You know you are getting old when:

[Haversack]

By the way, tourists from overseas ain’t likely to see many cowboy hats and pointy-toed boots at LGA or ORD or SFO, but you don’t have to travel far from DFW or DEN or ABQ to find folks so attired.

To tell the truth, you don't have to travel far from SFO to see the hats and boots. There's a bull ring just south of San Jose and I can think of about half a dozen cafes within an hour of the airport that if you go in a 6 AM you'l see plenty of straw Stetsons and boots with prod spurs. It ain't all Silicon Valley.

 

[Fifty150]

Where do you pick it up?

you don't have to travel far from SFO to see the hats and boots.

Come into The City. You can see me wearing cowboy boots in Chinatown. As you travel south from San Francisco, there are farms and ranches all along the coast. Including horse stables just south of Fort Funston. So from the airport, travel west in a straight line. You may be surprised by what is being raised right outside of city lines.

 

[tonyb]

To tell the truth, you don't have to travel far from SFO to see the hats and boots. There's a bull ring just south of San Jose and I can think of about half a dozen cafes within an hour of the airport that if you go in a 6 AM you'l see plenty of straw Stetsons and boots with prod spurs. It ain't all Silicon Valley.

It’s curious that “Western” wear is popular among a certain subset of the population a good deal east of the West. It’s something of a cultural identity signifier. The country music scene has a lot to do with it, I suppose.

I worked as a ranch hand, more than 40 years ago. We didn’t wear cowboy boots or hats. We didn’t wear shirts with faux-pearl snaps and fancy embroidery, either. We did, however, wear blue jeans. A friend of some 50-plus years, with much more recent experience with cattle, never went in for the cowboy drag, either. He looks more like an old hippie.

“Western” wear changes with the times. Looking at photos from the genuine Wild West era leaves little doubt of that. Yes, there was a practical reason the boots were pointed and the hat brims were wide. Practical for some people, anyway. But certainly not for all. What Western wear has become owes as much or more to popular entertainment than anything happening out on the ranch.

 

[Fifty150]

I don't wear the "pointy toe" style boots. I wear a boot with enough room for my feet to slip into comfortably. With cowboy boots, sometimes it means buying the boot labeled as "wide". I wear the boots because they have a high shaft, and I can slip them on and off without having to lace them. What I do, and some other people as well, is have a cobbler add a rubber outsole over the leather sole. Most cobblers have a roll of rubber, usually stamped "Vibram", which they trace the shoe sole on, cut, then apply over the leather. I've done this with leather soles for years. Even on all of my "dress shoes". I live in The City. I don't want to slip on the sidewalk.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The flashy-type outfits with all the glitz and hoo-hah were basically show-business cowboy drag -- they owed more to the circus and rodeo ring, the vaudeville stage, and the movie screen than to actual ranch-type stuff. But since that's where most 20th Century Americans who weren't actual westerners -- and there's a lot more of us Easterners than there are actual Westerners, let alone actual ranch hands -- saw "Western" characters, that's what caught on.

 

[tonyb]

…
Most cobblers have a roll of rubber, usually stamped "Vibram", which they trace the shoe sole on, cut, then apply over the leather. I've done this with leather soles for years. Even on all of my "dress shoes". I live in The City. I don't want to slip on the sidewalk.

My go-to shoe repair guy in Seattle, where it has been known to rain on occasion, strongly recommended rubber soles. Leather is fine for Italians, he said, but if you want soles that last, in this climate, go with rubber. Angel was the fellow’s name. His eponymous shop was (is?) up on Capitol Hill, right off 15th & Republican.

It was amusing to hear his commentary on the “quality” of most modern shoes. Not worth fixing, he said.

 

[Fifty150]

The ranching way of life is a little different in today's world. Cowboys ride ATVs. There's a ranch nearby. The cows, or steers, go out to pasture, and there's some corralling. There are still horses. I see the 3 wheelers, 4 wheelers, and off-road golf carts used a lot more. The slaughter house is right there also. No long cattle drives. But then again, this is California. The cows are free range, grass fed, organic..... In larger commercial operations, the cows are probably not given large amounts of land to roam, corn fed, fattened, and delivered to slaughter by tractor trailer trucks and railway cars.

 

[tonyb]

The flashy-type outfits with all the glitz and hoo-hah were basically show-business cowboy drag -- they owed more to the circus and rodeo ring, the vaudeville stage, and the movie screen than to actual ranch-type stuff. But since that's where most 20th Century Americans who weren't actual westerners -- and there's a lot more of us Easterners than there are actual Westerners, let alone actual ranch hands -- saw "Western" characters, that's what caught on.

