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Kacey Musgraves Introduces the World to Tom’s One Hour Photo and Lab

She's helping a struggling buisness owner go viral!

Written by Chris Parton
Kacey Musgraves Introduces the World to Tom’s One Hour Photo and Lab
Kacey Musgraves; Photo credit: Tom's One Hour Photo and Lab

Kacey Musgraves has a new passion project … but it has nothing to do with her Grammy winning music. The big-hearted star helping an old-school shop owner in Los Angeles revive his struggling film and photo business.

Explaining in a lengthy social media post that she and her sister needed to get some film developed in L.A., and stumbled across Tom’s One Hour Photo and Lab, Musgraves says she’s fallen in love with the store’s owner and his work. He started his shop way back in 1991, she says, and hasn’t changed much since … he doesn’t even have internet access and only accepts payment in cash. But even so, his high-school yearbook style portraits are beginning to come back into soft-focused fashion, and Tom’s a master of the art form.

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We were just in LA and needed to find a One Hour Photo place quick. Sandwiched between little bodegas, my sister randomly found this place on Beverly Blvd in Korea Town called Tom’s One Hour Photo & Lab. It’s one of those rare mom-&-pop gems that has lasted thru trends coming and going and weirdly has come back around again without even realizing it. The owner, Tom, was SO adorable. He not only does film developing but (cheap) and nostalgic portrait sessions too. (He gave us digital files and we edited these but he’ll shoot on film if you ask him to.) Pick your favorite background! He made them all himself. 🥰 It’s cash only and he has no internet. He sadly told us his business used to be really busy back in 1991 when he opened but has slowed way down since the digital wave. So, like any good millennials would do we started an appreciation Instagram for him. @tomsonehourphotolab 🌹 Not sure he’ll even see this. Stop by, tell all your friends, and don’t forget to tag. Let’s keep this charming business afloat!

A post shared by K A C E Y M U S G R A V E S (@spaceykacey) on

After posing for her own session, Musgraves decided to start an Instragram page for the shop and drum up some business — even sharing the story onstage in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Wednesday night (August 28), and it seems like Tom’s world has changed overnight.

In just a few days since then the Instagram account was opened, Tom’s One Hour Photo and Lab now has almost 25,000 followers, and the Musgraves clan has continued to sing his praises in detailed posts.

The Golden Hour star’s sister (and official photographer) says she spoke with Tom recently and business has indeed picked way up. “He sounded very happy,” she wrote. What a feel good story. In related news, Musgraves is up for Female Vocalist of the Year at the 2019 CMA Awards.

Tags: Kacey Musgraves