David DiGiacomo, owner of Eye Look Fabulous, a part of the Atlantic City renaissance.
Location: Margate
Dateline: 03.26.11
Economist Richard Florida, author of The Creative Class and Whose City are You? statistically tracks economic improvements following the GLBT community and self-proclaimed artists/bohemians. The Creative Class stories are dedicated to them.
I lived in Margate for 51 years and went from being everybody’s paperboy to co-founder of the Margate Business Association and the Fall Funfest with folks like Joe Tozzi, Maria DiGiovanni Walters and Oscar Petrosh.
I didn’t think there was any Margate business I did not know, until I came upon Atlantic City resident David DiGiacomo, owner of Eye Look Fabulous, established just after I moved to A.C. three years ago.
David’s specialty is eyebrows — and people.
We walked along the street and talked. A woman stopped us, smiled large, and shared some personal news. That’s what David does. He makes you smile. He’s a real people person.
Raised outside Manhattan in upper middle class Nutley, N.J., David was hired to promote chic New York City clubs and hot spots by age 17 — even though he was too young to enter.
Also out to family and friends by 17, David graduated cosmetology school at 18. Things took off from there. Suddenly, he was in demand for the best eyebrow grooming available in the Big Apple.
At 25, David walked away from doing huge events for companies like NARS, a top makeup company, and Saks 5th Avenue. Jim McGowan and he moved to Atlantic City five years ago because they wanted change, immediately starting the renovation of an Arctic Avenue property. Turning quartz into a diamond.
Why Atlantic City?
"A.C. reminded me of Manhattan, or South Beach when it was still cool," says David. "We have diversity, great wealth, great poverty, nightlife, shows, the beach, an edginess that is unique.”
His creative ideas never end and he is part of A.C.’s renaissance.
At 30, David has a great career behind him, and a brighter future ahead with Eye Look Fabulous (7830 Ventnor Avenue, Margate. 609-317-4462). If you want to look like royalty, get your eyebrows treated royally.
An interesting aside about Atlantic City and makeup: Local black businesswoman and millionaire Sarah Spencer Washington built her fortune on beauty products, salons, and beauty publications. The Apex Hair and News Company bought a farm and vineyard in Egg Harbor Township in 1934 and converted it into the Apex Country Club for the city’s black residents, since they were excluded from existing clubs.
Read more of new acweekly.com columnist and Atlantic City resident and self-proclaimed "visionary" Geoff Rosenberger's "Geoff's Page," including local snap shots, thoughts, Atlantic City news, random musings, GLBT-related news and happenings every week — only at acweekly.com.
E-mail Geoff at geoffrosenberger@comcast.net or call him at 609-385-7585.
Less than a week after SID was merged into the CRDA, it was business as usual. LaTorre was supervising the morning cleanup like a well run machine. We met in front of Brighton Park, which is alive with flowers, thanks to SID.
“This is an important time in Atlantic City’s development and future history as planning and oversight is joined with New Jersey and the CRDA. It’s important that we do what we can to shine in our own right.”
With summer almost here promoters Bill Cradle and Keith Werner hosted an underwear and swimwear fashion show for the GLBT community this past Tuesday at Redding's on Pacific Avenue.
Funny thing is, it’s the casinos and land speculators who first closed and knocked down gay businesses that thrived for 100 years in Atlantic City. Now, money’s tight, and they’re sorry they did.
The show was created in the early 1990s by former Atlantic City Councilman John Schultz and his partner, Gary Hill, and held at their old Studio Six nightclub, once considered the epicenter for gay life in Atlantic City.
Plus the Tun Tavern's Pumpkin Spice Lager, Bad Religion and 'Dracula' at the Stockton PAC
The Greater Atlantic City GLBT Alliance, the organization will launch a new Web site on Thursday, Oct. 1.
In furthering their plan to revitalize Atlantic City, the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA) will be making a presentation at the Urban Land Institute’s “Atlantic City Investment Conference” on Wednesday, April 13, at the Atlantic City Convention Center.
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