It’s there on University Street in Palo Alto. Down past the new Starbucks where probably more startups are started than anywhere else on Earth. Some doors down from the new Apple flagship store with glass roof & walls.
There it is.
Right in the middle of the middle of Silicon Valley is an old-time barber shop. Not just a barber shop, but a traditional barber shop, with real barber chairs, glass tubes of blue liquid for combs, real shaving tools, and of course, middle-aged (or more) men absurdly skilled in the art of cutting a man’s hair.
Where things move a bit slowly, even in Silicon Valley.
The President Barber Shop. Always a line on weekends, of men and boys. And not just (or even) blue-collar working men who might not frequent a hair salon, but the core of Silicon Valley society, investors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, engineers, many if not most with their sons.
For a real man’s treatment, the in traditional ways handed down for generations. In the heart of the highest-tech, most modern place on Earth.
As it should be.
I got to thinking about this as I was planning to take my son for his first out-of-home hair-cutting experience in my home town in Maine. My dad used to take me to similar places to have my “ears lowered”.
I used to go to President’s often when I lived in Silicon Valley, and still visit when I can, including when I took the picture at the top of this article.
We all have iPhones or the equivalent in the modern world, and decades ago most hair cutting moved to malls and unisex salons, but real work is still done by real men in the comfy environs of a real barbershop.
Men & boys still line up on Saturday mornings, reading the paper, chatting with their friends, and awaiting their turn in the big chair, for a shave, trim, or even a first haircut as manly traditions are passed on.
So, celebrate a few traditional ways, including and especially traditional men (and women) hard at work at an old-time profession we should all appreciate.
Visit your barber today.