Hair Salon Near Me in North Beach: Public Barber Salon

Public Barber Salon cuts hair inside a floor-to-ceiling library of vintage hardcover books, and Public Barber Salon sits at 1528 Grant Avenue, between Union and Filbert Streets in San Francisco's North Beach. Anyone typing hair salon near me around Washington Square will find a short cut here for $60 and a neck or bang trim for $25. The shop opens at 10am Tuesday through Friday and closes at 8pm, which leaves room for an after-work appointment.

Founder, owner and creative director Steve Jester trained at San Jose Barber College in 2001 and then at Vidal Sassoon from 2002 to 2003. His professional profile dates Public Barber Salon to 2008, though his work history lists a December 2007 start. The first shop was in the Tenderloin; North Beach came later, and 7x7 described the Grant Avenue location as newly opened in May 2012.

Jester still works behind the chair rather than only running the business, according to that same profile, and he designed the salons himself. The company calls itself San Francisco born and bred, and the legal entity behind the Grant Avenue shop is registered as Public Barber Salon North Beach, LLC. Today the official website lists a single address, 1528 Grant Avenue, with one phone.

The room is the reason people photograph this salon. When it opened, 7x7 counted a library of 4,000 books covering the walls, and Jester's own description mentions a custom oak library filled with hardcover titles on art, architecture, photography and design. He chose books because North Beach was home to so many Beat-era poets and writers, and he wanted a haircut to feel closer to a reading than a transaction.

Vintage barber furniture, reclaimed materials and odd objects fill the gaps between the shelves. The interior has travelled well beyond the city: the salon's press page lists a feature in Shotenkenchiku, the Japanese shop-design magazine, plus an October 2017 spread in Hair's How. The careers page calls the shop a boutique barber salon packed floor to ceiling with vintage bound books, which is exactly what you see walking in.

The Public Rates menu splits every service into a regular and a senior stylist column. On the regular side, a beard trim is $25, a single-guard buzz cut $40, a short cut $60 and a medium cut $75. A pixie or bob and a long cut are each $110 with a blowout included, an extra long and thick cut is $140, and a standalone blowout is $90.

Senior stylists charge $65 for a short cut, $80 for a medium cut and $120 for a pixie, bob, mullet or long haircut, so the premium is only $5 on short hair. Necklines, beards, buzz cuts and blowouts cost the same in both columns, and the extra long thick cut stays at $140. That makes the senior tier worth paying for on longer shapes, where the cut takes more judgment.

Color at Public is described as hand-painted and fully customized, and the menu prints no dollar amounts for it: every color or chemical service is priced by the color artist during a consultation. Services run from Just The Roots, a one-shade regrowth match with a glaze, through Mini Lights around the face and crown, partial and full highlight or balayage, and Full Bleach and Tone.

The menu has firm limits worth reading before you book. Just The Roots covers no more than 2 inches of regrowth, and Bleach and Tone Just The Roots requires roots under 1 inch. Fashion and Fantasy Color, for blue, green, pink or unicorn shades, is an add-on only, and first-time bleach clients are asked to email publicbarbersalon@gmail.com before booking. Shelves stock EVO and Cult+King products.

Appointments are booked online through Mangomint, linked from the Book Now button on the salon's site. The cancellation policy was rewritten in March 2026, and it now treats a late cancellation exactly like a no-show, with a fee equal to the full cost of the booked service. The salon explains that empty slots stop it from moving clients up from its wait-list.

Haircut clients need to cancel at least three hours ahead, while color appointments need 24 hours' notice. The lateness rule is stricter than most: you cannot be more than five minutes late for your appointment time. If the phone line is busy, the policy says to email publicbarbersalon@gmail.com instead. Clients with very long, thick or compromised hair should leave a booking note so extra time is blocked.

The salon describes its clientele as roughly 60 percent short hair and 40 percent long hair, and says it caters to all walks and creeds. The menu mirrors that mix, pricing a $40 buzz cut and a $110 bob with blowout on the same sheet. The careers page also mentions steady walk-in traffic, so the chairs are not purely appointment-only.

Recognition has followed for more than a decade. The press page lists Public as voted number one best barber in 2014, a Best of the Bay 2018 City Living winner, and, posted on May 26, 2026, a Best of 2026 award ranking it number one in the 94133 zip code. A 2013 7x7 guide singled out the shampoo as the best head massage in town.

One honest tip: bring cash. Every card payment carries a 3 percent fee, and cash is never surcharged, so a $110 long cut costs $113.30 on a card. Also skip booking Just The Roots if your regrowth is past 2 inches; the menu itself redirects you to All Over Color, and the wrong booking can cost you the slot.

Public is closed on Sundays and shuts at 5pm on Saturdays. It books through Squire and focuses on fades, scissor cuts and straight razor shaves, not color.

Grant Avenue is the oldest street in the city, and the blocks south of the salon reward a slow walk. Three blocks down, The Saloon at 1232 Grant Avenue first opened in 1861 and is one of San Francisco's oldest operating taverns. At the corner of Vallejo Street, Caffe Trieste at 601 Vallejo, on the city's Legacy Business Registry, has poured espresso since 1956.

Head west one block along Union or Filbert and you reach Washington Square, with Saints Peter and Paul Church facing the lawn. Walk east up Filbert from Grant instead and the street climbs Telegraph Hill toward Coit Tower, a steep ten-minute test of whether a fresh blowout survives the wind. The Filbert Steps on the far side drop back down toward Levi's Plaza and the Embarcadero.

Address: 1528 Grant Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94133, between Union and Filbert Streets. Hours: Monday 11am to 7pm, Tuesday to Friday 10am to 8pm, Saturday 10am to 5pm, Sunday closed. Muni's 30 Stockton and 45 Union-Stockton run one block west on Stockton Street, and the Chinatown-Rose Pak Central Subway station is about a fifteen-minute walk south.

Book through Mangomint from the salon's site. Cancel haircuts three hours ahead and color 24 hours ahead, or pay the full service price, and arrive within five minutes of your slot. Short through extra-long cuts run $60 to $140 on the regular menu, with a 3 percent card fee. Ask Karpo in the Karpo APP for a table near Washington Square once your appointment is set.