I got nothing against people who wouldn’t know which end of a horse to feed decking themselves out in the flashiest, spangliest, gaudiest “cowboy” drag this side of the Grand Ole Opry. Some people can actually dress that way without looking ridiculous. And some can’t. I have little doubt most of us are in the latter category.

 

[Fifty150]

Leather is fine for Italians

Bowling shoes. You need leather soles. Cowboy boots. The leather allows you to slide in and out of the stirrup on the saddle. Work boots, military use, hiking, and city walking......I prefer rubber. I have 1 pair of inexpensive slip-on shoes which were so cheap that I did not want to spend the extra money to add rubber soles. For myself, I see no advantage or reason to want the leather sole. I'm sure that some people have a preference for leather bottom shoes. Maybe tradition? Maybe Pennsylvania Dutch? When shoes were in use hundreds of years ago, before the rubber soles; the city sidewalks were not paved with cement.

 

[Fifty150]

It was amusing to hear his commentary on the “quality” of most modern shoes. Not worth fixing, he said.

I'm sitting here looking down at a pair of shoes that are worth fixing. Supposedly. Allen Edmonds. Right next to a pair of Alden. Both offer some sort of rebuild, restoration program.

In today's world, outside of knowing yourself that you bought expensive shoes.....I wonder if they're even worth buying. Honestly. I don't have "gourmet" feet. My feet can go into a pair of shoes which cost a fraction, and walk just fine. Right next to those expensive shoes, I have a pair of Stacy Adams. $50 versus $500. And my feet don't know the difference. But then again, I drive a Ford and ride a Harley. I don't think I need a Mercedes or Ducati to go to the grocery store.

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^^
For the past decade or so I’ve been afflicted with what we laypeople call “seeds” on the balls of my feet. They’re little calluses, and it can hurt like hell with every step as they press against a nerve.

The treatment is easy enough. The podiatrist essentially whittles them away. That hurts a little (no anesthesia at all) but the relief it offers is well worth it.

To your point, I’ve found I’m far likelier to have foot problems when I wear cheap shoes, like the kind they sell at Volume Shoe Source or whatever they call it these days. So I don’t wear those kinds of shoes anymore.

As to rubber soled cowboy boots …

They got ’em by the carload at the Boot Barn store. I got a pair myself.

 

[Fifty150]

I live in San Francisco. There's no Boot Barn. We don't even have a Wal*Mart or Sam's Club. No Home Depot or Tractor Supply either.

My boots were bought several decades ago, when I was in El Paso, TX. I bought them at the Tony Lama factory. So they're probably overstock, quality control rejects, or something that someone returned.

We also don't have a lot of the corporate dining chains that are usually staples in suburban shopping malls. Sadly, no Twin Peaks, Hooters, Macaroni Grill, P.F. Chang, et cetera.

It's like I'm living in The Dark Ages.

 

[tonyb]

… Aspercreme is a revelation.

 

[tonyb]

… you attend an antiques auction and people mistake you for Lot 342.

 

[Edward]

View attachment 357663

Thanks, I'll look that up!

Come into The City. You can see me wearing cowboy boots in Chinatown. As you travel south from San Francisco, there are farms and ranches all along the coast. Including horse stables just south of Fort Funston. So from the airport, travel west in a straight line. You may be surprised by what is being raised right outside of city lines.

I remember cowboy boots being big on the heavy metal scene in the eighties; more cowboy accoutrements were usually saved for C&W, though there was a certain strain of goth who wore a lot of appropriately channelled black Western gear - like a rodeo'ed Johnny Cash vibe.

It’s curious that “Western” wear is popular among a certain subset of the population a good deal east of the West. It’s something of a cultural identity signifier. The country music scene has a lot to do with it, I suppose.

I worked as a ranch hand, more than 40 years ago. We didn’t wear cowboy boots or hats. We didn’t wear shirts with faux-pearl snaps and fancy embroidery, either. We did, however, wear blue jeans. A friend of some 50-plus years, with much more recent experience with cattle, never went in for the cowboy drag, either. He looks more like an old hippie.

“Western” wear changes with the times. Looking at photos from the genuine Wild West era leaves little doubt of that. Yes, there was a practical reason the boots were pointed and the hat brims were wide. Practical for some people, anyway. But certainly not for all. What Western wear has become owes as much or more to popular entertainment than anything happening out on the ranch.

Absolutely. Oddly, I've come to appreciate it more the more I see the 'real' sort of stuff. (And, in part, I realise a lot of my newer fancy comes as much as working backwards from the Teddy Boy look as it does rockabilly.)

I don't wear the "pointy toe" style boots. I wear a boot with enough room for my feet to slip into comfortably. With cowboy boots, sometimes it means buying the boot labeled as "wide". I wear the boots because they have a high shaft, and I can slip them on and off without having to lace them. What I do, and some other people as well, is have a cobbler add a rubber outsole over the leather sole. Most cobblers have a roll of rubber, usually stamped "Vibram", which they trace the shoe sole on, cut, then apply over the leather. I've done this with leather soles for years. Even on all of my "dress shoes". I live in The City. I don't want to slip on the sidewalk.

