New Business: Portobello Hats

By NINA LARAMORE /Towns Correspondent

Jennifer Webley was a longtime collector of hats, but with more spare time on her hands in recent years, she wanted to learn how to make them. She knew Virgina Winter, a local hat maker who teaches  millinery classes at SRJC. Then Webley reached out to Amy Smith, a textile and weaving artist who does custom-made hats, including some for patrons attending the Kentucky Derby and asked if she could become an apprentice.

“She was very open to teaching me,” Webley says. “Some people might have been threatened, but she was willing to share everything she knew.”

The three women decided they needed a shop, and Portobello Hats was born. It’s at 311 D St. in downtown Santa Rosa.

When it opened: Feb. 12, 2012

What they do: Sell new, vintage and reinvented men and women’s hats, scarves, ties, buttons and jewelry, including:
• Men’s Italian-made imported fedoras, Trilby, porkpie, driver and newsboy hats;
• Women’s vintage hats by Lilly Daché and Schiaparelli;
• Coming soon, hat boxes featuring Sonoma County.
They also will hold classes, including “Re-imagining and Re-Making a Vintage Felt Hat” on Feb. 18,  and “Cocktail Hat Class” Feb. 25 and Mar. 10.

Premise: “Santa Rosa sometimes lacks the type of shops you can find in places like Petaluma,” Webley says. “I wanted to create a shop I would like to shop in. I love the way people come in here and just play with trying on hats.”

Grand Opening: 4-9 p.m. Oscar Evening, Feb. 26.

Hours: Tuesday – Saturday  10 a.m. – 6 p.m., and Sunday noon – 5 p.m.

Portobello Hats, 311 D St., Santa Rosa, 528-HATS (4287), PortobelloHats.com

 

(Do you know about a new locally owned Santa Rosa business? Tell us about it by leaving a message below or emailing SantaRosaNewsNina@gmail.com.)

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