Hats in restaurants

[ScottF]

I am offended by all the great size 7 1/2 hats you find.
Please stop. And let me know where I might find them.

I promise not to wear them at the table.

I've only found a few, and I only buy the really old ones - sometimes I get lucky, like with the black "Fray" I posted today, and over time they've shrunk down to my size

Scott <=== looks like the fake Wyatt Earp now...or Randy Quaid in "Kingpin"

 

[Tomasso]

There are fedoras & hats for casual/work/country/ranch outfits just like those for hoity-toity dress up.

Don't you mean highfalutin'.

 

[mayserwegener]

I've worn Wranglers, tshirts, boots & hats since I can remember & will until I can't remember, just like my grandfather. There are fedoras & hats for casual/work/country/ranch outfits just like those for hoity-toity dress up. Get over it & get along.

Even the so called formal hats (see Homburgs) were sometimes worn with casual dress back in the day. I posted this circa 1925 photo on the Homburg thread.

 

[frussell]

Not really about restaurants, but...

Continuing in the vein this thread has followed - at one point in my life, I was riding horses nearly every day after work, so I wore jeans to work, which was perfectly acceptable in that environment. Anyone who has ever ridden a horse in slacks or wool suit pants will tell you that it's not much fun, and can be downright slippery. My favorite wrangler at our local rental stables wears a derby, just because he likes to annoy the other wannabe cowboys. He makes more tips than anybody who works with him. It works for him, but I need a little more to cover my neck and nose from the sun. As far as the restaurant thing, I still can't get my grandfather's voice out of my head asking me "Boy, is your head cold?" I still take mine off, even if it's inconvenient. Frank

 

[pvq]

New Member - and perhaps a stupid question

Greetings All,

I've been lurking for a while and decided to join as I am awaiting delivery of my first real fedora...an Akubra Stylemaster in carbon grey. I've always liked hats, mostly caps in my youth, but am just now (at 47) I'm upping my game. I am very appreciative of the open exchange of ideas and opinions offered by this forum.

So my stupid question....how do you guys safeguard your hat when you go to a restaurant? I'm not talking about a fine establishment that has a coat check, but just your average run of the mill diner. I go out to lunch five days a week at work with a group of four to six people, so there is rarely an empty chair for the hat to sit. Most often I just leave my hat in the car so as not to have an issue with where to put it...but that sort of defeats the purpose.

Before one of you suggests the portable hat hook....I've seen that and considered it...but I could still see the hat getting crushed in a tight quarters environment.

I actually had an idea to manufacture a portable hat stand using the "hurry-cane" base thats advertised all over TV these days...but that is probably over the top...LOL

Anyway I would appreciate your solutions to this most pressing dilemma...LOL

 

[hatsRme]

Sit at the counter/bar. Proper etiquette allows you to keep your hat on while seated at a counter. But there are thread(s) on this... http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?10649-Hat-racks-at-restaurants-bars-etc

 

[HeyMoe]

Typically if it wife and I, I place the hat beside me on an empty chair or on the seat of the booth beside me with a napkin over it to protect in case of spills. If the group is larger and no seats will be free and there are no coat / hat racks close to me (unless there is a hat/coat check, I keep my hat in sight at all times), it stays in the car or on my knee while eating.

BTW- Welcome to the lounge!!!

 

[tommyK]

I try to put it on the seat next to me or hang it on a chair. If that's not possible I just keep it on my head. Nobody cares about etiquette anymore except maybe people that wear anachronistic hats.

 

[Monte]

Hello and welcome PVQ.
After walking into the greasy spoon and to your seat, in one fluid motion, going from standing to sitting down, you grab your hat with your right hand. Secondly, you pronate the hand holding the hat while straitening your arm, so as to hold the hat brim-down and down to your side. Finally, you delicately shove the hat on your right knee (which is now at a full 90 degree angle), much like you place a hat on your head. Now, the hat is quite loose like this but you may pull on the front of the brim from time to time, keeping it snug to the angle of your knee. Having mayo on your hand is obviously not ideal.
If you don't want to wear the hat or put it on anything like a paper towel holder or menu rack, I find this to be a natural place to stow my hats while I'm taking my lunch break. You have to be a little conscious of it once in a while so it doesn't take a tumble, but I would never put any of my hats on the floor below my chair, whether I lived in the Dakotas or in NYC.
Moe, you beat me to the post!

 

[Monte]

:eusa_doh:Tommy, Hello. I've heard of straw hats, felt hats and even baseball caps...but I've never heard of anachronistic hats. Must be another trend I'm unaware of.