Typically either after I've worn them a couple of weeks I'll have a rubber layer glued on all my leather soled shoes; of not then, at least when they first need the heels done. Definitely makes the soles last; I've yet to need to have a pair of shoes resoled since I started that.

Bowling shoes. You need leather soles. Cowboy boots. The leather allows you to slide in and out of the stirrup on the saddle. Work boots, military use, hiking, and city walking......I prefer rubber. I have 1 pair of inexpensive slip-on shoes which were so cheap that I did not want to spend the extra money to add rubber soles. For myself, I see no advantage or reason to want the leather sole. I'm sure that some people have a preference for leather bottom shoes. Maybe tradition? Maybe Pennsylvania Dutch? When shoes were in use hundreds of years ago, before the rubber soles; the city sidewalks were not paved with cement.

Possibly tradition and a sense of leather being "quality" - I guess because so many people have encountered very cheap shoes that are invariably fittedwith glued-on, man made soles.

In today's world, outside of knowing yourself that you bought expensive shoes.....I wonder if they're even worth buying. Honestly. I don't have "gourmet" feet. My feet can go into a pair of shoes which cost a fraction, and walk just fine. Right next to those expensive shoes, I have a pair of Stacy Adams. $50 versus $500. And my feet don't know the difference. But then again, I drive a Ford and ride a Harley. I don't think I need a Mercedes or Ducati to go to the grocery store.

It's a fair thought. For many things, I take the view that if you can't see any need to spend more, why do it. With footwear, I do find I tend to be ready to spend more, though. I wear leather shoes regularly everywhere, and I like a pair that lasts. I'm endlessly fussy about what I wear, always have been - when I finally find something I really like, I want it to last... I think in part too it's an environmental thing for me; I don't want to buy four or five pairs of new shoes over time if I can buy one pair that lasts me as long. Then there's the economic side:

I stopped wearing trainers a decade or more ago. Not a conscious choice as such; I just moved away from them. All my shoes are now fairly traditional, leather shoes and boots. Even with jeans, it's boots in Winter, penny loafers in Summer. Once in a blue moon I see a pair of pre1959 style trainers that appeal, but what always puts me off is that they are essentially disposable, can't be resoled. TBH, I don't know that I'd end up wearing them if bought anyhow - I'm so much more comfortable in boots or a decent leather show than I ever was in trainers. Did try on a pair the wife bought last year for gymwear out of curiosity. Felt horrid - couldn't get 'em off fast enough. Designed for "ultimate comfort" - felt like I had my feet wrapped in a memory foam cushion.

 

[Haversack]

I was just thinking about Sam Vimes' Boots Theory when reading the above posts. I've been wearing the same two pair of Redwing 866 boots for the past 20 years, (with regular oiling and a new sole each), and am now in the process of breaking in a new pair. The older boots are now like moose-hide slippers. The new pair are still a pain to pull on and off but are gradually giving up the fight against my feet once on. I thought about using the dried bean trick to stretch them out a bit but didn't want to stay up all night tending them.

 

[Fifty150]

You know you're getting old when you use Google to search for Merriam-Webster

 

[tonyb]

I was just thinking about Sam Vimes' Boots Theory when reading the above posts. I've been wearing the same two pair of Redwing 866 boots for the past 20 years, (with regular oiling and a new sole each), and am now in the process of breaking in a new pair. The older boots are now like moose-hide slippers. The new pair are still a pain to pull on and off but are gradually giving up the fight against my feet once on. I thought about using the dried bean trick to stretch them out a bit but didn't want to stay up all night tending them.

I’ve mentioned before that I still have the Red Wing boots I bought new in 1974. I also have a pair of RW Iron Rangers (union made in the USA) I bought a couple years ago. It took a while to break ’em in, but I wear them frequently now.

 

[LizzieMaine]

One of my favorite things that I own is a copy of Webster's Second, the definitive unabridged dictionary of the Era. We had one at my elementary school and one of my favorite things to do was to go to the library (or, the unused classroom where a small and tattered collection of indifferent books was kept) and just flip thru it, whether to answer a specific question -- "why is food called 'food' and not 'brick?'"-- or just to find words I thought sounded funny. I vowed that some day I'd have my own copy of this monstrous huge book, and when the time came that I did, I spent the first day I had it doing exactly what I used to do in the third grade.

 

[tonyb]

Going on 30 years ago I bought secondhand the Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, the one with the two volumes and the magnifying glass, so a person can read that tiny type. I haven’t cracked either volume open in years.