El Cerrito Barber Shops Provide a Timeless Experience

When Charlie Murray opened the El Cerrito Plaza barber shop in 1959, it joined a handful of similar shops stretching along San Pablo Avenue and at the eastern end of Fairmount Avenue. And while the shops were ostensibly there just for haircuts, they also served as informal gathering places for the men and boys in the neighborhood.

Back then, many guys got their hair cut every two weeks and appointments were largely the province of beauty salons, so traffic was steady. Customers walked into the barber shop, took a seat and waited until the next chair opened up. What set the Plaza shop apart from the others was that it boasted eight chairs and eight barbers to tend to tonsorial tasks, not to mention a stuffed polar bear and stuffed brown bear in glass display cases.

“There were a lot of barber shops on San Pablo Avenue – one on every block practically,” recalls Phil Playle, who owns Phil’s Barber Shop at the top of Fairmount Avenue.

Phil Playle, center, takes a break with two regulars at his Fairmount Avenue shop.

According to a list of city businesses compiled by the El Cerrito Historical Society, they included the Modern Barber Shop, Chuck’s Barber Shop, the Vogue Barbershop (from 1934), the Sanitary Barber Shop with the slogan “A smooth shave, a new man”, which also dated to 1934 but was renamed Sharkey’s Barber Shop in 1937 (and was located on San Pablo Avenue near Potrero Avenue next door to Sharkey’s Club), and Angelo Bertoli’s Barber Shop.

Playle also recalls Bert’s Barbershop on San Pablo Ave,, which moved a ways down the street and was renamed Hollywood Barber Shop. Owner Frandio “Bert” Botolotti also got a new nickname, Hollywood Bert. “Clipper Dick” cut hair at a shop next to where Pastime Hardware now stands. Wally Violet, a 1957 graduate of El Cerrito High, owned Wally’s Barber Shop next to the main post office.

The Grand Barber Shop, down Fairmount and around the corner on San Pablo, had four chairs, while Bert Playle’s barber shop at the top of Fairmount was more compact, with three chairs, and was known as The Three Sportsmen Barber Shop. Leon’s Haircutters, at San Pablo and Moeser Lane, wouldn’t open until 1965. Today, the three barber shops are all that remain in town. In many ways, they haven’t changed much, but in others they have kept up with the times, for better or worse.

Bert Playle cuts a youngster’s hair at his shop at the top of Fairlmount Avenue. Photo courtesy Phil Playle.

Carrying on the family business:

On the magazine rack in Phil’s Barber Shop near the top of Fairmount Avenue rests a copy of “Fortunate Son,” John Fogerty’s autobiography. The Fogerty family lived nearby, just a block and a half down Ramona Avenue.

Yes, Phil Playle says, he cut John’s hair, and that of his four brothers, rattling off their names – Jimmy, Tom, Danny and Bobby – like they were still among his customers. Although the family has long since moved away, Phil’s Barber Shop still looks much the same as it has since Playle’s father first opened it for business in 1936.

Along the counter behind the chairs are two vintage hot lather machines and a manual cash register, the keys holding a batch of mail. Above it hangs Playle’s barber license, below it a metal tray where he hangs his tools of the trade; three electric clippers and a large handheld vibrator for giving shoulder massages. On the walls behind and in front of the row of chairs are large round mirrors. Barely dressed women peer out at the room from calendar pages.

Inside Phil’s Barber Shop, where prices are clearly posted. Photos by Jon Bashor.

Born in Oakland, Playle grew up in the rooms behind the shop. Before heading to school at Harding Elementary, his chores were to fill the hot lather machines and wind up the red, white and blue barber pole in front of the shop so customers would see it turning and know the shop was open. After school, he’d empty the ashtrays. By the time he graduated from El Cerrito High, Playle had become a bodybuilder and a standout football player.

One day in 1957 as he was heading to the gym, his father Bert asked him “What about a trade?” Phil replied “What’s that?”  

“A job,” the senior Playle told him. “Why don’t you go to barber college?” Figuring that sounded better than his high school job of chipping mortar off used bricks from demolished buildings, Phil took $400 from his bank account and enrolled in Moler Barber College in Oakland, where he put in the required 1,248 hours of training. After finishing in 1960 he began his barbering career working at Ed Remitz’ shop on Stockton Avenue, while also earning his associate’s degree in fine arts at Contra Costa College. 

But his father wanted him to become a veterinarian, so he transferred to Fresno State College on a football scholarship, where he majored in animal husbandry and played on the varsity team. During that time he also spent three years raising hogs before returning to El Cerrito.

After working in his dad’s barber shop for a week, Playle quit and went to work in Leon Rankin’s shop. Ironically, Rankin learned his trade working in Playle senior’s shop, where he “hooked up” his tools in 1951. Phil Playle took over the shop in 1976 when his father retired.

