METHUEN — Steve Magri's great-grandfather was a barber in Naples, Italy before emigrating and opening a shop in Lawrence.

His grandfather opened Mario's Barber Shop in Lawrence.

And when Magri's father Carl, a worker at Western Electric, began dating his mother Antoinette, that same grandfather convinced him to become a barber, too.

Magri grew up working in the barber shop his father and grandfather ran — Tony and Carl's — sweeping up hair and making coffee and lunch runs.

So it was only natural that Magri would grow up to cut hair and gab for a living.

"My great grandfather's a barber, my grandfather, my dad, my uncle, my brother and his only son," he said. "My dad always told me, it's college or barber school."

Now Magri, 50, a Lawrence native who lives in Hudson, N.H., owns Alfredo's Barber Shop at 166 Merrimack St. in Methuen.

He took it over from his uncle nine years ago.

And he is watching his 20-year-old son Carl follow in his own footsteps.

He'll be a fifth-generation barber.

"I tried to talk my son out of it," Magri said. "I told him, 'Go be a cop or something. Go to college.' Of course he didn't listen."

It's a tiny building that doesn't look like much from the outside, but inside it holds a ton of history.

An old Belmont red leather barber chair, old straight razors, scissors, brushes and even a Victorian-era shaving mug.

Magri's customers include state Sen. Steve Baddour and former Lawrence Mayor Kevin Sullivan.

"Our customers are everyone from senators to mill workers. This place. It's a dying breed," Magri said. "It's like the old diner. You get the best meal out of the old diner."

Steve Magri said he tried to run away from the family business several times when he was younger.

He worked a forklift at a juice company. He spent one summer at a masonry company building the cinema on Route 114 in Lawrence.

"Twelve-inch cement blocks all day. I lost 30 pounds," he said, laughing. "I discovered barbering wasn't so bad after all."

Carl Magri, 20, said he never thought of doing anything else.

He's been cutting for two years.

"This has been in my family for five generations," he said. "Someday I hope to take over from my dad."

Why does Magri think the trade lasted so long in his family?

"I don't know," he said, pausing for a minute to think, a rare silence for a man who makes his living talking. "I guess as kids we see this. I mean, when my family gets together, it's like a hair convention."

"We've all made a good living from this," he added.

Magri's younger daughter Katrina, 17, is taking a hairdressing class in high school.

His youngest son Steven, 18, loves hair as well, but he's taking the family's legacy in a little different direction.

"He's going to be a hairdresser," Magri said. "He loves the artistry. ... Loves to play with colors. Right now he's got a six-inch Mohawk that was black, green and orange. ... it's definitely different from what I do."

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