From Garage Haircuts to Business Owner

Some businesses start with a business plan. Old School Barbershop started with a garage.

Alex, the shop's co-owner, cut his first hair in high school — friends, in a garage, learning the craft one head at a time. This short documentary follows what came after: barber college, an unexpected partnership, and the leap into shop ownership in San Francisco.

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We filmed over two days at the end of July 2024, inside the shop on Sacramento Street — interviews with Alex between clients, and the ordinary rhythm of the place doing the rest of the talking.

What stayed with me in Alex's story is that ownership was never the finish line. The film follows the shop expanding, and Alex thinking past his own chair — creating opportunities for other barbers and building what he calls the Old School legacy. That's a different kind of business story: not just getting your own, but making room.

I make brand stories and documentary films for companies, nonprofits, and sports and outdoor organizations across the Bay Area. This is what that looks like at street level in San Francisco — one shop, one owner, and a story his customers already knew, finally on film.

Subject — Old School Barbershop, San Francisco. A film by Leo Moring.