Santa Cruz Sentinel from Santa Cruz, California • Page 10

A-10 Sunday, March 26, 2000 Sentinel top off tilhe haft ft ftalemiftedl Kate Handley 19th century Santa Cruz milliner set local fashion folates on their heads 1 1875, THE SOCIAL standing and respectability of any Santa on Pacific Avenue, scarcely an issue of any newspaper hit the streets without mention of Handley's millinery and dressmak-, ing. Even male newspaper Cruz woman was told by her hat, Laced or veiled, plumed, flounced or tufted, tied with a bow or stabbed with a pin, the headdress announced her prestige and jself-respect. For this reason, the irtllliner known as "the 'rfpa'n nf Santa Cruz busi- Am reporters commented on the colorful fantasies that filled her shop windows. At Handley's, women learned about the newest bonnets with large, square crowns and turned-up brims, worn far back on the head to show off contemporary hairstyles with frizzed bangs. They saw ness" had a shop that CAROLYN mined with activity for SWIFT "more than a half-century.

FLASHBACKS Kate Handley was a na- -Tr- nit 4 i- lr i if A r- i Ml i the latest in either indoor or outdoor hats with trims of rich-hued ribbon, artificial fruits, and bird feathers. The current exhibit at the Santa Cruz City Museum, "Gone to the Birds: 150 Years of Bird Life in Santa Cruz County," makes mention of the overuse by the millinery trade in the early 1900s of the feathers of some birds to the point of their extinction. Within 10 years, the millinery work was accomplished by Handley and a crew of assistants, who fashioned headgear in both winter and summer lines. A news article of 1885 described one popular trim as the "many exquisite varieties of birds' wings, breasts and plumes, together with pompons, cut steel and jet." Among the "taking shapes" that season were narrow and vertical bonnets as well as the lavishly trimmed hats. A breezy article about popular dress styles in the summer of 1889 noted somewhat refreshingly that while many of the new designs were made for the "youthful and slender," the Empire redingote, a long open coat with straight lines and freedom from bunchy draperies, was a boon to California matrons who were "fair, fat and forty." Handley hats unveiled that season included sailor straws with saucy bows of ribbon; a close-fitting bonnet called "The Turf," and "the most absolutely chic" Hammock, a neglige hat of felt that was "just the thing" for rides, drives, rambles and boating.

As Handley hats gained recognition, the milliner began making regular trips to San Francisco for both fabrics and inspiration. By 1911, she was traveling to France and touring the millineries of Paris. She wrote home that "designers are the real artists of millinery, and after a short time one distinguishes a Re-boux model from a Poiret, just as a practiced eye recognizes at a glance a Landseer painting or a Rembrandt." Over the years, Handley was never out of business a single day through five moves to new locations downtown. She weathered three major economic depressions, numerous storms and earthquakes during 63 years of making hats and dresses for the daughters, granddaughters, and great-granddaughters of her original clientele. -tive of New York, born in 1857 to Irish immigrants who decid- ed when she was still a toddler to sail for San Francisco and then down to Santa Cruz.

Young Kate be- gan her education in the 1860s at Holy Cross School on Mission i Street. At 15, she was ready for an ap-; prenticeship. Her choice of the i printing trade was discouraged by her parents and teachers, who pre-; (erred a "womanly" occupation, one that girls could take up "without great opposition." Instead of the print shop, the teen-ager headed out in the sum- mer of 1872 to assist at a millinery business on Kearney Street in San Francisco. To get there, she spent two long sweltering days in a stagecoach that trailed through "inches of dust" on its journey. Handley reported for work as an apprentice, a job that would earn her no pay at all for the first six months, yet she knew from the start that she loved it.

Years later, an in- terviewer noted that "there has al-; ways been a thrill in the heart of Kate Handley in the making and handling of hats, as only the woman who has found her work can know." After a little more than two years i as an understudy, Handley came back to Santa Cruz outfitted with 1 enough skill, sales acumen and confidence to toss her hat in the male-dominated business ring. The young woman was not yet 18. Santa Cruz of 1875 was shaping 'the silhouette of its business doing its best to become less isolated and more worldly. This was "ail eager, robust community with and agricultural pursuits, attractive resorts for pleasure-seek--e'rs; and a "warm belt" of acreage "that townsfolk believed might one day become a home for as many as people. Local society already had a smidgen of upper crust, lyith shoppers who could afford a 'fpv niceties.

A 'Fashion plates in English and "Vuiierican magazines in the piqued an interest in the lat-'jest word from France. Those with sewing machines and a'Ccess to ready-made clothing well-dressed, but elegance something else. Style was the thing that Kate Han-xlley brought home to Santa Cruz. iJFrom the moment her store opened Top: Women, hats on their heads, play card games in the 'Palm on the bayside of the second floor of the Casino at the Boardwalk, circa 1912. Left: The 'summer car unloads at the ladies entrance, near the Boardwalk, circa 1905.

7 -'CScSsSSStetf Photos courtesy of Carolyn Swift I Carolyn Swift is the Sentinel's history columnist. Her Flashbacks column runs Sundays. She is director of the Capitola Museum and an author and historian. She lives in Capitola. Though she must have made hundreds of hats, few have survived.

It is easier today to acquire a hat by Parisian designer Caroline Revoux, Handley's mentor, than one of hers. The Museum of Art and History owns a 19th century Handley Celebrated by her peers and well-loved by the community, Kate Handley died in 1940 at the family home on High Street, where she had lived since girlhood. At her funeral, the women wore veiled hats. The men took theirs off to honor Miss Kate. Are You Getting a Good Night's Sleep? "vv, And Register To Win A Trip To A NASCAR Rate And Meet Cellular One Driver Joe Nemethek! Whether your lifestyle has you on the fast track or in the slow lane, Cellular One has a plan that fits the way you talk.

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