A Lafayette, California store is selling bespoke hats, and they’re “brimming” with inside jokes that are hilarious to those who are from around here.
Firstly, let me take a moment to apologize to our readers for that hat-related pun. Now that that’s out of the way, I can tell you more about the store.
Venture Quality Goods sells bespoke, handmade, local items in downtown Lafayette.
They seem to be doing well, as they originally had a small storefront by what is now The Breakfast Club on Mount Diablo. They recently expanded into a much larger space next to Philz Coffee.
A lot of what Venture sells is clothing, from Bay Area favorites like Marine Layer. But they also have a nice selection of things like candles, wall art, and more.
Most recently, they filled their back window with a display of hats, each of which corresponds to a Bay Area town or a place that is a favorite among Bay Area residents.
The hats have clever, vintage-style patches on them with the name of the place and a fitting illustration.
Some of these are straightforward. The Lafayette hat, for example, has an illustration of the iconic reservoir tower. Orinda’s hat has—(you guessed it)—the Orinda Theatre.
But some of them are much more specific, and funnier.
The hat for Pacifica has the Taco Bell logo. Why would that represent the coastal surfing city just south of San Francisco? Stumped?
If you’re a true local, you know that Pacifica is home to the world‘s most beautiful Taco Bell—a Taco Bell Cantina located on a pier overlooking crashing Pacific waves and cliffs covered in wildflowers.
Locals associate the Taco Bell with Pacifica, so it’s on the hat!
The specific choices of other places to cover also represent Bay Area sensibilities. There’s Lahaina, Maui, which was a favorite haunt of Bay Area residents—myself included—until it was tragically destroyed in wildfires.
There’s also Bozeman, Montana, as well as several Tahoe locations.
One hat has a reference to Brock Purdy of the 49ers, again with an inside joke. And the Martinez hat has images of martinis, a reference to rumors that the drink originated in the East Bay town during the gold rush–quite a deep cut!
The hat for the Bay Area features an old-school BART train from before the cars were updated. We’re not sure if this is just because the design was created back then, or whether it’s a little nod at Bay Area nostalgia.
Drop into Venture to check out these very cool hats.
