End of an era: Knakal cuts hair

For the past three years, Manhattan-based commercial broker Robert Knakal’s long hair and beard have preceded him.

Some people loved it, others not so much, but everyone loved to talk about it.

But now the long mane is gone. 

“The market slowed down a bit so I had time to go to the barber,” said Knakal, chairman and founding partner of Massey Knakal Realty Services, one of the city’s top commercial sales firms with more than 3,000 deals valued at over $9 billion in its 19-year history.

He added, “I had the long hair for three years. I just decided it was time to get back to a reasonable length.”

His stylist Jeanette Texidor at Erica Fleischman, a men’s salon at 142 East 49th Street, cut off at least five inches. Knakal’s hair now covers about half his collar.
Knakal said he grew his beard and long hair in the summer of 2004, when he went to visit his brother in Los Angeles. He said he took a vacation in California after working about 80 days in a row and just wanted to chill out. 

“I didn’t shave. I let the hair go,” said Knakal, who got married last summer. “I got some positive feedback on both of those things.”

So he decided to keep both for a few years.