I BUSINESS I BEFORE YOU FLY AWAY FOR THE WINTER Old Hat Continued from preceding page RIDE ON OVER "He was a credit to the human race. If he was your friend he was really your friend. He went out of his way to do nice things for people. "And hats? Whenever we had a new style we asked him to come in. He was like the Pied Piper. Whatever he wore, everybody else wore." FOR OUR FALL INVENTORY REDUCTION T SALE SAVE 15-50% OFF ENTIRE FRAME INVENTORY WITH PURCHASE OF PRESCRIPTION LENSES SALE ENDS OCT. 28th "COME AND SEE WHAT YOU'VE BEEN MISSING" AT ON THE BOARDWALK 6891 ORCHARD LAKE ROAD SOUTH OF MAPLE 855-5810 steven franklin optics 0 . SCRE EN * SAFETY GLASS * THERMOPANES * TUB ENCLOSURES * GLASS TABLE TOPS * MIRRORS REPLACEMENT PARTS FOR DOORS, WINDOWS & DOOR WALLS ROLLERS FOR PATIO DOORS & SLIDING WINDOWS • E WINDOW REPLACEMENTS • * PRIM INSURANCE REPLACEMENTS • NEW SAFETY GLASS • PICK-UP & DfLIVERY AVAILABLE MON-FRI 8:00 TO 5:00 - SAT 8:00 TO 12:60 YOUR and Mirrors 27 YEARS SAME LOCATION 626-9007 32671 NORTHWESTERN HWY. Two locations to serve you BERKLEY • 547-1214 48 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1989 WEDDING BAR/BAT MITZVAH WILL BE FINER WHEN PHOTOGRAPHED BY WINER AND ASSOCIATES, INC. 357-1010 wo stores remain to- day, one on Broadway in Detroit and another in Hamtramck. Both stores retain the old-world flavor of the 1930s and 1940s, when hats were in their heyday. Hats in the store are enclosed in large glass cases lining the wall. Workers keep them clean with a steam machine from decades ago. A huge neon store sign outside lights up every night. Today, Wasserman — Ap- pleby has since left the busi- ness — orders his hats through the mail. They come from France, Italy, England, West Germany and South America. His customers in- clude numerous Chasidim — who only want imported black hats, he says — Detroit Mayor Coleman Young, judges, businessmen and some 'not-so-nice' figures. "We get everybody from the nicest to the not-so nicest," Wasserman says. When he first bought Henry the Hatter, Wasser-• man traveled about six times a year to New York for his goods. He also met with traveling salesmen. "In the 1930s, hat salesmen were the most prestigious of all the salesmen. They got the choicest rooms in hotels and the best tables. That was when you could still get a pretty good meal for a buck," he says. "They would come to town with these big trunks filled with hats. Then they would display them in their hotel rooms and invite us all in to see. We placed our orders, which they sent back to the factory." Henry the Hatter was itself the home of a hat fac- tory until five years ago. Wasserman takes an old elevator, painted an art deco green, upstairs where the remnants of the old factory remain. Heavy machine parts covered with dust sit in the back corner of the room; round molds, once used to design hats, rest near multicolored spools of thread; postcards Wasser- man mailed from trips to Arizona are still taped to the wall. The hat business may never be what once it was; Wasserman says his is one of about a few stores in the United States that sells only hats. But men are still in Henry the Hatter every day, perhaps hoping a new hat will bring them the adven- ture of Indiana Jones or the romance of Fred Astaire. "Just the other day somebody came in and bought a folding top hat just like this," says Wasserman, running his hand across a shiny black topper. "You never know what people will want." Minutes later, a tall, blond man walks in. No time for browsing, he walks straight over to Seymour Wasser- man. "I'm looking for a red fez," he says. "Have you got one?" Wasserman admits he's all out The man looks forlorn. "Actually, I had one," he says. "But my dog ate it." O I IN BRIEF ALLAN GALE has been pro- moted to associate director of Allan Gale the Jewish Community Council. In Addition, MIRIAM SCHEY IMERMAN has Miriam lmerman assumed the position of direc- tor, domestic concerns.