Most inconvenient places to be a hat wearer

[Edward]

Yeah, first the hat and then the lampshades!

It's not a good night unless you get a traffic cone.

 

[Cattus Petasatus]

Oddly enough, my 2010 F150 pickup isn't real hat friendly with my cowboy hats, or even my Akubra slouch hat. The high, angled headrest doesn't like my wide brim hats. My truck does like my medium brim fedoras though.

Worst of all are restruants, like several here have already mentioned. A group of us went to Macaroni Grill last month for a birthday party. Initially I hooked my Fed IV on the back of my chair and just leaned forward. Since everywhere was a high traffic area the wait staff knocked in on the floor a couple times. Of course they apologized. I then put it in my lap but kept dropping bread crumbs on it. After looking around at all the ball caps on heads I gave up and popped mine back on my noggin.

 

[bowlerman]

I drive a Citroën Jumpy mini van. It has so much head room that I could easily wear a top hat while driving. And, amazingly, the head rest seems to clear the 83 mm Akubra Cattleman, the widest of my hats. Here in Israel it is considered completely acceptable to keep one's hat on at all times, including in restaurants, at events, in places of worship and even on crowded buses.

Israel is pretty much a hat-wearers' paradise.

deyoungaza, that is a very cool photo. I hope you all don't mind my quoting it. I confess I have always wanted a (Chasidic?) hat like the one third from the left that appears to be a flat crowned velour with an upturned brim. Alas, I have no religious justification to acquire one!

 

[KingAndrew]

Bowlerman, that's a Homburg. Although it is very popular in the Orthodox Jewish community, there is no religious limitation on wearing one yourself. You can even get them in colors other than black. That one is a really nice looking felt and I like the ribbon color.

I find that lots of modern cars make it hard to get in and out without bumping my head, let alone my hat (I am 6'3"). However, I can always put the hat in my lap or on the seat for the duration of the ride. In restaurants, I usually set my hat on top of my wife's purse. My lap also serves me well at the movies, although at symphony concerts I do stick my hat under the seat (the concert hall is much cleaner than most movie theaters). I've always wanted an opera hat and someday I will justify buying it for that purpose.

I'm happily married now, but I wore hats back when I was a single college guy attending lots of parties. I would wear the hat to the party, then end up holding it inside (I follow the old rules about hats inside). However, although women were always interested in my hat, I never had anyone treating it like a cheap prop. Quite a few did get to try it on, but that was just a great way for us to flirt. Oddly, my hats in those days were relatively cheap wool or straw models. I still carry the hat at indoor events, although I love a good outdoor party, where I can keep it on. My own wedding was outside, so I could enjoy a legitimate chance to wear my top hat for several hours straight.

This year I'm teaching English in China and what I find difficult is that my primary school students are into all my stuff. In America my students naturally didn't touch anything on the teacher's desk. But my kids here are so excited about their foreign teacher, and have such a different set of expectations about what they can touch, that I have to put my hat up in a cabinet during class. Otherwise, they will all want to try it on to look like me. To be fair, I also have to guard my pencils, papers, books, and any props involved in our lessons (like plastic fruits or animals for vocabulary practice). But school is the trickiest place for my hat right now. I do get lots of compliments from the other teachers, though.

Andrew

 

[Joe Rotax]

Some restaurants / bars can be a problem. I also have a 2010 150 and the hat just goes on the dash because the headrest is high and leans forward to where it just about hits the back of my head.

 

[Alive'n'Amplified]

My wife and I went to a show last night. An older woman wearing a wide hat sitting in front of my wife made it very inconvenient for her to see part of the stage. I knew enough to take mine off, however.

I even asked her if she would kindly remove the hat so that we could see. She looked at me like I was on crack.

 

[hatsRme]

deyoungaza, that is a very cool photo. I hope you all don't mind my quoting it. I confess I have always wanted a (Chasidic?) hat like the one third from the left that appears to be a flat crowned velour with an upturned brim. Alas, I have no religious justification to acquire one!

Hey Jeff;
I think this article came from a lounger:
http://www.wernercohn.com/hats.html
It speaks to the traditions of Hassidic hats, styles, etc.; even how one can be identified with a specific sect by his hat. Then, when you've made your choice here is one of the preeminent makers,
http://www.fersterhats.com/product/Brandonlino-Marriage‰2E-Code
or check out Krausz.com when the site is back up.

Just be sure to get the correct one so as not to start territorial gang wars in your neighborhood from opposing sects.

 

[hatophile]

You have to be careful about wearing black hats in Ohio so you don't offend the Amish Mafia.

My 1999 F250 is good for hats, as is my Honda Element.
On our trip out west recently, I held my Stetson in my lap on the plane. It's OK as long as you don't spill anything.
Restaurants are universally bad for hats, I like the old-timey ones that still have hat racks or hooks, but you don't see them much around where I live anymore, so usually I put it in an empty chair.

 

[Historyteach24]

I've started just wearing mine at the restaurant if they don't provide a place to put it I'm going to put on my head

 

[memphislawyer]

I've started just wearing mine at the restaurant if they don't provide a place to put it I'm going to put on my head

Same here, and I don't feel too bad if it is a chain restaraunt, like Outback, Chilis. I see ballcaps all the time. Now, I will try to put it in a chair or the rest of the booth seat if at all possible but if not, I'll leave it on. Someplace super nice, like Ruth's Chris, I will usually be able to get a coat and hat check or at least have someone to take it for me.

 

[C44Antelope]

Worst place I've struggled with my hat, was the grave side portion of a funeral. Of course I was trying to hold a 3 year old too, so that probably had more to do with it than the actual maneuvering of the hat.

 

[danofarlington]

Very interesting about the Hasidic hats. Parenthetically I thought Hasidim were Orthodox. I guess not. Anyway, the article contributes to my education on hats in that community.

 

[hatophile]

hatsRme,

Thanks for that article on the religious hats. That clears up a question I had about a Huckel hat for sale on Etsy,
it appears to be a beaver Hasidic style hat.