Giving It Up for Avondale

Lava Salon co-owner Geoff Richardson has been called many things: hairdresser, husband, father, the unofficial Mayor of Avondale, arts booster, Airstream enthusiast, and involved citizen.
Mostly, as many who know him best will tell you: he’s nuts.
Never able to focus on one thing at a time, he chooses to focus on everything, all at the same time.
If Richardson had a mascot modeled after him, it would be a hyper-caffeinated, well-coiffed, tattooed squirrel eating a lit sparkler for the first time.
These days, he’s come up with a new title: “Local Whore.”
And he’s got a T-shirts to prove it. And he’ll sell you one.  
Based on another locally available T-shirt (see: Lowcountry Local First), emblazoned in the same font with the word “Locavore,” Richardson says the T-shirt it a “parody – which makes it legal … I think.”  The T-shirt was actually the brainchild of friend Briana Jacobs and the shirt’s design was created by local artists John Pundt.
Richardson thought the shirts were funny but also saw something more than just a parody. He asked Jacobs for permission to form a group based on the T-shirt and sell them on her behalf. So the Local Whores — Charleston Chapter was born. Remember, this is  the same guy who, when someone threw a brick through the front window of his salon and made off with some choice items, painted the following message on the wooden board that covered the hole: “Hey, Thief, you forgot your brick.”
Humor aside, the shirt’s real message belies Richardson and his wife Noel’s dedication to local affairs. Richardson may be best known for his championing of the chART gallery that now adorns the back of the shops at Avondale — including the homebase of West Of.
Crazy rolling works of art that are one part graffiti and many parts Dada-inspired wackiness in bright swirling hues and strange but fun icons. The paintings, done by local artists, covered first the back alley of the shops, and have since spread onto the street-visible outer walls.
Richardson has organized other art shows and meet-and-greets along with his business neighbors. Recently, he and another buddy put together a series of visual improvements to dovetail with planned streetscaping.
The work centered on a more accessible form in an attempt to re-brand the Avondale Point shopping district, replete with banners, to let passersby in their cars know they’d entered a distinct shopping zone.
“Maybe my title should be ‘May-whore’ of Avondale,” Richardson joked, flitting from customer to customer, telling one about his new venture: renting Airstreams for pop-up shopping, one-night vacays, and so on.