Open Road...with narrow brim?

[adamgottschalk]

I was reading a play earlier, Fool for Love by Sam Shepard. At the beginning, he's discussing the character of "the old man," describing his clothes. Not only does he specifically say the man's wearing a Stetson Open Road (not all that surprising really), but he says, "the kind with the narrow brim." All the Open Roads I've seen have had pretty wide brims (wide for me the stingy wearer). There happens to be an Open Road on eBay right now (which also happens to have a large MOTH HOLE in it unfortunately) which has the narrowest brim I"ve seen, 2".

What's the narrowest brim of an Open Road that you own? Was there a particular era, like the 60s, when they made narrow-brimmed Open Roads? How long is the history of the Open Road? What was the widest brim they ever had?

 

[tonyb]

An Open Road's brim is "narrow," as "western" hats go. Two of my OR's brims measure at 2 3/4 inches, one at just a whisker under that, and another at just slightly over 2 7/8s. (That little extra bit of brim width has a definite effect on the hat's overall look, by the way. It appears much more like a cowboy hat than the others.) I happen to have a Stratoliner, which is very much like an Open Road, with a 2 1/2 inch brim. I hear from others here that it is unusually narrow for a Stratoliner.
The 2 7/8-inch brim is the widest I've ever seen on an Open Road. I've never seen one with a 2-inch brim, so I'm wondering if the seller's measurement might be a bit off, as they often are. (I bought a nice Stetson Twenty that the seller said had a 2-inch brim, although it looked a little wider than that in the photo. It actually measures 2 3/8 inches.)
I, too, would like to know the definitive story of the Open Road, but gathering reliable information could prove difficult. The experts here have noted that Stetson has done a less-than-stellar job of preserving its own history, so a researcher would have to rely on secondary sources, probably. One question that probably could be answered, though, is whether other makers emulated the Open Road or if Stetson copied another manufacturer's hat. How long has the Borsalino Alessandria been around? Or the Knox Westown? Or the Dobbs Westward? Or the Mallory Dallas? Or the Bevmore Globelair?
Ain't it amazing the trivia you pick up hanging around this joint?

 

[Snrbfshn]

Didja see...

The brim was indeed the narrowest I'd seen, but I doubt it's very vintage. The sweat and liner were modern era. Maybe the seller can provide pix of the reorder label to help narrow it down some.

 

[tonyb]

The brim was indeed the narrowest I'd seen, but I doubt it's very vintage. The sweat and liner were modern era. Maybe the seller can provide pix of the reorder label to help narrow it down some.

Yeah, I took a look just now, and it does indeed appear narrower than any that I, too, have ever seen. But only 2 inches? Could be ...
I question if it's of very recent (as in the past 30 years) vintage, though. It has a windstring, and it's a Royal Stetson version, and that liner doesn't look all that modern to me. But I don't really know.

 

[John in Covina]

Maybe it's NOT original! Gasp! Horror! Knots of fear and Anguish!

If it is older, it may have been refurbished at a later date and have mixed era components.

Also, perhaps the owner had it done up custom by having a hatter narrow the brim for some reason, such as damage to the original edge.

 

[besdor]

Back in the 1960's , Stetson did make an Open Road style with a 2 1/8" brim . I saw one when I was in Texas at the Stetson factory . I don't think it was called an Open Road though. It was just an open cown hat with a 4 line band and bound edge.:cool2: