Working Men's Hats

[jake_fink]

That's a great photo (you seem to have a lot of cool old photos) and, indeed, a truly great, well-loved, well-worn hat. What the working man wore in days gone by is quite a bit different from what they wear now. There is a picture in the city archives here (in Toronto) of men working on the sewer installation - probably early twenties - and they are all wearing dark - though very dirty - suits, some in vest and shirt sleeves, ties and hats.

:cheers1:

 

[Matt Deckard]

The more pictures the merrier.

 

[jamespowers]

Wow! First it was Lindberg and now it is the Hoover Dam. Geez, any more pictures of relatives at the right place at the right time---like Iwo or some other thing? Your family looks like it had its share of interesting times. I would be sure to scan all those photos or have them professionally preserved some way for future generations. That old house must have been a family museum---just like my grandmother's was. I wish I saved more when I had the chance. :cry:

Regards to all,

J

P.S. Is it true what I hear about the Hoover Dam? Did it really take fifty years for all that cement to cure because of the thickness of the walls?

 

[Big Man]

This is a little fuzzy, but I think you can see it clearly enough. I think it's interesting that the "older gentleman" in the picture are wearing older style hats. I have another one of these photos, taken at the same time and place (Hoover Dam project), where the big guy on the left (with the frying pan) is wearing a really cool looking snap brim fedora. Unfortunatly, the copy I made of that one is too out of focous to be seen clearly.

I'm lucky to have a bunch of old photos from my family. I was able to "rescue" a lot of them (pictures of great uncles/aunts, etc.) from my great aunt's house after she passed away a number of years ago. The person who "got everything" didn't want any of "that old junk" so I wasmore than happy to take it off her hands. Too bad that many of the people in most of the old photos are unknown to me, and there isn't anyone left who would know who they are.

I've also got a few really great photos of this great uncle on an "adventyre" in 1925. Really great stuff. He must have been quite a fun loving individual.

 

[Big Man]

Wow! First it was Lindberg and now it is the Hoover Dam. Geez, any more pictures of relatives at the right place at the right time...

Those are about the only "famous" old photos I've run across so far, but I do have an interesting story concerning my great uncle Brisco and the second Joe Lewis/Max Schemeling fight.

My great uncle, who moved from NC to California in the 1920's, came to New York to see the second Lewis/Schemeling fight. According to my Dad (who told the story to me many times), uncle Brisco said: "I went to see Lewis fight Schemeling and before the fight startede got up to go to the bathroom. By the time I got back it was all over! I missed the whole thing!"

Great uncle Brisco had traveled all the way across country to see the fight of the century and had missed it because he was in the bathroom! I'm sure he wasn't happy about it at the time, but over the years I am told he had a great time telling this story on himself.

 

[jamespowers]

Well, I guess you won't find any pictures of that then.

Regards to all,

J

 

[Hondo]

BigMan: Thanks for sharing, some good pictures, tells you how the times have changed, yesterday it was beat up old hats, todays its the baseball cap.

Oohhhh "Emma Peel" Hee,hee me too dude

 

[Big Man]

Well, I guess you won't find any pictures of that then. J

No, but I do have one of my great uncle's wife (I suppose he took the picture) ready to board an airplane. On the back of the photo it's dated "June, 1938". Could it be ...

 

[Johnnysan]

Great photos, Big Man! In addition to my love of hats, I also collect and use old woodworking tools. The photo below is from a handbook on masonry dated 1945. Note the two workmen floating a concete slab wearing fedoras! Quite a change from the attire that you'll see on a job site these days.

I consider myself fortunate to have grown up at a time when many of these tradesmen were still among us. Proper attire and neatness of appearance were considered benchmarks among many of the trades. A tradesman who was careful in his appearance was generally thought to be careful in his work. A slovenly man was looked down upon as a common laborer who took neither pride in himself or his work. This is also why many painters wore white from head to toe.

It's amazing - and a little sad - to see how times have changed.

<img src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y50/Johnnysan/workmen/workmen_01.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">

 

[Feraud]

Great photo's Big Man! I especially like that first photo of you great uncle. I have a Stetson with taper going on like that! A wonderfully used hat!

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Oscar Tong]

Thanks for sharing your photographs, Big Man. I've been wondering for awhile now what kinds of hats a working man wore in the past. I didn't think a working man would wear a fedora while doing hard work, though. Well, you learn something new every day, right?

Was anybody here once a regular viewer or fan of TechTV (once known as ZDTV)? I thought Big Man's Great Uncle Brisco looked a bit like TechTV's Leo Laporte, computer expert and experienced radio and television host, in the first photograph.

 

[Matt Deckard]

Back then fedoras were the everyday hat and were easy to get ahold of. If you didn't have a hat you weren't dressed. Today that is to many an alien concept. Many fedoras were worn as people wear ballcaps today. As time went on the Fedora became a more formal hat. I still wear mine doing everything from camping to fishing to hard labor.

 

[Zach R.]

Was anybody here once a regular viewer or fan of TechTV (once known as ZDTV)?

Which is now part of G4? :rage:

They massacred that channel, there is nothing left of what made TechTV great besides X-Play. Now everything is about "video games" and all of the shows now have the MTV rejects, people that care nothing about their subject, project a horrible fake enthusiasm, and are only their because they have a pretty face.

 

[Andykev]

Your hat was part of the "uniform". Not ball caps!

When Hoover Dam was built, there were no "hard hats". Some men applied some type of tar to fedora hats to stiffen them. Later, rules changed and safety equipment came into play. At least that is what the program "Modern Marvels" said.

Oh I remember when the milkman had his hat, the police man (not the ball caps they have today), the taxi guy, the doorman, the butcher, and most laborers like carpenters and so on had on Fedora's. Times have changed.

 

[Biltmore Bob]

Did not go outside without your hat.

 

[shamus]

I think tradesman should have their each original hats too, like they use to.

Dress the part.

Now days the only "tradesman" wearing hats for the job are sports. A kid today can tell you the difference between a football helmet, baseball cap, Bike helmet... But Police, Taxi? nodda.

 

[jamespowers]

Fedoras were indeed the everyman hat. A banker might have worn a homburg and a business tycoon might have worn a tophat but all of them wore a fedora at one time or another.
You have to remember that all of these hats originated as "work" hats. The bowler originated as a gamekeepers hat. He wore it when he was running after poachers and it protected his head from low lying branches and brush. The same is true for the tophat and homburg. The tophat was sort of a crash helmet of its time. One would use it because the common belief that they would rather crush their hat in a fall from a horse than their skull.
The tophat, bowler and Homburg were much stiffer at their inception. The first bowlers were ordered from the Locke brothers with the stipulation that an average sized man could stand on it without crushing it! Of course the average sized man then might have been about 120 pounds.
The fedora was always a soft felt hat from 1868 on. Its popularity rose and fell over the years but the first world war made it much more popular than it ever had been before. This was due to a shortage of the flakes used to make stiffener. In those days it was derived from a South American beetle. The shortage caused a shortage in the production of new stiff hats and the fedora took its place as the everyman hat.

Regards to all,

J

 

[Brad Bowers]

... the fedora took its place as the everyman hat.

And now it's just for exceptional men. And women!

Brad

 

[K.D. Lightner]

I found a photo of my father as a young man (he started working when he was 15, lied about his age) and he wore the wonderful newsboy caps, like the one displayed in the first photo on this thread.

Lots of working-class guys wore those caps, not to mention most boys.

karol

 

[K.D. Lightner]

Check this out, even the down-and-out dressed better than most folks do today:

http://www.nps.gov/ozar/Depression Food Line.JPG


karol