes of the pandemic, she flipped over her handlebars, fracturing both elbows, among other painful injuries.

In the midst of her misery, it came to her that she was squandering her chance to live up to her full tennis potential. “I was in terrible pain and worried I would never be able to play tennis again,” she recently recalled. “I promised myself if I could play again, I would do it every day.” 

Two months later, her doctor gave her the green light to play as a way to help straighten her elbow, which was stiff with scar tissue and not fully extending. A month later, she entered her first tournament as an adult and won the mixed doubles title.

“It was an incredible feeling, and I was instantly hooked,” she said.

In the scant three years since, Erin has progressed from a 4.5 to a 5.0 player and is competing in national tournaments. In 2021, her 9.0 mixed doubles team of 40 and over players took second place nationally. Then, when the opportunities to play in leagues and tournaments started to shrink as a 5.0 player, Erin played her first age-level tennis tournament at the National Senior Women’s Clay Court Championships in Houston. She was instantly blown away by the hospitality and top-notch talent. After that positive experience, she was ready to go all-in on age-level tournaments, and this fall, she was excited to be part of Team Texas at the USTA National Women’s Intersectional Event in Phoenix.

“Not only are we joining a great group of ladies,” she said. “But we get to play high-quality matches and connect with top players from across the U.S. It’s a win-win!”

In a sense, Erin has gone full circle with her tennis. She learned the fundamentals of tennis and tournaments growing up outside Fort Lauderdale. She played her first USTA tournament at the age of 8 and her last junior tournament in her early teens. While she continued to play tennis in high school, she also discovered that the camaraderie of high school volleyball appealed to her and it was easy to translate her tennis overheads into volleyball spikes and serves. She went on to Florida State University, obtained a degree in public relations, and put her Classic Pro Staff in the closet.

Since resuming playing, Erin has been true to her word about hitting the hard courts almost every day. Her latest stint was 59 days despite Austin’s temperature regularly topping 108 last summer. “I had to end it a day early from reaching 60 since my back said enough was enough,” she said. 

So that’s Erin’s tennis story in a nutshell. Back to the equally improbable story of the barbershop.

In 2004, a year after Erin married her husband, Michael, the couple quit their stressful jobs at a Los Angeles PR agency and a corporate communications firm. They took a year off to drive across the U.S., explored Mexico, and eventually settled in Austin.

They quickly got together with Michael’s childhood friend, Jayson Rapaport, who had also recently moved to Austin. Michael and Erin began to quiz Jayson on the best of their new city.

The best grocery store? The best dry cleaner? “You know the drill,” Erin said. When they got to “the best place to get an affordable, high-quality haircut,” there was a pause that turned into silence. “Michael knew then there was a big opportunity to create a cool, local brand in Austin, and Jayson was all in,” Erin recounted.

They weren’t barbers. They weren’t experts in the field. They didn’t even really care about cutting hair. But create they did, opening the first shop on South Lamar 2006.

And to call the finished product a barbershop sells it short. The 20,000 haircuts a month for men, women and kids are divided among nine locations staffed by 150 people. “For all Y’all,” blares its website (birdsbarbershop.com). Color and blow-dries are offered. Free, locally brewed beer and cider are served. “Good goods” like custom T-shirts, mugs and fanny packs are for sale. The shop dives into charitable community activities at every turn, whether it’s raising funds for Austin musicians’ healthcare, cutting hair for the homeless, or supporting Bike to Work Day. The Austin Chronicle has cited Birds as offering the “Best Haircut” every year since it opened in 2006, and for six consecutive years, it’s been among ELLE Magazine’s list of the 10 best salons in America.

Erin’s major role with Birds has been in public relations, drawing on her college degree, her time spent helping launch Disney Cruise Line in Orlando, and more than twenty years consulting for other L.A. PR agencies.

So now, in this month of Thanksgiving, Erin declares herself thankful for so much. She and Michael have two sons who keep them on their toes. Their barbershop business is always changing. And now, once again, there’s tennis.

“Not only is tennis a fantastic workout, which can add nearly 10 years to our lives,” Erin said. “But it is an excellent way to meet others and build community.’’

Just like the barbershop.