Shaving the Castro

Louie's Barbershop opened in 1947 in a San Francisco neighborhood called The Castro. In the beginning, the neighborhood was a quiet, working class, Irish community, but in the years since, it has become world famous as one of the first gay communes. Forty years later, Louie still mans his chair, but now, mixed in with neighborhood regulars from before are a varied mix of old and young, gay, lesbian, and transgendered people who are happy patrons. This film shows how the GLBT community can embrace an old, neighborhood institution, a barber shop, and make it a part of their ethos and community.