Talk about random.

I am researching an early San Francisco pickpocket named Annie Piggott and learned that when her first husband William Cronin was a teen in 1884, he longed to be a hoodlum (which was basically a lazy young man prone to petty theft and vandalism when he was bored) . William thought he needed the hoodlum outfit and when his father refused to buy him the right pants, the fourteen year old started stealing to get the funds.

According to a San Francisco Examiner story published in September of 1893, the hoodlum uniform included a black felt hat, black coat, high heeled shoes to give the illusion of added height (which would have appealed to the shorter Cronin)  and “hoodlum pants”  which were tight at knees, almost always broadly striped, widened toward the hem and were long and wrinkled over the foot. These were also known as “spring-bottomed pants”.  A white shirt, flashy tie, cheap jewelry and always present cigarette completed the “conventionally hoodlumish costume.”

Sound familiar?

***

Bell Bottoms

So I looked up “spring bottom pants” and it turns out Levis came out with a version in 1893 and the same style, now called bell-bottoms, came back in the 1970s as “a symbol of youth and rebellion.” You can read more about that on Italian clothing company Shaft’s website.

Today Wranger calls those spring bottom pants “flare” and Amazon models still wear them with the hoodlum high heeled shoes.

The more thing change….

🙂