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| MJ pours a drink at Hair of the Dog in central Seoul's Haebangchon, May 29. / Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar |
By Jon Dunbar
Hair of the Dog, a neighborhood bar located in central Seoul's Haebangchon neighborhood, turns eight. That's 51 in dog years, and it's probably even older for a small business in Seoul.
There will be an anniversary party this Saturday, offering food, quizzes and raffles. The raffle prizes include gift certificates, bottles of liquor, baseball tickets, hair products and dog treats.
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| A box for raffle tickets at Hair of the Dog in central Seoul's Haebangchon, May 29 / Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar |
"If you are looking for a new local, and to make new friends in the community, this is the place for you," said the proprietor of Hair of the Dog, known to foreign customers as MJ. "Leave your pretensions at the door, come in and find yourself at home."
Over the eight years she's been running the place, she's seen a lot of changes, both to the neighborhood and also in the people frequenting her bar. Many of her regular customers, especially foreigners, have moved away over the years.
"I think we still have many regulars from the past, but it's definitely changing. I just hope we continue to keep this community bar in the area with familiar faces," she said. "Whenever I have random visits from my old customers who left the area or Korea for good, it really highlights the evening and makes me feel very humbled."
Meanwhile, more Koreans are visiting the neighborhood for its unique atmosphere and international cuisine. She even got a surprise visit from a major celebrity recently.
"A few months ago, RM, the leader of BTS, visited my bar and had a pint of beer on the terrace," she said. "Funny thing is that I didn't realize his visit until after he left the bar. I got so much shit from my friends for not having recognized him as I was very well-known as a huge BTS fan among my friends."
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| Geoffrey Lewis performs at Hair of the Dog during HBC Fest, Oct. 22, 2022. / Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar |
MJ grew up in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, and moved to Seoul for university. She wasn't much of an Itaewon person, saying she spent most of her 20s around Sinchon and Hongik University in western Seoul. After graduating from university, she worked at an international NGO and for some of the big chain English academies in downtown Seoul.
She's known among her foreign customers know to speak English very well, which she says was mostly self-taught. "I studied English by myself out of my own curiosity about different cultures and interest in traveling," she said.
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| A graffiti artist expresses love for MJ on the wall of Hair of the Dog in central Seoul's Haebangchon, May 29. / Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar |
In 2009 she went on a backpacking journey around the world, and after she returned, she moved to Haebangchon. "I liked its small but international community," she said.
A couple years later in 2011, she opened her first business, the Hungry Dog, it was located a ways downhill from Hair of the Dog, and as the name implies, it served food, modeled after an American-style diner.
"I wanted to introduce a different dining experience to Koreans ― interactive, friendly atmosphere," she said. "We served breakfast with bottomless coffee, sandwiches, burgers, hot dogs, salads, daily soup and kickass milkshakes. After four years of running it, I got physically super exhausted and decided to close."
But it didn't take long before she continued her career, opening Hair of the Dog on May 20, 2015.
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| The exterior of Hair of the Dog in central Seoul's Haebangchon, May 29 / Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar |
Business seems to be doing well these days, and she expects the bar to make it to year 10 in its present location. After hiring extra workers, she's been able to open up seven days a week. The menu has changed slightly although the drinks are still the same, and the music continues to be whatever anybody puts on from YouTube.
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| MJ presents an employee with a birthday cake at Hair of the Dog in central Seoul's Haebangchon, March 25. / Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar |
Visit @hairofthedog.hbc on Instagram or fb.com/hairofthedoghbc for more information.
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