Alan Gin

If you know me then you know that I don’t often see barbers these days, so understand that my rating is not for Mr. Gin’s services but for his value as a destination of interest on any stroll through Chinatown. Hopefully the address correction I just entered will go through quickly – Mr. Gin’s tiny shop is a couple doors down Ross Alley from the world-​famous Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory (also a worthwhile stop, especially if you’ve never seen fortune cookies being made… plus, you can get imperfectly folded cookie samples for free, though anything else will cost you, including taking pictures).
Part of the fun of coming here is the challenge of re-​finding it by memory each time. Mr. Gin’s one-​chair shop is another of the virtually endless curiosities you may stumble onto if you take the time to really scour the city on foot and take in its various & sundry corners – you’ll know you’ve found it when you see the tiny Peavey guitar amplifier mounted at eye level just ouside the door, through which you may find him playing his violin if you stop by at a slow time for business. I read that his shop is also a part-​time radio repair service – go figure. The really interesting thing here, though, is the collection of faded celebrity photographs mounted in his front window, all of whom (I’m guessing) have had their manes coiffed on the premises. You’ll see Michael Douglas (possibly from his «Streets of San Francisco» days), Harold Sakata (best known as Oddjob from the 007 flick Goldfinger), and many others, but best of all are a few pictures of Tom Waits from the early– to mid-​80s. Something about the thought of him having been there reminds me of why these sorts of hidden spots make San Francisco such a fascinating and fun place to live…