Sneezing down First Street as the pear blossoms float down on my Panama, I pull out a Kleenex and pause in front of Avant Garden which is looking fresh as a daisy after a massive volunteer weeding/cleanup operation. I give the Flonase a blast as I spy the very first purple blossom on the sprawling Arneson wisteria. It must be spring.
Had a bit of a kerfuffle getting my Benicia Herald recently when a new carrier took over the route. After missing papers two times in a row, I found them in front of my garage around the corner from my condo. Scooping them up, I threw them on my unmade bed. As I did a giant black spider darted out. I shreiked. Couldn’t tell if it was a black widow or not as I didn’t have my glasses on. I threw the paper back over the spider and ran into the kitchen for a Tupperware container.
Breathless back in the bedroom, I positioned the Tupperware and cautiously pulled up the paper. There he was. Fast as lighting, I clamped down the container but missed him by a fraction of an inch as he escaped under the covers. “Oh, swell. Great!” I thought. “Now I have a spider in my bed. I’ll have to sleep on the couch.” I tore apart the bed, but by this time the big bug had found a new hiding place — where, I have no idea. I’m terrified of big spiders — Arachnophobia in medical parlance.
The next day I dropped by the Benicia Herald office and spoke to Pat, the Circulation Manager. “I don’t want to complain, but the new carrier is delivering my paper to my garage which doesn’t read the paper. What’s more, there was a giant spider in it now loose in my bedroom.”
“Why, that’s the first complaint I’ve gotten. I’ll leave him a note.” She got out a green form, filled it out and at the bottom wrote — “Keep your spiders to yourself.” Since then the paper has been beautifully rolled and placed at my front door. Thanks, Pat! In the meantime, the carrier left the bill. I toyed with the idea of putting a fake spider in the envelope but it would have taken an extra stamp. I sleep fitfully these days.
First Street now has its own haberdashery — The Hat Bar: Baxter Landry Custom Goods. Tucked in between Benicia Fitness and TwoDays Jewelry is a “haberdashery for all.”
I sat down with owner Anne Marie last week in the cozy VIP area of her new shop and learned about materials, styles, shapes, and sizes. Having a big head, as it were, I have always had to wear men’s hats.
“It doesn’t look that big,” she said pulling out the measuring ribbon.
Turns out I’m an extra-long oval, which means sort of watermelon shaped. Most manufacturers produce only regular oval hats, ignoring the 20-30% of the population with long oval heads As for extra-long ovals, they’re in a class by themselves. To further complicate matters, face shape is a different kettle of fish. Trying to visualize my extra-long oval with an oblong-shaped face is a bridge too far. A horse comes to mind. I need help.
The child of Cuban immigrants, Anne Marie’s parents and grandparents fled Havana with nothing but what they wore. “They couldn’t even keep their wedding rings,” Anne Marie said. “My grandmother was a huge influence, teaching me how to sew and do needlework. Dad was an engineer who convinced me that I could build anything.”
“I was into accessories even as a kid. Always a curvy girl, the most fashionable things I felt confident in were accessories, shoes, and hats.” Her work at Puma for 20 years running a massive region in Southern California and Arizona developed her eye for putting things together.
Everything changed three years ago when she was diagnosed with a combination of long Covid and Lyme disease. Immobile in bed for 20-hours day, she was chronically exhausted, could barely breathe, her vision was failing, and she developed neuropathy and alopecia. “Crying in bed for weeks, I thought I was going to die. What would I be leaving my daughter?”
She asked herself — “What would Grandmother be doing right now? Not in bed feeling sorry for herself. So, I got out the needle and thread and started beading bracelets. A friend with some some high- end clientele needed labels for her hats, so I bought a laser and got to work. After a few days I looked at the pile of hats and said to myself — ‘I’m home.’” She proceeded to open a small shop in Martinez before moving here.
“What brands do you carry?” I asked. “Our focus is not on the name but the quality — high quality natural fibers. Wear and tear, but also style is what excites me. We have wool, beaver, alpaca, rabbit wool, and an assortment of straws — wheat straws, Ecuadorian toquilla palm straw, and Toyo (paper) straws. As for brands, Stetson has been around for over 150 years and is a personal favorite as is The San Francisco Hat Company. I’m focused on keeping hats out of landfills and encouraging lifetime wear.”
Anne Marie selects a fedora. “This is a classic Stetson Stratoliner designed in 1940s for ‘the man on the move.’ It’s what the Rat Pack wore. A typical fedora has a pinched front, a soft brim, short to wide, and an indented crown. “I like to wear mine pulled down in front for a snappy look,” she said. A good hat can become a signature — think Josephine Baker, Queen Elizabeth, Humphrey Bogart, Jackie Kennedy, Georgia O’Keefe, and Leonard Cohen.
Other services include private shopping events, workshops, a charm and hatband bar, and hat restoration. “I get such personal satisfaction from restoring old hats that may have been lost or damaged.” A grand opening sometime in April will inaugurate a new courtyard for shows, showers, and soirees.
Ask her about Baxter Landry for whom the store is named. Hint: his hats have two openings in the top for his ears. No, not a rabbit! https://www.hatbarblcg.com
Letters From Benicia 