where can I get a proper cowboy hat?
 

Hi were over to California next week and I really fancy a cowboy hat to wear round the house naked after i've had a shower, swingin my water lasssoo.
Where can I get one? I want a proper fitted one not some gift shop rubbish!
what kind of price can I expect to pay?
We'll be visiting San Fran, Yosemite, Vegas, San Diego, Laguna, Santa Barbara and Marina.
thanks for your help.
Al

Look in the yellow pages of the phone book for a "western wear" store or a hat store. Either that or sneak up behind a proper cowboy, grab, and run really fast! Sort of the Bertie Wooster boat race idea, you know... ;-)

Lee Ann

Ace! Thanks

A good Stetson can run you $60-200.
Look for the real thing in SF on Grant
in North Beach at East West Leather.
<):)
R5

And will you post a picture of you in your new hat???

No. Please don't.

Try Crawford, TX

Laramie, Wyoming

Kalispell, Montana

At the Resistol Hat Factory in Garland, Tx... a suburb of Dallas.

If you're serious, see if Golden Gate Western Wear on Taylor St. is still open in SF. It's been a while. Used to swing by there before the Cow Palace in Daly City.

If you're not serious, search the Castro.

Resistol is the only "proper" brand for fur felt.

The higher the "X" (fur felt) number, the more expensive the hat.

e.g., I show my horse in a 20x diamond horseshoe Resistol that was $450, but I also have a 10x that was around $250 that I use as a back-up or when weather is not cooperating.

They make a Patron that is 100x and costs $1,000+ if you really want to dress to impress.

A good straw is between $60 - $125.

A straw is cooler and cheaper, and a Stetson is acceptable for straw.

Get your new hat properly shaped - the different shapes mean different styles of riding or work.

Whatever you get, no cutesy pins in it, and no silly big feathers - but most of all, it MUST be worn with boots.

A dead giveaway that someone is a dude when wearing a cowboy hat is when it's worn with sneakers - or God forbid - dress shoes.

Yeehaw! :)

Thanks for the Monday morning laugh and no thanks for the Monday morning visual. Way too early dude.

Water lassoo?

Hey Diana, that's very interesting. I thought we all *wanted* to look like a "dude"? Is dude a bad thing?

And when you say straw, do you mean straw like you'd wear to the beach, just shaped like a cowboy hat?

Hi joan! I'm still vexing my imagination with the water lasso thing too. Scary.

In cowboy-speak, "dude" is a not a good thing. The dictionary definition is "a city dweller unfamiliar with life on the range; especially : an Easterner in the West."

It's kinda the same thing as "city-slicker."

It's not majorly-derogatory - like "dime store cowboy." It's more of a nickname. The reason dude ranches are called that is to indicate it's a ranch or farm that caters to inexperienced folks who want to have a psuedo-cowboy adventure. (There are different levels of "dude-ness.")

A straw hat is the kind most people usually see in movies with people wearing cowboy hats. They are usually light-colored. The reason most people don't know they are straw is that they are extremely tightly-woven. The tighter the weave, generally the better and more expensive the hat.

The black or tan or brown hats are made of wool felt and varying amounts of (usually) beaver fur.

I've had some of my hats for 20+ years. A good one will last forever if it's stored and cared for properly. Never rest one on its brim... <):)

Let me add to Roncala's: and if this doesn't work, try the White House.

you said you are visiting 'marina', among other places, if it's marina del rey, do not waste your time there, go to malibu, huntington beach, hermosa beach or redondo beach instead.

A little over a year ago, my son needed a certain type of Western jeans for his tap number at dance recital. I went to a Western Wear store for the first time in my 23 years in Texas. The store was full of French tourists.

I say if you're not a real cowboy, you shouldn't wear a cowboy hat. Same as if you're not a Greek fisherman, you shouldn't wear a Greek fisherman's cap.

However, I am willing to bend a little on the naked lassoing thing. Sorry, poor choice of words.

Well, I consider myself to be a real cowgirl, and I don't mind if people wear cowboy hats if they want to.

(But there are some "rules" so as to not look kinda silly - like the 'must wear with boots' part.)

missypie, a few years ago, a VA company sent me and DH to Essen, Germany for a weekloing equine trade show because I speak German and know horses. They paid all expenses plus a salary.

We rode the subway to and from the show every day in our hats and boots and cowboy regalia - Wranglers, etc.

People stopped us to get their pictures taken with us and to ask us what we were doing, and just seemed to be so fascinated with the whole thing. It was fun.

The people at the trade show sold so many cowboy hats they had to have another shipment sent in.

Fredman, we've got 2 nights in Marina just outside Monterey.
Everyone else, WOW thanks. Not sure if I can stretch to boots as well and like a few of you have mentioned, I'm not a cowboy so i'm just goin to look stupid.
Weve got soft top for our trip so I only ever intended to wear it in the car.(oh and around the house when I'm drying off)
Kinda worried about damaging it on the flight back.
Al

Al, if you get a nice one and want to keep it looking good on the trip back, you can:

1.) Wear it
2.) Buy a "hat can" for it ($35 to $40) and carry it on (most western wear places will have it)

http://www.sheplers.com/cat.cfm?TID=075025

3.) Keep the box it comes in and carry it on

Since you're not going to go all out with boots and the like, you might as well not spend a whole lot of money on one since it's unlikely you'll get much future use out of it.

Have a fun trip! ;)

My husband bought a great beaver cowboy hat several years ago when we were in Colorado.

During our conversation with the shop owner, we found out that the hat was made in NJ, where we live!

Hey, so anyway, I bought a "gift shop rubbish" western hat during our most recent trip to Las Vegas so I could camp it up "a la white trash" and keep my head cool at the same time. The photos turned out fine.

We've had horses in the family, so I know what I'm saying w/o offending anyone in the biz.

I'm guessing that Allmoo's "water lasssoo" is the shower head on a flexible hose.

Go to Vegas during the PBR Finals and there will be about 100 dealers selling hats at the trade show. I *quality* hat could run you into the $500-600 range....that's hand made/shaped and styled like TRUE cowboys of the old west and not todays country western singers.

There's also a great dealer in downtown Durango on Main St....same prices/quality.

TripleSecDelay. Nope i meant my willy.

If you can tie a knot in it, you should come on over to Vegas, Al. ;-O

<Never rest one on its brim>

Amen to that. And never set one on a bed. Bad luck.

I vote for Resistol. Best hats ever.