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Dressed in a light blue smock, bow tie and his trademark black derby, Jose LaCrosby wended his six-foot-two-inch frame past a bank of hair dryers and styling cubicles to an obscure area in the rear of his salon. 

“This is where I had to work when I first started,” he said. “Men just didn’t work in beauty salons in 1954, well not in black beauty salons, anyway.” 

LaCrosby remembers his first day at Minnie’s Beauty Salon on Alcatraz Avenue near Adeline Street. One of Minnie’s clients had just had her hair washed and treated when she became alarmed at the sight of a man. 

“She threw a towel over her head, ran to the bathroom and locked herself in,” LaCrosby said with a smile. “She swore she wouldn’t come out unless I left the building.” 

In the following years, LaCrosby broke through all the barriers in the beauty business and went on to enjoy success. At the height of his career in San Francisco he simultaneously ran five salons and two beauty supply stores. He would also became nationally known for innovative hair styling techniques. 

In December the 74-year-old hair stylist came back to his roots when he opened LaCrosby’s Style House in the same 12-seat beauty salon where he started 46 years ago. But now his name is proudly displayed on the front window and he doesn’t have to come and go