Tommy Maynard has lived the life of a dozen men.
\nWhen he was 15, the Wichita, Kansas native\u2014who turns 90 on March 13\u2014toured the still-segregated country as a trumpet and trombone player on the black-only Chitlin\u2019 Circuit. That was before backing music legends Ray Charles, Miles Davis, Smokey Robinson and Marvin Gaye at shows, jamming with jazz greats Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie and running wild at Las Vegas\u2019 fabled Moulin Rouge with friend Sammy Davis, Jr.; before fighting in World War II, traveling the globe with the United States Navy Band, running a record shop in southern California for 30 years, and raising 10 children.<\/p>\n
He should have written some of that down.<\/p>\n
\u201cI worked with so damn many people, I been to so damn many places I can\u2019t remember,\u201d says Maynard from his current post inside Stitched, a classic European-style men\u2019s boutique inside the Cosmopolitan. Maynard chooses to spend five days a week practicing what he sees as his art at the haberdashery, saying it keeps him alive and connected to the world.
\n\u201cI didn\u2019t want to sit on my ass and die like old men do,\u201d he says.
\nSporting a cabbie hat and black-framed glasses, Maynard presides meticulously over a stand at the shop\u2019s rear stocked with an array of brushes and cloths, next to floor-to-ceiling glass overlooking the Strip. The perfectionist takes as much pride in shining shoes as he did in blowing his horn. \u201cAnything you do, you do it right or don\u2019t do it at all,\u201d he says.
\nMaynard learned how to shine shoes in the \u201840s because he had to look sharp in the Navy, but didn\u2019t take it up professionally until 1997. He wasn\u2019t, and still isn\u2019t, ready for retirement. \u201cI like people. Doing this, I get to meet people from every walk of life,\u201d he says.
\nMaynard ran a shoe shine stand at Mandalay Bay until 2010 when Stitched founder Eamon Springall, a regular client, recruited him. \u201cHe liked the way I took care of business,\u201d Maynard says proudly. \u201cYou ever see a good mechanic? He can listen to the car and know what\u2019s wrong with it. I\u2019m the same way with shoe shining.\u201d
\nHe was so good that the Cosmopolitan ended their contract with another shoe shine company, according to Springall, sending all their guests\u2014and top hotel executives\u2014to Maynard.
\n\u201cTommy has been the soul of our gentlemen\u2019s haberdashery and a grandfather figure to all of us,\u201d Springall says. \u201cHe keeps a healthy balance of sanity around our otherwise irreverent and sometimes out of control working environment.\u201d
\nThough the most a shoe shine will run you is $12 for exotics such as alligator skins, it\u2019s Maynard\u2019s craftsmanship and charm that earn him the occasional $100 tip from clients, both men and women.<\/p>\n
\u201cI respect the ladies. I don\u2019t try to look under their dresses. I got 10 kids, I know what\u2019s under there,\u201d Maynard says, adding that he always places a blanket over his female clients\u2019 laps. The men appreciate his attention to detail, too. \u201cShoe shining, it\u2019s part of the psychology of society,\u201d he says. \u201cA man can\u2019t have a brand new suit and bad shoes.\u201d
\nThe day before Maynard\u2019s 90th, Springall gives him a tailored Stitched ensemble and hosts an in-store celebration with a performance by Vegas jazz musician Ghalib Ghallab, followed by dinner at STK. But Maynard doesn\u2019t care to get too flashy. On his actual birthday, he\u2019ll have a low-key dinner at the home of one of his sons, with grandchildren and great-grandchildren by his side.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know I won\u2019t live another 90, but I\u2019ve had a great life,\u201d he says, smiling.
\nFind Tommy Maynard at Stitched inside The Cosmopolitan, 3708 S. Las Vegas Blvd., Tuesday through Sunday, noon to 8 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tommy Maynard has lived the life of a dozen men. When he was 15, the Wichita, Kansas native\u2014who turns 90 on March 13\u2014toured the still-segregated country as a trumpet and trombone player on the black-only Chitlin\u2019 Circuit. That was before backing music legends Ray Charles, Miles Davis, Smokey Robinson and Marvin Gaye at shows, jamming with jazz greats Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie and running wild at Las Vegas\u2019 fabled […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":98,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n