Urban Cowboy

For years I walked the streets of the Village and other parts of Manhattan in the quest for an authentic (more or less) cowboy hat, in order to pretend for a few minutes that I, the quintessential city dude, could transform into a Western cowboy when I put on the appropriate head gear. It was not to be. New York City, rich in almost anything one could want, never was able to supply me with the kind of cowboy hat that looked like it had the right style and design to satisfy my somewhat choosy tastes.

Then I went on The Trip. From New York to Chicago to San Francisco to Los Angeles to Las Vegas and especially to the Grand Canyon by way of Williams, Arizona, a truly tiny spot on the ancient but supremely special Route 66.

I found a store that seemed to stock more real Western hats than I had ever seen, some of them costing incredible sums of money but none of them ever appearing in that big old, arrogant bad city back East that had everything but still couldn't satisfy my demand for this particular item.

I walked into the store and soon found myself talking to a friendly lady who was only friendly in order to make a buck, I knew, but nevertheless I appreciated the welcoming atmosphere. And I eventually found the black, sort of velvet cowboy hat that was meant to come home with me.

I took it to my motel room and photographed myself with my special hat. I still had a few more stops before I began my return trip to the city with no wide open spaces that compared to the West It didn't matter, I had my hat.

After seeing the Grand Canyon and Sedona, I headed to Albuquerque with my hat, not worn but instead in the precious bag that preserved its quiet magnificence. Afterward, when I stopped to spend the night on North Michigan Avenue in my original home of Chi-Town, I took more self-portraits in my hotel room with me wearing my quickly legendary cowboy hat, resulting in the images that are posted on this page.

It really didn't matter which city I was in. The most important aspect was that I was transformed, whenever I put on my hat, into my own version of a cool but down to earth Urban Cowboy.

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