After “Barbershop 2: Back in Business” finished
first at the box office last weekend, Westwood’s own
Oakley’s barbershop gets to bask in a little of the
film’s success.
The recent debut of “Barbershop 2: Back in Business”
found Oakley’s Hair Styling on Gayley Avenue the setting for
the reunion of the cast made popular in the surprise 2002 hit
“Barbershop.” The film’s opening vignette and a
1960s flashback scene were shot in the shop.
The shop’s persona as a place heavy on the barbershop and
light on the styling made Oakley’s the ideal spot for the
backdrop of the film. The appeal lies in the shop’s authentic
atmosphere dating back to 1957, when the shop opened its doors on
Gayley.
The genuine feeling inside the shop was so poignant it stuck
with a couple of the film’s production staff. When the
decision came up of where to shoot the scenes, Oakley’s was
one of the top three options.
“They just remembered getting their hair cut during the
’60s here, and wanted to recreate it,” said Clinton
Shudy, the shop’s manager.
Proud of Oakley’s “mom-and-pop” background,
complete with the requisite barber polls and a shoe shine station,
Kevin Rodney Sullivan, the director of “Barbershop 2,”
found little reason to alter the setting.
Interference was so minimal that Oakley’s was able to keep
its doors open to its loyal customers during filming. The majority
of the filming took place on Mondays, usually Oakley’s slower
days. Half of the shop would be used for filming while the other
half still ran as a business. This cohabitation provided some of
Oakley’s employees with the chance to witness the more
peculiar aspects of filmmaking.
“One day they set up a blue screen at the back of the
store and took many different shots of hair falling,” Shudy
said. “They must have taken eight takes of just falling
hair.”