Obama Has A Paul’s Hat In His Hands: Will He Wear It?

Monday, February 20th, 2012

Brrr

1 cup of coffee

As some of you may know, last Thursday President Obama was in town for a campaign dinner, guests including Al Green, Booker T, and Charlie Musselwhite. The location of this dinner happens to be at our friend and customer’s house. He ran into us at the Film Noir Festival last month, mentioned this, and said he’d like present Obama with one of our hats. No big deal.

BIG DEAL.

So we dropped off a beautiful black North Beach with a grey ribbon, the bow had a twisted center, at the mansion where the dinner was to take place. “We gotta help get the man some style,” said our customer, who owns around 15 Paul’s Hat Works hats. I asked him what the prep has been like for this event, he said people were coming over all week scoping out his house, checking the roof, etc.

The gals and I crossed our fingers all day on Thursday, hoping to hear soon what the news was going to be, this could change our lives at Paul’s Hat Works, or….not.

This morning during our weekly morning meeting we got an email! He said Obama thought he looked good in the hat and “would wear it during the second term”! We are told that our customer and Obama both took a picture in PHW hats, and the photo will eventually get to us but it could take a few months.

We were all super excited, something like this could really be grand payoff for us, and sure enough, I ran to my car to get something, and when I got back the other 3 Pauls looked even more pumped, and read me the line mentioning our hat and Obama in the datebook section of the SF Chronicle.

“Shut the F*** up.” was my response.

So there you go folks, we have put a hat on the president, the number one person who every hat shop in the history of the United States tries to get a hat on! We hope that he wears it before his second term…If you see him out and about with a black hat on, it’s most likely our handmade, beaver felt fedora.

Hats and the president of the U.S. is quite the subject, in fact there’s a whole book about JFK and why he didn’t wear a hat and how it contributed to the eventual demise of the hat as a functional, everyday item.

Not only is this good news for us at Paul’s Hat Works, but it’s good news for all hat shops and all hat aficionados out there, hats could come back because one man put a hat on for one photo.

The power of a single moment continues to astound us.

~ Paul 1

Bookworms For The Big Apple! Tomorrow Night!

Friday, January 13th, 2012

Sunny but brisk

1 cup of coffee

So tomorrow is a fabulous event that we are really excited about, a very different sort of party than what we usually do. Here are the details:

Description

A fundraiser for Paul’s Hat Works second store launch and for the restoration of Historic Firehouse 8. (www.indiegogo.com/phw-in-ny)

Hosted by the lady hatters of Paul’s Hat Works and the forces behind Historic Firehouse 8: A lovely event featuring some of Paul’s Hat Works’ and the Bay Area’s favorite local writers and personalities. Come in your black and white newsprint best, bring a friend, and enjoy appetizers and an evening with some of the quirkiest characters in town! Raffle, tarot reading, merchandise booth, and more!

Readings by:

John Law
Alia Volz
Chicken John
David Sinaiko
Zedekiah Schild
Bud E. Luv
& more!

Live music featuring the Dimestore Dandy!
$25.00 in advance. Get your tickets! http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/219409
Sliding Scale at the door: $10-$35
More information: www.hatworksbypaul.wordpress.com

www.firehouse-8.com

Chicken John: http://bookoftheis.com/ , http://chickenjohn.com/
John Law: http://johnlaw.laughingsquid.com/
Bud E. Luv: http://budeluv.com/
Dimestore Dandy: http://www.thefriskyfrolics.com/
Alia Volz: http://www.literarydeathmatch.com/

Hope to see you there!

~ Paul

Happy New York! I mean, Happy New Year!

2 January

Warm weather all around

Coffee, coffee, and a window display relating to coffee

Howdy friends and fans!  It’s a new year, which means it’s a new month, which means it’s a BRAND NEW window display at Paul’s Hat Works.  Our friend, John McKinley drew cartoons of the Paul’s and we have posted them almost life-size in our window this month.  They are SO cute, if I do say so myself.  He is a talented man, and he earned his very own custom- made hat for the beautiful pictures he drew us.  Check out more of his work here.

