Dominguez, Andres, 1992-

To sit with Andres Dominguez in his barbershop is to sense both the love he holds for his grandfather Julian Madrid and the passion Andres brings to the art of barbering. Andres enthusiastically remembers hanging out with his maternal grandmother as a youngster in Julian’s El Cortez Barber Shop. From 1974 to 2005, Madrid operated the El Cortez Barber Shop.

Flash forward to January 18, 2019 and you find grandson Andres as the proprietor of Speakeasy Barber Shop, tucked on the mezzanine level of the El Cortez Casino and Hotel. The décor reveals a masculine elegance combining artefacts from the grandfather’s original barber shop with Andres’ personal flair for the modern. He tells the story of a lucky twist of fate that magically introduced him to Kenny Epstein, owner of the El Cortez, resulting in this opportunity.

Andres talks of growing up on Las Vegas’s east side, his educational path, and the family’s strong Mexican roots. The family history moves from Mexico to New Mexico and eventually to Nevada, where Andres was born in 1992 to Nicole Madrid and Junior Dominguez.