Highway Patrol

California Barbershop Owner, Kids, Missing in Sierra County

The owner of a popular Oakland barbershop, his 5-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter are missing after a camping trip to Sierra County with family members, the sheriff reported Wednesday.

The Sierra County sheriff’s spokesperson confirmed the father is Nicholas Vlahos, and that the search for him and his children is treacherous and snowy in the rugged and remote terrain.

A co-worker who wouldn't identify himself confirmed to NBC Bay Area that it's the same Vlahos who owns Temescal Alley Barbershop, which was the lead anecdote in 2014 in the New York Times article," Oakland: Brooklyn by the Bay." The co-worker said that Vlahos was an experienced camper, but declined to comment any further. People describe the old-fashioned shop, which only takes walk-ins, as the "Cheers" of barbershops.

Authorities said on Tuesday, about 7:15 p.m., the Sierra County sheriff received a report that a 41-year-old man and his children were “overdue” from a camping trip.

They were last seen in western Sierra County, between Sacramento near Nevada, traveling in their 2015 Black Toyota Tundra 4X4 pickup truck from their campsite.

Reports indicated the family planned to take a drive through a remote and rugged portion of Sierra and Plumas counties on their return trip home. The family was reported to be in good health and in possession of ample food and water supplies, the news release said.

On Wednesday, the sheriff’s office, CalFire, a California Highway Patrol helicopter and other agencies conducted a search with no luck.

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