One of the changes Playle made was replacing the hand-cranked barber pole with an electrified one that turned by a motor and was illuminated. It was bolted to the sidewalk until 1992, when someone stole it in the middle of the night. These days he unfurls another red, white and blue symbol – the U.S. flag – to show when he’s open for business.

Phil the barber gives Jeff Nelson a trim. Photo by Jon Bashor.

On a Sunday afternoon in June, Jeff Nelson dropped by to get his haircut. He’s been coming to the shop for more than 10 years and ran into a fellow graduate of Albany High School. Along with Playle, they passed the time trading stories about who knows who, where they are now and who’s passed on. They reminisce about the Ortman’s donut shop that used to be next door.  Jan, who used to run the cleaners at the other end of the building, is in the neighborhood and pops in to say hello.

A bit later, Joe DeVille of Kensington stops in. He doesn’t need a haircut, but he wants to look up some folks in Playle’s archive of El Cerrito High yearbooks, which goes back to 1941 and tapers off in the 1970s.

 “I’ve been doing hair since 1960, 62 years of standing behind the iron chair,” said Playle, who turned 81 in 2023. While he used to take care of 20 customers a day when younger, these days he says he cuts 10 heads of hair on a good day. The best part of the job, he says, is the people. And while he knew John Fogerty before he became the long-haired leader of Creedence Clearwater Revival, Playle has cut the hair of baseball slugger Reggie Jackson, UC Berkeley Professor and Dean of the College of Chemistry Joel Hildebrand and former Oakland Raider George Atkinson.

“I’m a people person and I don’t have anything I’d rather do,” Playle said. “I can’t spell camaraderie, but I have a lot of friends who come by. Some get a haircut and some don’t. You don’t need to get a haircut to come in here.”

Born to Cut:
Like Phil Playle, Jerry Sandlin also grew up in the living area behind his dad’s barber shop, in Pomona, Calif. Sandlin was unsure of his career path until he was inducted into the U.S. Marine Corps in 1948. He was asked what he wanted to do and said “I don’t know.”

 The response was, “What’s your dad do?” “He’s a barber,” Sandlin replied.

 “Ok, you’re a barber,” was the order.

Sent to Korea, Sandlin’s first barber chair was a makeshift seat mounted on an aircraft wing jack, with a capacity of 12,000 pounds. The footrest was a wooden box. Sandlin christened his Pohang, South Korea space the “Rice Paddie Palace Barber Shop.” A photo of the setup, which ran in the base newspaper, hangs above Sandlin’s chair.

USMC Cpl. Jerry Sandlin cuts an officer’s hair in his “shop” on a base in Pohang, South Korea, in 1951. Photo courtesy Jerry Sandlin.

Now 91, Sandlin started cutting hair at age 19. After his stint in the Marines, he attended barber college to broaden his skills. In 1959, his family, including his parents and grandparents, moved from Southern California to the Bay Area, settling in Concord. That year he secured a chair and hung up his tools in an Albany barber shop.

In 1970, when Tony Riggio and his brothers put the Grand Barber Shop on San Pablo Avenue up for sale, Sandlin bought it and launched his own shop. Through the years, he’s seen the long and short of the business.

 “In the 1950s, haircuts were short, in the ‘60s they got long and business slowed down, but I did pretty good,” Sandlin said. “It seems like the styles go long, short, long, short. I like short because to me it looks neater.”

In addition to Sandlin, his daughter-in-law Laura Sandlin also works at the shop, but now only two days a week as she approaches her 39th year as a barber. Other haircutters are Rosa and Tom, who comes out of retirement to help on weekends.

 The biggest change Laura’s seen is due to the pandemic – the shop now mainly sees customers by appointment to reduce the number of people inside.

“Before that, people around the neighborhood would come, sit around and talk,” Laura said. “They became friends and it’s definitely a community. I miss the camaraderie – I definitely miss that part.”

The Grand Barber Shop is also a gathering place for memories. In one corner hangs a framed (in an old fruit crate) set of barbering tools – scissors, a hand-operated clipper and a long-bladed pair of scissors from the Philippines. “Those are my tools from my time in Korea,” Sandlin says.

Among the decorations in the Grand Barber Shop is this Contra Costa Times article marking owner Jerry Sandlin’s 80th birthday in 2010. Photo by Jon Bashor.

The many shelves and display areas are packed with vintage shaving mugs, photos and cars…lots of cars – die-cast models, Avon bottles, toys and more. “I’m a car buff,” Sandlin admits. At his home in Concord is his life-size collection, 1988 and ‘89 Corvettes, a 2012 Mercedes and a 2016 Cadillac, his favorite.

Another collection on the wall began when someone gave Sandlin a saber from India. Then a long World War I bayonet joined it, followed by a sword from Mexico.

