In 1947, Jim Kooper started “University Ave. Barbershop,” which stayed in the family for three generations. After most recent owner Clint Farris closed it down, Alper Yavuz purchased the business. He’d stumbled upon it, on Craigslist, and was instantly drawn to the spot. Yavuz is just 35 years old and has lived in the states for seven years. But he brings a wealth of industry knowledge with him, given that he’s worked in barbershops since he was 9.
Born and raised in Istanbul, Turkey, Yavuz has had a pretty stable career as a barber, managing different locations throughout his life. This barbershop is the first that he’s owned by himself in America. He reopened the storefront in April.
Yavuz came to San Francisco in late 2018, following his friends to America, and began taking English classes. He says he’d tired of life in Turkey—mostly due to politics. Yavuz adds he found a more friendly business climate upon arrival stateside.
“When I was 9 years old, my father let me begin working at a barbershop after school—by just cleaning up the shop and collecting little tips from the customers,” Yavuz says. “I would hand customers coffee and tea, since I was too young to cut hair. But then at 11, I began acting as a barber.” By 15, he was becoming more hands-on with haircare, with a barbershop that he maintained for five years until he turned 20. That’s when he went to the Army for 15 months (a military stint is required for men in Turkey).
“Alper Man’s Hairdresser” was the name of Yavuz’s first shop that he opened in 2012 in Turkey, which he owned for 6 years.
Cutting hair has always been Yavuz’s passion. When he came to America in 2018, he worked as a valet to pay the bills. But he found a shop in Burlingame to work out of, and was soon promoted to manager.
When asked what’s so special about this location, Yavuz references a claim posted on the shop’s website: “because it’s the oldest barbershop in California, with a big history in the smallest spot.”
“I opened this spot not for money, believe it or not, but the history of it,” says Yavuz, as he goes on to say that he has grown to 2,000 clients.
But is the shop really the oldest in California?
We reached out to the Professional Beauty Federation of California to try to find out.
“I’ve heard that claim,” Marketing and Outreach Director Jeff Black tells us. “But I don’t know anything specific. We don’t have information to validate one way or another that it’s the oldest barber shop in California.”
When asked about it on Tuesday, Google’s search AI reported the oldest one in the state “is likely Mike’s Barber Shop in Morro Bay, which has been in business for 75 years, according to the San Luis Obispo Tribune. Established in 1942, it has served as a fixture in the community and a stop for travelers along Highway 1.”
When we reached owner Jon Elliott on Tuesday morning, he said that was totally wrong. “It opened the day before the bombing of Pearl Harbor,” he says, meaning Dec. 6, 1941.
He says it doesn’t bother him that a Silicon Valley barber shop is claiming to be “the oldest.”
“There’s a lot of older barber shops,” he says, adding he knows of one that’s been around for a century. “It’s the second-oldest profession, next to prostitution.”
When we reached Steven Herder, owner of The Golden Rose Barbershop Co. in Stockton, he told the newspaper, having opened in 1917, he believes they are actually the oldest.
“We don’t claim it. I’m pretty sure we are,” he says, adding he’s okay with the Los Gatos businesses calling itself the oldest one. “There can be multiple older barber shops.”
Whatever the case may be, the Los Gatos location has certainly made its mark on the town.
A Los Gatos Weekly Times article, written by Lisa Toth in 2004, notes it was Jim Kooper’s grandfather who originally purchased the property. “I don’t see a future in the barbershop business anymore,” comments a dismal Kooper in the piece.
Luckily for the legacy of the location, Yavuz does.
Inside the shop
The barber’s chairs here are each worth several thousand dollars. Yavuz says he scoped them out at a location in Oregon, because he likes their vintage quality. He promises “the best scissor cuts, best hot shave with straight razor, hot towels, which all begin with a warm steam, along with head massages and Turkish coffee and tea.”
His drive comes from the fact that he always chose work, even over school.
At just 14 years old, Yavuz dropped out of school in Turkey in order to work and take care of his family. He’s identified as a barber for most of his life now, and he doesn’t see that changing any time soon. Yavuz says he’d like to retire in Los Gatos.
Two barbers operate in the space by the names of Azem, 35, and Ramazan, 26, who are also barbers originally from Turkey. They are known only by their first names.
Azem says he has been cutting hair for the last 15 years of his life—a decade in Turkey and several years in Paris. His passion for cutting hair began as his mother encouraged him by telling him it’s a good job to do.
“Los Gatos is very beautiful, the people are very polite and I am happy to be a barber here,” he says.
Ramazan has been cutting hair for eight years and living in the states for two. His older brother is a barber who introduced him to this professional route. He received a license to cut hair in Turkey.
Yavuz tells new customers if they aren’t satisfied with their cut, they don’t have to pay.
He says he really wants to become a part of the community of Los Gatos. Yavuz plans to sponsor school sports, and dreams of hanging a token of a team’s success on the wall.
University Ave. Barbershop, at 606 University Ave., in Los Gatos, California, is open from 8am-6pm Monday-Saturday. Walk-ins are welcome. Contact: 408-827-4166
