Alan

Alan is the genial Japanese-American owner of Hooper's Store on Sesame Street. Alan took over the reins from Mr. Handford in Episode 3786 and soon became particularly close friends with Baby Bear and Telly Monster. Alan later hired Gabi and Miles as his assistants. Alan's current assistant is Chris Robinson (the nephew of Gordon and Susan).
In Alan's first appearance on the show, Big Bird holds a Birdketeer meeting in the yard, and the new owner of Hooper's finds himself as an overworked caterer for the meeting. As the day goes on, Alan is tempted to ask them to take their meeting somewhere else, but the Birdketeers then give Alan a big welcome to the Street. They praise him for his help in providing snacks and other things to eat for the meeting, thus marking the beginning of yet another beautiful relationship with the residents of Sesame Street.
Alan is held in high esteem by residents of Sesame Street, as evidenced by Big Bird's distress when Alan went on vacation in Episode 4060.
In addition to TV specials and home video titles, Muraoka, as Alan, has appeared in various live performances including the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (since 1998), the 2000 Evening at Pops concert, and Jim Henson's Musical World.
==Notes==
*At a panel at Eternal Con in 2019, Alan Muraoka joked that since Alan's place of residence has never been seen or referenced on the show, he imagines Alan resides in the basement of Hooper's Store with a mere cot and kerosene lamp.Sesame Street Humans at Eternal Con - Presented by ToughPigs.com (4:25) A year later as part of the Caring for Each Other initiative videos and the Elmo's Playdate special, spots in Alan's residence have been seen.
*In terms of seasons of the show, Alan has been the longest owner of Hooper's. Within the show itself, he is the second-longest behind Mr. Hooper himself, who is said to have been running the store since at least 1951.
*As mentioned in the special See Us Coming Together, Alan was at one time Naomi Osaka's t-ball coach.
==Appearances==
*Sesame Street
*Let's Make Music
*Elmo's Magic Cookbook
*Elmo's World: Happy Holidays!
*The Street We Live On
*For Me, For You, For Later
*Once Upon a Sesame Street Christmas
*Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary Celebration
*The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo (episode 110)
* Elmo's Playdate
* Little Children, Big Challenges: Building Resilient Kids, Families & Communities
* The Power of We
==Book appearances==
* What's the Word on the Street? (2008)
* I is for Imagination (2013)
* Many Friendly Neighbors (2016)
* We're Amazing, 1, 2, 3! (2017)
* Circle of Good (2018)
==Sources==
__NOWYSIWYG__
Category:Sesame Street Characters
Category:Sesame Street Human Characters