Hey, ya can't beat fun at the old ballpark -- a new season of sweltering and simmering away in the bleachers like a steaming Dodger Dog in the brutal L.A. heat at Chavez Ravine and The Rancho Cucamonga Epicenter -- home of the Quakes!
So, last week my Akubra Rink finally gave out after three seasons of rowdy fans in the neighboring seats bleeding Dodger blue - and spilling beer - and buttered popcorn - and every other thing on it, and kneeing the back of my head, while enduring scorching heat waves, etc., so between my sweat and their abuse I was forced to begin looking for my next "ballpark" replacement lid... The "Rink" had been plastic-hot and weighed a ton so I decided to try something different.
I had remembered occasionally seeing these amazing Panama hats that I really connected with popping up on the boards here. They were sporting nice blocking with professional upgraded sweatbands installed and incredible custom ribbon work -- really interesting stuff, some were very staid traditional treatments and some were très edgy -- almost avant-garde hat art... The owners were recommending a FL member -- Tom-n-Perris -- for nice Panama finishing?! I PM'd Tom and discussed a hat. He was thoughtful and easy to deal with. Actually, I believe that he's been modestly ever-so-quietly doing these gems for over four years now.
The bad news: It's way too nice to wear to the ballpark...
The good news: I have rationalized away the bad news by ordering another even "fancier" one from him so that I won't feel bad about wearing this one to games...
Specs: Cuenca brisa, 59cm, 2-5/8" brim, roan leather sheep skin sweatband, navy blue ribbon, "separating arrows" bow with a khaki accent stripe. Here's some pics (sorry no head shots)...
BTW, I wear "brim up" because I'm old and because I can and because the neighboring patron's Budweiser-spill stays safely up there until I can drain it off! (...Although my wife does occasionally reach over and smack the snapbrim down when she feels I'm becoming too "vocal"...)
Anyway, I don't know Tom Gomez from Adam's off ox -- but I do own custom hats from several of the All-Star hatters here and love them. So, it's just MHO but as a baseball fan and a hat fan -- for me Gomez' fantastic artwork-in-straw just got traded up from the minors to the "bigs" in the Panama Hat League and I thought Loungers would dig seeing it. I'm going to add the (even) newer hat's pics when that one gets here and I know there are a bunch of his long-time followers here, too!
So, last week my Akubra Rink finally gave out after three seasons of rowdy fans in the neighboring seats bleeding Dodger blue - and spilling beer - and buttered popcorn - and every other thing on it, and kneeing the back of my head, while enduring scorching heat waves, etc., so between my sweat and their abuse I was forced to begin looking for my next "ballpark" replacement lid... The "Rink" had been plastic-hot and weighed a ton so I decided to try something different.
I had remembered occasionally seeing these amazing Panama hats that I really connected with popping up on the boards here. They were sporting nice blocking with professional upgraded sweatbands installed and incredible custom ribbon work -- really interesting stuff, some were very staid traditional treatments and some were très edgy -- almost avant-garde hat art... The owners were recommending a FL member -- Tom-n-Perris -- for nice Panama finishing?! I PM'd Tom and discussed a hat. He was thoughtful and easy to deal with. Actually, I believe that he's been modestly ever-so-quietly doing these gems for over four years now.
The bad news: It's way too nice to wear to the ballpark...
The good news: I have rationalized away the bad news by ordering another even "fancier" one from him so that I won't feel bad about wearing this one to games...
Specs: Cuenca brisa, 59cm, 2-5/8" brim, roan leather sheep skin sweatband, navy blue ribbon, "separating arrows" bow with a khaki accent stripe. Here's some pics (sorry no head shots)...
BTW, I wear "brim up" because I'm old and because I can and because the neighboring patron's Budweiser-spill stays safely up there until I can drain it off! (...Although my wife does occasionally reach over and smack the snapbrim down when she feels I'm becoming too "vocal"...)
Anyway, I don't know Tom Gomez from Adam's off ox -- but I do own custom hats from several of the All-Star hatters here and love them. So, it's just MHO but as a baseball fan and a hat fan -- for me Gomez' fantastic artwork-in-straw just got traded up from the minors to the "bigs" in the Panama Hat League and I thought Loungers would dig seeing it. I'm going to add the (even) newer hat's pics when that one gets here and I know there are a bunch of his long-time followers here, too!
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