One tradition Laura Sandlin likes to keep going is a child’s first haircut. In the old days, a bolster seat was placed across the arms of a barber chair for the toddlers. But it wasn’t always a pleasant experience for the tiny customer, his parents or the barber. So Laura invested in child-sized plastic Adirondack-style chairs and sits on the floor while she gives the ceremonial first cut.

“I’ve been good with kids for years, but this way is more comfortable and works out better,” she said. “I’ve seen a lot of young men who got their first cut from me come back to get their hair cut for high school graduation.”

To accommodate his customers of various ages, Sandlin takes a tiered approach. On a rattan etagere near the back of the store, books and toys for the kids are kept on the lower shelves. Hidden on the topmost shelf are reading materials for older guys, though many are more interested in the photos than the articles.

As closing time (6 p.m.) approaches on a late May afternoon, Laura Sandlin starts to restock the towels at each chair and Joe Wen of El Cerrito walks in. Jerry Sandlin motions him to his chair. Wen asks for a high fade and the barber goes to work. As they chat, Wen sees the U.S. Marine Corps memorabilia in the shop and mentions he was also in the Marines. He went through ROTC and ended his four-year stint as a captain in the artillery. Even better, Wen added, was that he got a college education to boot, saving him about $200,000.

Jerry Sandlin uses a straight razor to finish off Joe Wen’s fade. Photo by Jon Bashor.

“This place reminds me of places I used to go to growing up in Albany in upstate New York,” said Wen, who now lives in El Cerrito and works in the tech industry.

After cutting Wen’s hair, Sandlin gets a handful of hot foam from the lather machine, spreads it around the ears and back of Wen’s neck, and goes deftly to work with a straight razor. Once he’s cleaned off and uncaped, Wen stands up and reflects on the results in a mirror.

“It’s great,” he says. “Just like back home.”

The name’s the same, but…

Although Leon Rankins sold his shop near San Pablo Avenue and Moeser Lane in 1989, the current owner, a woman who goes by Le, has kept the old name. After graduating from high school in 1951, Rankins began barbering in Bert Playle’s shop on Fairmount, then joined the service and was deployed in South Korea and Japan. When he returned to El Cerrito, he worked at the then-new shop in El Cerrito Plaza until opening his own shop in 1965 in the Jay Vee Center, where Phil Playle worked for 10 years before taking over his dad’s shop.

“It was probably the busiest barber shop in the East Bay,” Playle said of Leon’s. “Leon was a great guy, though he was short – no bigger than a minute.”

Playle remembers the day Rankins sold up shop and retired–May 2, 1989. He lived in El Sobrante until recently, when his daughter moved him down to Riverside where she could be closer to him.

Although Leon’s name is still on the front window as it has been for more than 55 years, the scene inside reflects today’s reality. Since the pandemic, all customers are required to make appointments and sign in on arrival. A sign on the front door explains the procedures and notes that masks are required. The chairs that used to be filled with guys chatting while they waited their turns are empty, while only one of the barber chairs now gets used. 

Undercutting the traditional barber shop

Perhaps one of the reasons that there are fewer barber shops today in El Cerrito and across the country is the rise of franchised haircutting places like Supercuts.

In fact, Supercuts traces its roots to El Cerrito.

At a high school reunion at the Blue Dolphin Restaurant at the San Leandro marina in 1965, Phil Playle, owner of Phil’s Barber Shop, recalls a conversation with Frank Emmett, who graduated from El Cerrito High in 1960. “He told me he wanted to be the McDonald’s hamburgers of cutting hair,” Playle said. At the time Emmett owned the Paris Beauty Salon at the top of Solano Avenue and the Esoteric salon near the Albany theater, according to Playle.

Supercuts co-founder Frank Emmett in the 1969 El Cerrito High yearbook.

Ten years later, Emmett and Geoffrey Rappaport opened their first Supercuts in Albany. By 1978, they had six stores in California and decided to franchise their business model, which was a hybrid between the then-gendered model of barber shops for men and beauty salons for women. Both men and women, as well as kids, were welcome at Supercuts.

 The idea was to get customers in and out in 20 minutes and to do this Emmett and Rappaport focused “on training their stylists in a proprietary technique that was streamlined and repeatable. It got into details like how to segment hair, how to palm your shears,” according to a history of Supercuts written by Seth Stevenson and published July 13, 2021 on the Slate website.

 By the mid-1980s, hundreds of new Supercuts franchises had opened in 39 states, all of them following the same model. In 1987, Emmet and Rappaport sold the company for $21.4 million to a venture capital group. Their first store, at the corner of Solano and Santa Fe avenues, has remained in business since the start, though it recently moved two blocks west to the corner of Carmel Avenue.