In 1927, Charles Lindbergh made the first solo non-stop flight from New
York to Paris and the first transatlantic phone call—from New York City to
London —was successfully placed. In that year, a barber shop opened on
Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles. Today, more than 80 years later, we
elected our first African American president, NASA sent up a spacecraft to
search for other habitable planets, and a barber pole continues to stand on
the sidewalk. While the Boulevard of Dreams and the world around it has
undergone sweeping changes, barbering is still done the old-fashioned way
at Sweeney Todd’s Barber Shop.
Step inside Sweeney Todd’s and if time doesn’t stop, it definitely
slows down. You are now in Hollywood circa 1953. The spare interior holds
only what a barber needs to do a straight razor shave, a classic cut, and a
neat moustache or beard trim. Three stations are staffed by barbers in
traditional white smocks and the back bars are stocked with iconic barber
shop staples—Lustray After Shave, Jeris Hair Tonic, Clubman Talc. Owner
Todd Lahman sports a pencil-thin moustache and has styled his sho