Jim Gardner
Managing Editor- San Francisco Business Times

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In a city of bearded hipsters and coder geeks in T-shirts and jeans, the sartorial world of commercial real estate brokers in downtown San Francisco is a throwback: Overwhelmingly male, dark suits, ties, as clean-cut and clean-shaven as season one of “Mad Men.”

But if you walked around downtown in November, you may have noticed brokers letting their facial-hair freak flags fly. On corners and building lobbies along California and Sansome streets were men with Fu Manchus, handlebars, horseshoes, even some Salvador Dalis.

San Francisco’s real estate community, led by John Cornuke of TIAA-CREF and David Churton of Jones Lang LaSalle, were national leaders in Movember, a mustache-growing event that raises awareness and funds for men’s health issues. This year Cornuke’s Team Nuclear raised $180,000, more than any other U.S. group.

This year Cornuke, who lost his father to cancer, favored a beefy Goose Gossage mustache. “I looked like a bad guy from the ‘Sons of Anarchy.’”

Churton, who lost both his parents to cancer, went for a slightly creepy “English squire” look.

Churton said next year Team Nuclear will try to get participation from other Bay Area brokerages. In the meantime, a bit of smack: “The brokers in Silicon Valley were so concerned about their pretty facial looks that they couldn’t bring themselves to do it. I think next year we will have a stronger showing from our younger, handsomer colleagues to the south,” he said.

Movember raised $120.5 million across the world, 82 percent of which goes to mens health programs.

“There is nothing more humbling than growing a mustache, and nothing feels better than shaving it off,” said Cornuke.

Jim Gardner oversees print and online news coverage of the vibrant Bay Area economy.

Article source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2012/12/san-francisco-real-estate-brokers.html