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Straw hat troubles
Nearly 100 years ago, a fashion faux pas led to bedlam in New York City.
The Straw Hat Riot emerged from the idea that they should not be worn very far into September. (Men usually wore hats outdoors in those days, and straw was popular for summer.)
A sea of straw hats at a baseball game in about 1920. Bettmann, via Getty Images
Every year after the cutoff (which moved around a bit), men would lose their hats to rowdies, so newspapers printed reminders. On Sept. 13, 1922, with the date still two days away, some gangs went further. They knocked straw hats off men’s heads, stomping on them and even starting “straw hat bonfires.”
For days, the mobs “terrorized whole blocks,” The Times wrote. Some carried sticks with nails at the end to snatch hats. Others stood along train tracks and swiped hats off passing riders. There were injuries and arrests before the trouble died down.
Three years later, President Calvin Coolidge essentially put an end to the cutoff rule by going for a mid-September stroll in the “tabooed headgear.”
Nearly 100 years ago, a fashion faux pas led to bedlam in New York City.
The Straw Hat Riot emerged from the idea that they should not be worn very far into September. (Men usually wore hats outdoors in those days, and straw was popular for summer.)
A sea of straw hats at a baseball game in about 1920. Bettmann, via Getty Images
Every year after the cutoff (which moved around a bit), men would lose their hats to rowdies, so newspapers printed reminders. On Sept. 13, 1922, with the date still two days away, some gangs went further. They knocked straw hats off men’s heads, stomping on them and even starting “straw hat bonfires.”
For days, the mobs “terrorized whole blocks,” The Times wrote. Some carried sticks with nails at the end to snatch hats. Others stood along train tracks and swiped hats off passing riders. There were injuries and arrests before the trouble died down.
Three years later, President Calvin Coolidge essentially put an end to the cutoff rule by going for a mid-September stroll in the “tabooed headgear.”
