Arizona help

[Nick Charles]

I want to know a good place in or around Phoenix to get a hat cleaned and reblocked. I would also like to know the average cost of the service. I've been getting hats on ebay and they come a little off kilter.


Are there any good vintage stores in the area???

 

[Andykev]

Can't get taken to the cleaners?

The only place I know down south, unless you go to Texas, is this place:
Montecristi Hats
322 McKenzie Street, Santa Fe, NM 87501 505.983.9598 - hats@montecristihats.com

And they are in NM, not AZ...!

Sounds like if your local phone book doesn't list any hat shops, and your reputable clothing stores cannot refer you, then it is going to be cheaper to send the hat out for service.

Driving to the next city these days is expensive and with gas and parking....

Send your hat to Optimo in Chicago, they charge $35 for a standard clean and block. And they can do anything else. Art Fawcett also can do a reblock for you. There are many more out there!

 

[havershaw]

Nick,
I live in Mesa. We should get together for lunch one day!
As far as blocking hats locally...the only joint that will have anything to do with that sort of thing is Az-Tex hats, in Scottsdale. However...their specialty is western hats...they'll tell you their specialty is just general hats - but a look around their showroom proves otherwise.
Also, the staff can either be friendly, tolerant, or the polar opposites of both. I have welcomed at times, but (more often) I have been made to feel like I'm an overly fussy nuisance. The only business I've really given them is to have them stretch a handful of hats for me so they fit better, and I had them put a ribbon and sweatband into a hat I reblocked myself. I supplied both ribbon AND sweatband (and new liner as well), and they still charged me $65.
I don't know what era these ladies grew up in (the shop is run by some elderly ladies), and they certainly have some hat knowledge. But as far as styling goes...well, the first thing they said about my non-tapered, high-crowned Cavanagh (the one MattDeckard has seen) is that the crown was all wrong for a fedora, and that fedoras DO NOT HAVE untapered crowns. I told her that in the 30s, this type of crown was common. She said no, fedoras in general do not have straight-sided crowns like that.
Their fedora selection is terrible, unless you like overpriced pieces of wool junk.
However...one of the ladies (Heather) has been pretty nice to me on occasion, and is OK to deal with. They have a ton of vintage hatmaking/blocking/etc. equipment. I can't recall what-all it is...but I have a John B. Stetson with a non-roaned sweatband (in other words, it's stitched to the hat) and they said they did have a machine that could put that one back in for me, when I was ready. The sweatband and ribbon they put in for me had great craftsmanship.
You could take a chance and see how they do with a cleaning and reblocking. Personally, I would send stuff to either Art or Optimo. Az-Tex is nothing if not expensive, that's for sure.
As far as vintage stores go...the best ones in the area are in Los Angeles! There's one called Go Kat Go in Glendale which I used to frequent quite a bit...but I was al lot more into 50s stuff than I am now. The last time I went, they had replaced their hat rack full of vintage fedoras for sale (never had anything decent) with those mesh trucker hats. I know they don't have any 30s/40s suits because I called them and asked them. they said they don't really do clothing anymore...even when I went there frequently, the vintage clothing they had was pretty much the same stock they had for several years!
There was a place called Pink in Phoenix somewhere which I never got to go to. I heard it was closed, then I heard it was open again. I know they stopped running ads in the New Times, for what that's worth.
Unfortunately (and this is the case even in the LA vintage stores), horrible 70s-era fashion is the big thing right now. So most vinatge stores are stocking tons and tons of that, and not much of anything else. I had a couple places I used to hit religiously in LA, and my last three trips were complete busts - 70s junk was everywhere.
There were a couple of other places in Phoenix which I visited a couple of years ago...I don't recall if they're still open. Even then, it was still mostly 70s junk (although I was not into the 30s and 40s stuff I am now...so there may have been some stuff I considered too 'old school' for me at the time).
If you want some great Golden-Era-duds...check with Art Fawcett. He has a ton of stuff not on his site. I've only purchased one suit from him...but it was in flawless condition. He's very very picky, so I know that Art considered a piece of clothing good enough to sell, then it's probably way better than you can imagine.
Whew...sorry for the novel. But that's the scoop as far as I know.
By the way...I am no Art or Graham, but I have resuscitated more than my share of eBay hats. I would happy to take a look at your vintage hats for you as well.

 

[Nick Charles]

Thanks

Thanks alot Havershaw,

I might just take you up on that offer. I work in Mesa, on Main St.
Maybe after work someday I can meet you for awhile. Are there any really great stores in our area?, I've heard the one in Tuscon is good and I saw it on the news earlier this year. Thanks again.

 

[Renderking Fisk]

There's always Art Fawcett.

 

[Panamabob]

If you go to Montecristi Hats better take your loan officer....ohhhh, personal opinion...ohhhh, I gotta million of em.

 

[havershaw]

I can tell my post was too long...Ren didn't read it (I mentioned Art)!

Sorry 'bout that.

I got a great pair of shoes at the Tucson store...but, like all vinatge stores these days...they're leaning pretty heavily on 70s era stuff and hawaiian shirts, things like that. They had a few things there, though, which I thought were fantastic. I don't recall seeing any suits that really sent me over the moon.

Tucson is a cool town, though. I love staying at the historic Hotel Congress. Cheap, too!

I eat at Mango's on Main all the time. We should definitely get together for a bite at some point.