Best of D.C. 2009

The 700 block of King Street in Alexandria is home to two wig shops, just a few doors down from each other: Crown Wigs and Hollywood Fashion Wigs. Locals have long wondered why this particular slice of Old Town needs both. (Maybe there’s a clown college nearby or a particularly awful beauty salon drumming up lots of wig shop business?) Margaret Lee, who manages Hollywood, says the stores are “owned by the same corporation, but with different managers,” and they’re located close together to better serve the wig-buying public. If someone needs a hairpiece, she can come to King Street and hit two different stores in one trip. But while Hollywood and Crown share a block and an owner, they don’t seem to cater to the same consumer. Crown, strangely enough, is the less regal of the two. Its display windows hold male mannequin heads modeling fake moustaches and wigs of a vintage that suggests they were salvaged from a hair and makeup trailer used on the set of CHiPs. Inside there are false eyelashes, coin purses, and more funny wigs (Farrah Fawcett flips, Jheri styles). Hollywood Fashion Wigs, on the other hand, has a discreet try-on area and a wide selection of tasteful human-hair styles, which Lee says draws many cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. With that in mind, it makes sense that its selection of novelty wigs is limited to three neon-colored bobs and a couple of styles with lengths that extend to Rapunzel-esque ridiculousness.