Section 3. Apparel
Nobody who knows me would ever confuse me with a dapper dresser – the best description of my choice of attire would probably be “unassuming classic nerd”. But there are two exceptions to this generality.
The first is my love of hats, for which there are two categories: 1) an aim for utility, and 2) my idea of fashion.
1) As a kid, except for the occasional baseball cap I went bareheaded. But this all changed after January 18, 1971, when the oil tankers Arizona Standard and Oregon Standard collided in San Francisco Bay, resulting in an 800,000 gallon oil spill. The spill spread north beyond the Bay and impacted the Pacific shore of Marin County, where a lot of people made their way to help clean up the mess. I was then a senior in high school, and except for illnesses, had never missed a day of school. I also had never been interested in any volunteer event, but I was able to wrangle permission from both my parents and the school to take the day off and help out as well. Since this was in winter, and the chances of getting messy when dealing with oil were quite high, my Dad gave me an old, dark brown, wool cap of his, reminiscent of the one worn by Michael Parks in the television show Then Came Bronson (Fig. 7.3.1). My brother had a car, and he and I drove up to Marin, looking for where we could help out. We didn’t do much on that day other than to throw hay into the water (to soak up the oil), but I became enamored of this brown cap, and I wore it faithfully for many years thereafter.
My other “utility” headgear includes several baseball style caps when I attend Cal football and rugby games – my prize cap is a retro one I inherited from Carolynn’s Dad, that has “Cal” on the front, “Go Bears” on either side, and a bear paw print on top (Fig. 7.3.2). Of course I wear helmets when biking, and when I was still hang gliding, I would wear a helmet especially designed for that sport – festooned on the back with the stickers that allows one to fly at Fort Funston (Fig. 7.3.3). Then there the one I use when insect collecting – it has a short visor, a neck flap to help prevent sunburn, and a ventilation mesh that aids cooling (Fig. 7.3.4). I continuously stick my head inside my net to search for any specimens that I may have swept up, so it has gotten very filthy, but it is perhaps the most useful hats I’ve ever worn.
2) In the early 70’s I acquired a straw hat (aka a “boater”) (Fig. 7.3.5). My favorite memory associated with this was in 1973, when I attended the movie The Sting with Kakie Hanson and her family at one of the Century Theaters near the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose. I was greatly surprised and pleased when I saw that the characters impersonating the feds all wore the same type of hat. Soon thereafter, I acquired a number of other hats. First was my Dad’s old gray fedora (more on this below), as well as several others that didn’t get much usage. The latter included a deerstalker that my folks gave me for Christmas (they knew I loved the Sherlock Holmes stories), but sadly I rarely found a good reason to wear it (except when playing the game “murder”, and the hat was worn by whoever played the detective). During my freshman year at Berkeley, I was surprised as hell when I was walking up Durant Avenue and recognized Dan McGrath (a classmate from LGHS) sitting at a table at an open window at the Café Renaissance. We chatted a bit, and I mentioned I liked the hat he was wearing – a gray felt top hat with a small orange feather in the hatband (Fig. 7.3.6). So he gave it to me – just like that. Then, as another Christmas present, my mom gave me a light gray bowler (Fig. 7.3.7) – a nifty piece, but like the one I got from Dan, it was hard to find a reason to wear it, as well as a karakul style cap with a fur brim – which was a good hat for cold weather. Then I received a gray flat cap (probably also a Christmas present), which I took to wearing daily, and have worn that style ever since – I’m now on my fourth one (Fig. 8). And since I am an avid Cal fan, there is no way I could ever wear red and white, so during the Christmas season, I sport a Santa hat with my alma mater colors (Fig. 7.3.9).
My second, unusual “fashion” choice can be traced back to my Dad. Back in New Jersey he had a gray fedora (Fig. 7.3.10) and on Christmas Eve of 1973, he (aka “Big Al”), Ned (aka “Bad Eye”) and I (aka “Fingers’) dressed up in black shirts and white ties. Dad wore his fedora and an old blue pinstripe suit, Ned carried a violin case, while we all wore white carnations in our labels – together we were the very picture of gangsters straight out of the TV show The Untouchables and we paraded around City Hall getting all sorts of stares (Fig. 7.3.11). Ever since then I enjoyed posing as someone from the rackets (Figs. 7.3.12, 7.3.13, 7.2.14), which earned me my moniker “Big Louie” in college when I wore my Dad’s pinstripe suit and fedora (Fig. 7.3.15). Inside the latter’s hatband I later found a note referring to the First National Bank in either New York or New Jersey (Fig. 7.3.16), and I’ve kept it there ever since as an interesting piece of memorabilia. The one time I did NOT dress up as a gangster (ever to my regret) was when I was unable to think up of a reason to pose in front of a building on Ensenada Ave in Berkeley (just north of Solano – it is now “Happy Hour Fitness”) that, based on the business name, sure looked to me like a front for the mob (Fig. 7.3.17).
