Barber Ray Shearer was destined to cut hair. Take it from his last name.
The owner of Anderson Barber Shop starting in the 1970s, Shearer has been styling and snipping at the 100-year-old institution in downtown San Luis Obispo since he was a teenager. At 18, he went to barber school in Oakland and found himself at Cal Poly a few months later.
“I came down [to study] mechanical engineering and then went into business administration but never graduated,” Shearer said. “Hair cutting was my plan to work my way through college.”
Perched in one of the Monterey Street shop’s three barber chairs—only the second set since Anderson opened in 1923—Shearer scanned the well-used interior on a recent weekday. Come March 28, the shop will temporarily relocate to 583 Dana St., effectively leaving its century-old home in the Anderson Hotel building. Shearer will be cutting hair at a new location in San Luis Obispo for the first time in 55 years.
“The building was built with this as a barbershop. We used to have an entrance into the hotel on the wall there,” he said pointing to a wall section with a shelf of magazines on it. “Now it’s nailed shut. They did that when they converted the building from a hotel to an apartment building in 1975.”
The barber shop is moving due to upcoming building renovations. With a $2 million support plan delivered by U.S. Congressman Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara), the affordable housing option received a new owner, the Housing Authority of SLO (HASLO). The aging Anderson building is also undergoing extensive seismic, plumbing, and electrical work.
“I was originally planning on staying here during the renovation, but when they had to do the seismic work in this corner, there was no way I could stay for that,” Shearer said.
He said he has a letter from HASLO stating he can return the barber shop to the original location once work is done. The new Dana Street spot was last used as an art gallery. Despite that, Shearer said he has very little to change in that space.
“I’m going to use a portable sink with hot water because I’m only going to be there two years, and it can be a big expense,” he said. “I have a lease for one year, with a one year [additional] option. So, it’s through 2025.”
Shearer, his sole employee Ben Fleming, and a small poster hung on a wall spread the word about the move to barbershop customers when they walk in. They get about 100 customers on average every week. Most of his client base comprises longstanding locals, at one point including late SLO Mayor Dave “the Pave” Romero.
“I am now doing children of children whose hair I cut,” Shearer said. “I did their dad, them, and now their children.”
He showed New Times two photographs side by side. In the first, Shearer is noticeably younger with dark hair. He’s strapping a toddler in to a barber chair while his dad holds him steady. The second picture also shows Shearer and the toddler’s dad but years later and both older. This time, the two flank a young man in the barber chair. It’s the toddler’s grown son, Shearer said.
Shearer’s hoping all of his clients will follow him to Dana Street. Regardless of the location, people can get their hair cut at Anderson Barber Shop the same way: by walking in or calling (805) 543-4334 for an appointment. Always observant thanks to the nature of his profession, Shearer knows what he’ll miss the most about his Monterey Street shop.
“The view,” he said. “I’m going to be down there [on Dana] where there’s nobody going by. Here, I have people going by all the time!”
Fast fact
• Residents of SLO, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties stand to gain incentives from 3C-REN (Tri-County Regional Energy Network), 3CE (Central Coast Community Energy), and TECH Clean California to help with rising natural gas bills. They can get program discounts worth roughly $3,000 by upgrading their natural gas furnace or water heaters to high-efficiency, all-electric heat pumps. Call (805) 881-3877 or email energy@cecmail.org to access resources and identify discounts to electrify their home. Δ
Reach Staff Writer Bulbul Rajagopal at brajagopal@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Spring Arts Annual 2023.