 

[pvq]

Hello and welcome PVQ.
you delicately shove the hat on your right knee (which is now at a full 90 degree angle), much like you place a hat on your head. Now, the hat is quite loose like this but you may pull on the front of the brim from time to time, keeping it snug to the angle of your knee.

I've done this on more than one occasion...but its fairly unstable

 

[barrowjh]

Sometimes just wear it, especially if there are a lot of folks there wearing baseball-style caps. Another alternative, and one that goes along with being in tight quarters, is to place the hat crown down (upside down) between your legs so that the brim rests on your thighs and suspends the hat. In tight quarters you often cannot stretch out your legs anyway, so the legs can work for you. If a female in the group brought along a purse, and places that on the floor beside her chair, asking to put your hat on that purse is another option.

 

[fedoracentric]

I try to put it on the seat next to me or hang it on a chair. If that's not possible I just keep it on my head. Nobody cares about etiquette anymore except maybe people that wear anachronistic hats.

This is the only way to go.
Hat etiquette no longer exists. If you are observing old time hat etiquette, it is only a personal peccadillo at this point (and perfectly acceptable if that is how you want to do things), not any real etiquette. Etiquette can only be etiquette if it is generally accepted and understood.

 

[tropicalbob]

If there's no alternative, leave it on. Who cares? I'd pretty much bet that, these days, yours will be the the mildest of transgressions against good manners if you look around.

 

[RJR]

I usually leave it in the car.

 

[Edward]

I suppose a lot depends on where you're going / where you hand out. I find if I'm going somewhere that I suspect might be shy of a good spot for hats and which lacks a coat check, the easiest solution is often to just wear a cap - easily folded and tucked in a back pocket, jacket pocket, or my lady's handbag...

Sometimes just wear it, especially if there are a lot of folks there wearing baseball-style caps. Another alternative, and one that goes along with being in tight quarters, is to place the hat crown down (upside down) between your legs so that the brim rests on your thighs and suspends the hat. In tight quarters you often cannot stretch out your legs anyway, so the legs can work for you. If a female in the group brought along a purse, and places that on the floor beside her chair, asking to put your hat on that purse is another option.

That can work, yes. Funnily enough, there was a time when in polite society on this side of the Atlantic it was considered outrageous to hold a hat in a way that displayed the inside to others, as it made one look like "a common begger". You can imagine the types that held to that... The only reason I'd be wary of that one these days is that too many hatmakers still use white liners as a standard, and mine get greasy and grubby looking very quickly from my baldy wee hied...

This is the only way to go.
Hat etiquette no longer exists. If you are observing old time hat etiquette, it is only a personal peccadillo at this point (and perfectly acceptable if that is how you want to do things), not any real etiquette. Etiquette can only be etiquette if it is generally accepted and understood.

The obvious things - like doffing a hat for a lady or removing one when approaching her - are still very much appreciated, but yeah... no point beating yourself up to conform to an old rule that nobody will notice now. Unless, of course, you want to.

 

[Joao Encarnado]

If there is no room on a crowded restaurant then it stays in my head.
If there is some room but no empty chairs, it will be on my lap upside down.
If there is a spare chair, it goes to the chair.
In a fast food restaurant it stays in my head.

Nobody cares about etiquette anymore except maybe people that wear anachronistic hats.

My parents care about hat etiquette and do not allow me to eat at the table with a hat on at their presence.
My friends houses they do not care.

 

[HeyMoe]

I typically follow most of the hat etiquette rules and get a lot of nice smiles doing so.

Eating with a hat on is a NO-GO here - learned that as a child and carry that tradition on.

 

[Greyryder]

When I was wearing ball caps, eating with my hat on never bothered me. But, I really don't like eating with my fedora on. I don't know why, it just feels wrong.

 

[GregNYC]

Greyrider, HeyMoe, I feel the same way. I learned my hatiquette in the Army in the 1970's. Hats off indoors. So I don't feel right eating with a hat on. I haven't yet encountered a real test of this sensibility, such as a restaurant so crowded that there's no room to put the hat anywhere. So far, so good.

BTW, I in the 1960s and 70s, I remember seeing a restaurant seat-backs that hat-clips. At least that is what my parents said they were when I asked. Typically, these would be at diner or luncheonette counters where the stools had backs. The backs of these stools (on the outside, not towards the body) would feature small spring-loaded clips one could use to hold the hat brim. Back in the day I never saw one in action. And now that I know and love hats, I don't remember the clips well enough to know what they would do to the brim..... Anyone else see these? I haven't seen them for forty years or so....