We also put tons of burlap sacks from Ritual Coffee in our window display because we at Paul’s Hat Works, are loyal Ritual Coffee drinkers.  To top it all off, we have posted New Yorker magazines all over the walls, to keep New York on everyone’s mind that walks by.  We are still climbing the ladder to reach our fund-raising goal, so if you haven’t yet, please do consider helping us out. PHW-in-NYC!

2012 is going to be our best year yet, and I think it’s going to be all of your best year yet too!  So, cheers to that, and come on by for some coffee next time your in the ‘hood.

xoxo

Paul #3

happy-new-year 2012

4 Pauls: Before, During, After

Tuesday, December 27^th, 2011

Cold but sunny, dark out now

2 cups of coffee, about to have another, never enough!

I’m currently sitting backstage during the theatre show that the Pauls and I run every December, at least we have for the last 6 years. Paul 4 is running lights and Paul 2 is running sound. Did you know that before we bought Paul’s Hat Works the four of us did a lot of theatre and themed events? Did you know that Paul 3 has been a partial owner of a grocery coop for the last 5 years and her last day is on Friday because she’s going to focus hard on Paul’s Hat Works so we can make this New York thing happen? Did you know that Paul 4 teaches at preschool 3 days a week? And myself and Paul 2 teach high school sewing classes? Did you know I take costume design gigs from time to time for theatre and tv? Did you know that Paul 4 is passionate about building free haunted houses for the community? Did you know that Paul 2 wants to produce theatre again? That Paul 3 wants to be an HIV/Aids nurse, and Paul 1 takes as many ballet and jazz classes as possible in between everything?

The four of us had so many dreams and interests before Paul’s Hat Works appeared, and we still do. However, human beings aren’t capable of doing absolutely everything, or at least not everything at the same time. So, since taking over the shop, we have learned how to incorporate our other interests into our business, or use our shop to help out the other communities we’re involved with.

We throw fun, free, themed events at our store where we integrate and expose local artists and musicians to our customers, friends, and community members. We lend our sewing workshop to those making costumes for haunted houses and other events. In the basement of our hat shop we have a large inventory of props, costumes, and set pieces that we lend out to whomever, whenever. We have a garden in the backyard that we invite any green thumbs to participate in and take advantage of. We always have a full pot of coffee and welcome any friend, neighbor, or stranger to take a load off, hang out, have a cup of coffee, and talk.

We are not just a hat shop, we are a community space and a group dedicated to the entertainment, the promotion, and the continuation of other local artists and community members, and it is this feeling and sense of community and of circles upon circles intersecting that we hope to bring with us to New York alongside our hats.

As of now, we are exactly a week into our campaign and we have raised $1,780, one fourteenth of what we need to get us to New York. But I am not discouraged. It’s still a significant amount, and I trust that we will get what we need to get there because it simply needs to happen. I think we will benefit and learn a lot from New York, and New York will benefit from and enjoy the quirky qualities that we will bring.

We stand for quality goods, for handmade items, for integrity in product, for community, for fun, and for giving. We stand for the propagation of all these things. Do you?

~ Paul 1

Santaland!

22 December

More than three cups of coffee…

Very, very warm and sunny!

TONIGHT is the opening night of SANTALAND DIARIES!  This is a hilarious holiday show the gals and I help run every year.  This evening we will be having an opening gala with champagne (thank goodness) and mini chocolate cream pies (thank goodness). 

The show runs through the 30th of the year, so please do come on down to the Eureka Theatre and laugh and laugh and laugh with us.

Oh, and by the way, did we mention we are raising money to open a second location in NYC?  If everyone we know donates $20, we can make it– so PLEASE please please consider digging into your pockets and throwing $20 to us this holiday season.  I’ll give you extra wine in your cup if you come to the concession stand at the Eureka Theatre as a bonus!

Buy tickets to Santaland here:  http://events.sfgate.com/san-francisco-ca/events/show/223850565-santaland-diaries-10th-year

Donate money to PHW in NYC here: http://www.indiegogo.com/PHW-in-NY

Cheers!

xoxo,

Paul #3

 

NY: Support & Skepticism

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Sunny but brisk

No coffee yet, but bring it on!

