Oakland's Moler Barber College Saved By Phil Tagami and California Commercial Investments - Oakland Tribune
Renowned barber college still stylin' in new location Moler transplanted to Telegraph Avenue By Cecily Burt, STAFF WRITER - OAKLAND TRIBUNE OAKLAND — The spacious Moler Barber College salon on Telegraph Avenue was crowded with would-be barbers and stylists giving shaves and facials early one recent morning. Despite being a normally talkative bunch, no one uttered a peep. For a full hour, the students silently honed their straight-razor shaving techniques, folded hot towels in the precise way and perfected the art of rejuvenating facial massages — all in preparation for rigorous practical state board exams in March. That this scene happened at all is amazing, because it wasn't so long ago that Oakland's 95-year-old barberschool — one of the few in the Bay Area — was in danger of closing for good. Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, which is expanding its North Oakland campus, had purchased the storefront building on Broadway, where Moler students had shampooed, shaped and styl...