Pruitt's Barbershop · International Blvd · Since 1981
Every cut comes with the truth.
Every episode, somebody sits in chair three with a problem. The shop argues it out. Odell Pruitt gets the last word.
The shop
Three chairs. One of them talks back.
Pruitt's has been cutting hair on International Boulevard in East Oakland since 1981. Chair one is Odell's. Chair two is his grandnephew's. Chair three is where you sit when you need to hear something. Rent money, a first job interview, a father who said no too fast: it all comes through that door, and nobody leaves with the same haircut or the same opinion.
The regulars
Pull up a chair. Meet the room.
The same faces, most Saturdays. Some of them cut hair. Most of them just have opinions.
The Code
On the wall by the back door.
THE CODE
- Every cut comes with the truth.
- No phones in chair three.
- Say it to his face or don't say it.
Hand-painted, a little crooked, never taken down. Who wrote it is a question for another Saturday.
Odell's Lines
The last word, every time.
Every episode ends with Odell putting the clippers down and saying one thing. Take it with you.
Episodes
New in the chair.
Short episodes on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. The first ones are coming to the chair now.
The Saturday Sheet
The week, in one email.
Every Saturday morning, before the shop opens.
- The week's best line, and the argument behind it.
- What's coming to the chair next.
- One question the shop couldn't settle. You get a vote.
Sit in chair three
Bring the shop your problem.
Got a question you can't settle? Tell us. If the shop takes it up, it could become an episode, with every name changed and every detail made up but the question.
Keep real names and identifying details out of it. We read everything; we can't answer everything.