Editor’s note: In honor of Labor Day, The Examiner is profiling San Francisco workers and exploring the challenges they face. Read the full series here .
Customers who step inside Louie’s Barbershop for a haircut are taken back in time.
Aside from Louie’s pool of patrons and their chosen hairstyles, the business at 422 Castro St. looks almost the same as when it first opened in the neighborhood more than 90 years ago.
The preservation is by design, according to owner Martin Mendoza, who cut hair at Louie’s for two years before he bought the shop from its former proprietor in March 2018. Mendoza has kept light fixtures, sinks and numerous pieces of furniture first installed when the barbshop opened in 1931.
The level of care and attention to detail, Mendoza said, is not only his