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| Richard Carreño/WritersClearinghouse News Service |
A San Francisco Treat
By Richard Carreño
[WritersClearinghouse News Service] Posted 2 August 2014
San Francisco
Until a few years ago, almost every American city of size -- even some smaller places, especially if they were college towns -- featured at least one haberdasher known to its residents as the university, or Ivy shop, local purveyors of traditional men's clothing. These clothiers also bred what was to become known as the 'preppy look, the full definition of which flowered in the mid-20th century in a combination of American and British styling. In other words, think of an earlier version of Brooks Brothers, which through the 1900s vigorously marketed its singular American look via a coast-to-coast network of branch shops.
Or, in this city, think Cable Car Clothiers, which, since 1939, has been emphasizing its own British pedigree in its clothing lines. At Cable Car, it's more Oxbridge than Ivy.