Beloved Barber was a True Believer in Red Bank
By Christian Carapucci
RED BANK – “People may not always be dedicated to one person throughout their lives in any aspect, but barbers? Sometimes you have those through generations.” That’s the observation Steve Schondel made while sitting in his own barber shop chair inside Cardner’s Barber Shop in Red Bank.
Having cut hair for 48 years, Schondel knows what he’s talking about. Early in his career, he bounced around shops all over the Jersey Shore area but, in his own words, “Despite being good at my job, I really didn’t fit in anywhere.”
That’s when he found Cardner’s and Robert “Bob” Lanfrank. Lanfrank, who died June 7 at age 85, was a guiding light in his life, Schondel said.
When Schondel first came to Cardner’s, the stakes were high. A barbershop can be a competitive environment, and Schondel’s life was just beginning to get serious. “I started the Tuesday after Memorial Day in 1993. My wife was pregnant and we had just bought a house in Holmdel,” he said. At that time, the Cardner’s crew of barbers included Bernie, Nicky, Jimmy, Enunzuo and, of course, Lanfrank.
The business is around 100 years old. Lanfrank bought it from the previous owner, Mike Cartenuto, under whom he apprenticed. Lanfrank named the shop after Cartenuto in a shortened tribute.
Michele Lanfrank, Bob’s daughter, noted that before her mother became pregnant, she urged Bob to buy the building. “She was more of a risk-taker than my father,” Michele said.
With an initial loan from his in-laws, which he quickly repaid, Bob bought the shop in 1978, when he was only 20 years old. The business quickly began to boom, and soon he and his fellow barbers were cutting around 800 heads a week. “It was his church, his social club, his everything. I don’t even think it was a job to him; it was just his life.” Michele said. “If we tried to suggest things or make changes, that wasn’t allowed.” Michele said her father would jokingly say, “ ‘When you make as much money as I do, you can tell me what to do.’ He always had a dry sense of humor like that.”
Despite Cardner’s taking up much of his life, it wasn’t the only thing he dedicated his time to. Bob was a community leader. “He was a true purebred Red Bank resident. He lived here all his life and gave back as much as he could,” Schondel said.
One of the ways he enjoyed doing that was through his legendary restaurant recommendations. As part of a big Italian famiglia, Bob was a family man, and one attuned to tradition, the most apparent of which was food.
“Every single Sunday, my mom would put out a spread and my dad would insist on doing the food shopping and she could cook anything. Sometimes there’d be six people at our house, sometimes 20, we never really knew who was coming,” Michele said. “He had such a good cook at home and through being spoiled with that good food, he would go out to restaurants and know what was good. He always wanted to give good food recommendations.”
Bob helped boost both new restaurants and longtime favorites. His nearly daily routine of leaving the house around 5 a.m. to drive around Red Bank, scout out new businesses and restaurants while also paying homage to old haunts, became legendary, his daughter recalled. His clients trusted him with their hair and their stomachs.
The daily operations at Cardner’s have become a lot different since Bob’s passing. “It was complicated, you know. One minute, people are calling him guru and mentor and the next he’s just sitting in the hospital right next to me,” his daughter said.
“We worked together for 34 years, man,” Schondel said, rubbing his chin with his hands. “It’s a lifetime for me and it’s hard working alone or imagining what the future could possibly be.”
While the future of the barbershop and how it will continue on without its captain remains an ongoing discussion, Schondel is there to pick up where Lanfrank left off. All of the people who knew Bob are there to continue his legacy.
“Since he passed away, everyone’s said, ‘Please don’t change anything. We love it this way.’ They like it for a reason; they like to come in and see the history and be reminded of all the memories they have here.”
Schondel looked over at an old photo of himself and Lanfrank at their chairs – their place of work and center of their worlds. “We have parents, grandparents, kids and grandkids, and isn’t that just a beautiful thing to keep going on?”
The article originally appeared in the July 16 – 22, 2026 print edition of The Two River Times.
