In Memoriam: A Love Letter to Wig Master Rosalie Jacques of Rosalie’s New Looks

She was a true quintessential San Francisco character

I first met Rosalie in 1993, when I visited her wig and hair salon, Rosalie’s New Look’s, in North Beach.

After moving to San Francisco from Stockton in 1957, fresh out of beauty school, Rosalie quickly found her place doing hair. She soon opened her own shop, making wigs for the drag queens at Finnocchio’s nightclub and styling the topless dancers of North Beach. When topless entertainment became legal in the early 60s, she recalled the famous stripper Carol Doda visiting her shop and jumping into the window full of wigs and starting to strip. Rosalie also crafted merkins for dancers during that time to comply with legal restrictions. She proudly did hair for Charles Pierce, who preferred to be known as an actor rather than a female impersonator, and styled rock legend Little Richard when he performed in town.

Juanita and Rosalie at the Polk Street wig shop location.

After a ten-year semi-retirement in 1990, Rosalie opened the North Beach shop with her daughter, who grew up learning the trade of hair just like her mom. During those first years at the North Beach shop, they began to get more involved in the wig business after engaging with the Educational Transvestite Channel (ETVC), founded in 1982, one of the country’s first independent transgender social and support groups. Her wig business took off, and she became a big advocate for the trans community.

When I adventured into her salon for the first time in ‘93, I had only been doing drag for a year and had heard that she was the wig person to get your hair done by in San Francisco. At the time, I was part of the drag troupe The Fishstix, consisting of my drag mother Glamamore, Mad Azell, Velveeta Chez, and Staci Gives. We were planning our first big show, which was going to be staged at The Improv, a comedy club located a block from Union Square, above Jack in the Box on Geary and Mason Streets. I boldly asked Rosalie if she would do wigs for the show, and she immediately said yes. In the back corner of the shop was one of her stylists, Manuel (rest in peace), who was busy teasing up some hair. I went over and introduced myself, not realizing that he and I would become good friends, and he would go on to create some of my most magical wig pieces. Miss Gina LaDivina also worked at Rosalie’s shop for a while, as did my current hairdresser, who I love so much and has taken my bouffants to new heights, Ronnie Lynn, who was Miss Gay San Francisco 1977 of the Imperial Council of San Francisco.

The Fishstix performing at The Improv in Rosalie’s New Look’s wigs.

The hair Rosalie did for the show titled Born Wrong was BIG. It was reminiscent of the hair my grandmother and great aunts wore. I was always a little too excited as a kid to attend the funerals on my dad’s side of the family. But, as I look back now, it was a big old drag show to little me. My father’s aunts would pull up, dressed to the nines in barrel curl wigs, furs, cat-eye glasses, and stiletto heels, in their new Cadillacs and Lincoln Continentals. To this day, they were and still are my inner drag inspiration. Between the wigs Rosalie created and the outfits Mr. David designed, we all looked like a million dollars. The show sold out the venue and was the beginning of a long-lasting hair-lationship with Rosalie’s New Look’s salon.

Juanita and Rosalie outside the Polk Street location of her shop.

When Rosalie moved into the Polk Gulch neighborhood, the wig master settled into a safe and supportive space. But after a few years at the Polk Street location, the greedy landlord decided to push her out. At the time in District 3, our Supervisor was Aaron Peskin. Aaron helped Rosalie relocate to a new space in North Beach, where she could continue working and living. He understood that while people like Rosalie will never be forgotten, they also need support. In her later years, Rosalie needed that extra help and attention. Aaron knew it and obliged. He became good friends with her and had this to share with me today, “Rosalie Jacques, also known as Gypsy Rosalie, was a one-of-a-kind, truly beautiful, quintessential San Francisco character full of wild, colorful stories, a purveyor of a vast assortment of wigs, a mother to a plethora of drag queens, a devout Catholic, a successful small-businesswoman, and a San Francisco legend and legacy. She showed her neighborhoods of North Beach and Polk Gulch transcendent love, acceptance, and joy. I was honored to have her as a friend and will miss her dearly.”

Mr. David Glamamore, Rosalie and Juanita at the de Young Museum, 2016

Over the years, Rosalie and her staff styled many memorable wigs for me. It was through all of them that “Juanita’s” style came to be. In life, she was always great at making things and situations work to her advantage. I knew that she was a hustler at heart, and I loved, understood, and appreciated her for it. She proudly boasted that she had a “big set of balls.”

Juanita MORE!

Juanita MORE! is a denizen of the limelight. For almost three decades, the laudable hostess has blitzed San Francisco with high glamour, drag irreverence, and danceable beats that have illuminated the entire city. MORE! continues to be a heaping dollop of generosity and a sprinkle of nerve. She inspires those around her to make positive differences in their lives and communities — and doing it all with timeless elegance and an innovative spirit. Most recently, after her reign, Miss MORE! holds the title of Absolute Empress 56 of the Imperial Council of San Francisco –– one of the oldest non-profit organizations globally.

To date, MORE! has helped raise over 1 million dollars for local charities — among them GBLT Historical Society & Archives, Our Trans Youth, Q Foundation, Queer Lifespace, Transgender Law Center, and more. In addition, MORE! tirelessly fundraises for organizations in San Francisco that are adamant about helping communities in the seven-by-seven thrive, all while shining light and offering support to those who’ve been overlooked for far too long.

MORE! embodies what it means to be a conduit of connection. MORE!’ brings the people together to fundraise, celebrate community, and demand social change around San Francisco and elsewhere. Her culinary expressions are an extension of what mothers have been doing in their kitchens for generations — which, simply states, is sharing “loads of love.”