It is day 3 of our campaign to raise money to help get us a second store front in NYC. While I’m trying to keep this adventure in the forefront of my mind, it is December 22nd after all, and competing thoughts of last minute gifts, last minute hats needing to be ready by Christmas, packing for the 4 nights I’ll be gone for Christmas, and duties from my other jobs, keep pushing and shoving NY out of the way. The Holiday season is notorious for inspiring people to say yes to everything, to double and triple book their days, to do way too much than their human frames are capable of.

Well, yesterday, my human frame freaked out a bit. With everything piled upon everything and threatening to topple, I may have panicked a bit. Now I pride myself on being a very stable, dependable source of confidence in all endeavors, so this all felt a bit foreign to me. What to do, how to get back on my feet and feel confident again? 1) breathe, 2) complete one simple task at a time, 3) know that when I wake up in the morning everything will feel normal again, 4) confess my fears, doubts, and weight of everything to someone 5) work until I can’t work anymore.

So, what did I do? All of those things. For while a lot of people support us in this endeavor and believe that we can do it, there are definitely those who have come forward and have a lot of skepticism and in short, think we’re crazy. I felt so stuck in the middle between this dichotomy of support and skepticism that I felt like my arms were going to be ripped off.

All of what everyone has been saying is valid and good for us to hear, but all I really needed to hear was from my fellow Pauls, who confirmed and reassured my torn feelings by saying aloud that yes, we are crazy. Yes we do too much at times, yes, we make a big mess in our workshop but it always gets cleaned up, and yes, a lot of people won’t understand this or know how to react, and all of this is really a bunch of repeat feelings everyone, including us, has already felt when we first decided to buy a hat shop 2.5 years ago.

Ahhhhh. Ok. Than it’s ok that I feel a little bonkers.

And it’s ok that you feel a little bonkers.

But we’re going to do it, we’re going to open a store in NYC.

~ Paul 1

PAUL’S HAT WORKS IN NYC? YES!

19 December

Coffee, lots and lots of coffee

So, have you heard? We are trying to open up a shop in New York City March 2012!  Now, don’t worry, we aren’t leaving San Francisco– we’ll just ALSO be in New York.  Why? How? What?!

Well, we started a campaign on the website indiegogo and here is the link:

http://www.indiegogo.com/PHW-in-NY

Every dollar helps, so pull out those wallets and throw $10 or a million bucks to the ladies of PHW. 

Just when you thought we were settling down and getting predictable, here we are, opening a shop in NYC. Ta-da! We love to keep things exciting here at PHW, so this holiday season, please do consider helping us out.  We’ll love you forever.  And ever.

On the 7th and 8th day of Christmas…

December  Who knows, 2011

Coffee:  for two (paul3)

Weather:  Warm, but loud  from all this racket outside.

…my window display gave to meeeee….

4 mini sombreros

and

and a book of 60's hair do's

Thanks Ladies!

What a weekend!

6th December

Hey, It’s me Paul #3 again.  I just told you a story about eyeshadow a minute ago.  Now, this next post will be mostly pictures from our weekend.  On Saturday night, we went to a wonderful holiday party in San Anselmo.   A dear customer of ours has this annual party at his fabulous (and I mean fabulous) jewelry shop.  So, check out pics of us spreading our holiday cheer!

Then, the next day, Sunday, we went caroling at Club Deluxe with our pal Dimestore Dandy.  Paul #1 and our dear Janet dressed up as elves and did some performing with the Dimestore.  Paul #2, #4, and myself, just sang along with the tunes.  We had a jolly good time indeed, ending with martinis and some of the best pizza in San Francisco!  Enjoy some of the pictures from our extravaganza:

Happy Holidays!  It’s the 6th of December and we’ve already been to at least 4 different holiday themed events!  Can’t wait to see what’s in store for us next.  Stay tuned for more gifts, pictures, and holiday cheer from the gals of Paul’s Hat Works!

Paul #3