ALEJANDRO JARIN, “Al the Barber” On Saturday November 8, 2014 7:10pm, “Al the Barber” quietly left our world surrounded by his immediate family and caretakers listening to Vicente Fernandes. He established Al’s Barber Shop and devotedly worked for years at 1429 23rd Avenue in Oakland. He loved the barber shop with all the multicultural families that grew up in the neighborhood. But most of all, he found beauty, and warmth in the Mexican/Latin culture expressed through the language and music which customers shared and taught my father. The walls of “Al’s Barber Shop” are lined with early “Polaroids” which Al and Victoria, his wife started to show the various haircuts and styles which Al’s Barber Shop was known for; but also became a pictorial history of the times, families and lives of people that have come through Al’s Barber Shop, many of them leaving the neighborhood and then coming back to see long lost family, and friends. One would remember times when David the friendly neighborhood drunk would sing “La Paloma” sitting at the barber shop window sill, or the times Catholic priests would bless the shop and come in for a haircut while everyone would stop and bow their heads as if in prayer or kids crying as they got their first haircuts silenced by candy which Al gave out. Al always wanted a son and tried three times but had 3 daughters, Jessica, Vicky and Gia. We were exposed to lifelong lessons from the barber shop and learned empathy, importance of family and work values from our father. An example was watching him give away his SS Chevy Nova to a struggling young couple starting out and his daily dedication to traditional work values. There will be a simple “Celebration of Life” held with his immediate family on what would have been his 90th birthday, November 25, 2014. Please send special remembrances of our father, “Al the Barber” which will be posted on a barber shop memorial board, and the Facebook page. Please send cards to 1429 23rd Ave. Oakland, CA 94606 Thank you for many years of patronage and continued friendships. Jessica, Vicky and Gia
Posted on: Mon, 10 Nov 2014 03:38:08 +0000