Hats During San Francisco Fire

[Pilgrim]

NPR is doing a series of stories on the San Francisco earthquake and fire, 100 years ago. There's a story with long-lost photos on their website at npr.org.

Take the link on the front page and it leads to: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5334411.

About half-way down the page there's a photo with a number of men's hats from 1906 showing - double click the photo and it will enlarge. There are additional photos farther down the page. It appears that bowlers were very much in style.

 

[Kaleponi Craig]

Nice bowlers. I guess 1906 was a little early for fedoras...KC

 

[Marc Chevalier]

The bowler was the fedora of its time ... and the top hat was the homburg of that same era.

 

[Brad Bowers]

The bowler was the fedora of its time ... and the top hat was the homburg of that same era.

So, what did the homburg of the era represent?

I read somewhere that the bowler should be called "The Hat That Won The West." Don't recall offhand where I read it, though. 'Tis true, I suppose, as the bowler was the preferred hat of working men from all walks of life, with the exception of agriculture, where a broad-brimmed hat was better suited to that life.

Brad

 

[Marc Chevalier]

The homburg was, I believe, a little bit less formal than a bowler. Most "softer" hats were perceived in that way. I guess the homburg was the Open Road of its time.