Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

Maybe it’s true that nothing is certain but death and taxes. But most people also feel compelled to get their hair cut on a regular basis, helping provide a recession-proof livelihood to those who clip and snip for a living.

Walk through downtown Fairfax or San Anselmo and you’ll see fancy hair salons -- three or four to a block. But look! What’s that? That familiar red- and blue-striped pole? Though far outnumbered by the ubiquitous “salons,” two local barbershops proudly occupy a small niche with a big history.

“The barber pole is one of the oldest symbols in the world,” says Mike Martin, proprietor of .

For Martin, being a barber is a family tradition. “My dad was a barber in Marin,” he says. “He had a barber shop in San Anselmo—the Hub City Barber Shop—in the 50s, then he worked in Corte Madera, and then he bought a barber shop in the Cove Shopping Center in Tiburon.”

Born and raised in San Rafael, Martin started work in his dad’s shop when he was just a boy. “I was about 9 or 10 years old—just sweeping up, filling lather machines and cleaning out the ashtrays,” he says. Later, his father put him through barber college in San Francisco. Today, Martin is helping put his 19-year-old grandson through barber college in Vallejo, with hopes that he’ll come to work in the shop when he graduates.

According to Martin, the difference between barbers and beauty operators comes down to one thing. “We still use a straight razor,” he explains. “The straight razor’s the difference. My grandson’s going through it now—in school they do colors and perms, but also still do the straight-razor shaves.”

Martin started cutting hair in 1965, took a break from the profession when things got slow in the long-haired 1970s, then returned to cutting hair in 1988. Since then he has accumulated a loyal following.

“The first two guys I had this morning were regulars,” he said. “At the end of ’88 I worked up at Grant Avenue Barber Shop in Novato. I still have people coming here who followed me down. And I’ve been here for 17 years. So I would say my longest-term regulars have been coming to me for almost 24 years.”

“You know you’re getting old,” he adds, “when they bring in their son for a haircut and he’s in junior high.”

But Martin’s a spring chicken compared to his San Anselmo counterpart.

Mel Bridges, 88, has to be the elder statesman of local barbers. He’s owned the venerable for more than 65 years.

A native of Montana, Bridges took the long way to San Anselmo. When he was young, his family moved around the West chasing work opportunities. “We moved to Oregon, and my dad bought a section of timber,” he says. “But there was no market for timber. Then they were starting Shasta Dam and we came to Redding.”

At that point Bridges went into the service. “I was a Boatswain’s Mate in the Coast Guard, in the South Pacific,” he says, “and I started cutting hair on my own. I gave a guy $50 to use his barber shop after hours. That was in 1942.”

“When I got out of the service, my dad was working at Marinship in Sausalito,” he says. So, after going to barber school in San Diego, Bridges came back to Marin, where he founded San Anselmo Barber Shop on Nov. 11, 1945.

Bridges is emphatic in extolling the advantages of traditional barbershops. “It’s about ‘barber’ versus ‘beauty operator,'” he says, explaining that barbers know best how to cut men’s hair. “My wife is a beauty operator, but she doesn’t cut my hair,” he laughs.

Bridges says nearly all his customers are regulars, including one who’s been coming in “for probably 30 years.” As for hairstyles, Bridges says he’s seen it all come and go and doesn’t have a preference in the kind of cut he gives.  “As long as a customer wants a haircut it doesn’t make any difference to me what they want: flattops to long hair.”

Both Martin and Bridges say they have had women come in for haircuts over the years, but not very often. “I’m not a beautician,” says Martin, “but I can cut women’s short styles.” As for the guys, Martin says his clientele includes men and boys from all walks of life.

“Everybody’s always welcome,” he says. “The pole is spinning!”