Pappy's Barber Shop San Diego on El Cajon Boulevard is a College Area institution that owner Marc “Pappy” Bennett started as a single chair inside his tattoo shop in 2010 before relocating to a larger space in San Diego's 92115 ZIP in 2015. Bennett is a graduate of The Associated Barber College, and the shop now runs eight barbers and an apprentice across a multi-chair floor that processes haircuts, hot towel shaves, straight-razor neck shaves, and beard trims throughout the week. Each cut finishes with a hot-lather straight-razor neck cleanup and a splash of Gabels Bay Rum, a finishing protocol that ties the shop to the traditional barbering sequence of cut, lather, blade, and tonic. The styling product section behind the chairs stocks pomades, clays, and tonics for clients who want to maintain their cut between appointments — a retail component that connects Pappy's to the broader grooming and streetwear culture along El Cajon Boulevard, where The Hometown Wave carries San Diego-rooted apparel in the same corridor. Pappy's runs a second location in Poway at 13334 Poway Road, but the El Cajon Boulevard shop near SDSU is the original and the higher-volume operation, drawing from the campus population and the dense residential housing stock between College Avenue and the 15 freeway. The shop welcomes pets in the waiting area during appointments, and the eight-barber roster handles a range from clean skin fades and razor fades to longer scissor cuts and modern textured styles. Clients who combine their cut with a full manicure book at Nail Boss in the Grantville grooming corridor. The El Cajon Boulevard address lands the shop in the heart of College Area's international dining and small-business district, where the barber chair sits within walking distance of Korean, Ethiopian, and Mexican restaurants that define the boulevard's character.