The Vintage & Handmade Market 
Mad Men's behatted Don Draper (Jim Hamm)
A hat can make a bald man appear like he has hair, a short man look taller and a funky head shape look, well, a lot less funky. A hat can even make Jon Hamm look handsomer. Who’d a thunk it possible?
I speak of trilbies and fedoras and even newsboys, not of sport caps that are erroneously called hats. A hat is a dignified statement, not a costume or uniform and not simply a shield from the sun (although that’s a nice side effect). Frankly, baseball caps are for baseball. And maybe yard work. But, honestly, there are better hats for that pursuit, as well.
A classic hat goes exceedingly well with beards and mustaches, and since beards and mustaches are everywhere, bring on the hats!
Most everyone has driven by the Village Hat Shop (3821 Fourth Ave., Hillcrest, www.villagehatshop.com) and probably noticed the feathers, sequins and fur that overwhelm the fancy-lady styles in the windows. And while they do carry such atrocities, they also carry hats with a capital H. Have you ever looked in and wondered why it would take five or six people, working frantically all at once, to run a small hat shop? It’s because Village Hat Shop is a huge online purveyor of hats, and the operation is based here in San Diego. The store itself is heavy on Jaxon, the in-house brand, and shy on almost everything else featured on the website. But ask and you may receive. A hat is something best tried on before laying down the cash, after all. Still, the website does rock hard with articles on “Hats in Art” and videos on how to size up your head and surveys of iconic hats. It’s simply a wealth of hat dogma and lore.
Village Hat Shop may be the biggest, but Hatworks (433 E St., Downtown, 619-234-0457) is the oldest. Though it has changed hands, it’s been a hat shop since 1922. And, honestly, it has a far bigger selection on hand than Village—not to mention a wickedly knowledgeable staff. Old-school favorites like Bailey, Henschel, Stetson and Don Draper-favorite Dobbs (now owned by Stetson) sit next to the new wave of modernized vintage looks from Oceanside company Brixton, as well as Goorin Block and UBI. There are newsboys, ivy caps, fedoras with varying crowns, Kangols galore and trilbies, which is not only a cool hat, but a cool word, too. The brand Scala mimics a lot of the Stetson looks and other classic styles for a fraction of the cost. Of course, they aren’t made like a Stetson, which contains a top-secret amount of some sort of mystery hair in its proprietary wool felt, giving it a true Mad Men look and feel.
There are some awfully nice pork pies here, too, which, to my mind, used to be cool. It’s the hat of Buster Keaton, great jazz men and Duckie from Pretty in Pink, after all. Sadly, Fergie has ruined this look for me. And if you already own your grandpa’s hat, Hatworks will clean and reblock (aka, re-shape) it for a reasonable fee.
For a hat that may one day be admired by your own grandkids, you can’t go wrong with a Pendleton. And the place to find a Pendleton hat in San Diego is the old-guy store (middle-aged-man store?) The Highlander, located in Grossmont Center mall. Amid the racks and racks of Tommy Bahama shirts, you’ll find much of the Pendleton line, including dashing derbies and felt dress hats.
But no matter where your hat comes from, Frank Sinatra had a famous bit of advice: “Cock your hat; angles are attitude.”
Lord, the man knew hats.
Want to know where to find something? Write to clea@sdcitybeat.com.
