Kentucky hats?

[tandmark]

Howdy,

I spent the holidays at my sister's place in the Bluegrass, with a side-trip to Louisville. Kentucky is a lot like it was when I moved away, but more developed. It was easy enough to find Bourbon distilleries, restaurants serving catfish & hushpuppies with greens on the side, horse farms, country music radio stations, mint julep goblets being sold in "dry" counties, all sorts of Wildcat blue apparel, and even Hot Brown sandwiches.

But the one thing I couldn't find, in the state that my family hails from, was a place selling decent hats. Not even in antique malls. The only hat I found that was worth taking a second look at, was a cheap straw gambler-style hat on offer at the Jim Beam distillery. Complete with a Beam logo on the pugaree.

Where are the hat shops in Kentucky, for goodness' sake? Anyone know?

Cheers,
Mark

 

[Boris K]

.

Welcome, Tandmark!

There is some information here.

 

[Rick Blaine]

Where are the hat shops in Kentucky?

Cincinnati ? :eusa_doh:

 

[citRon]

Ahhh....Louisville.
I live in Middletown, a suburb-ish. I've seen historic photos from the 30's and 40's, and a lot from the great flood. What do they all have in common? Signs for hat stores! 4th street downtown used to have 6-8 hatteries in a 3 block stretch. Broadway was full of custom tailors and hat stores. Sadly now, they are lottery ticket, pre-paid cell phone card and cigarette shops. The only 'hat' stores left cater to um, well, a different crowd. They sell baseball caps in custom colors so the customer can still wear their favorite team's cap, and not clash between their 'blues' and 'reds', if you catch my drift.
I too will be checking out Gus' place in Cincy, thanks for the info.

 

[Vardeman Sneed]

citRon,

I found a couple of places in Louisville that sell dress hats. Mostly cheap in price and cheap in make. (including Macy's, and a couple of men's shops.)

I did, however, find that Rodes (Brownsboro Rd across from the Holiday Manor) sells dress hats by Christy, and they can order hats by Hobbs and Stetson. They did not have any Hobbs and Stetson hats on display.

Bob