Shellback makes Hats, and also is a bar

Do you know that familiar feeling when your local bar… the one that you go to with friends and coworkers to relax and let loose after a long week… becomes famous? And when I say famous, I mean see people wearing the logo’d hats on the streets of Chicago and watching the culture of the bar progressively shift to tourist attraction?

Let me introduce you to Shellback Tavern: the bar in Manhattan Beach California, with hats worn around the world. 

When you walk into this bar, it feels dive beyond nearly any other. Above the rafters sit miscellaneous lawn signs from local elections of years gone by, people of nearly every generation pack the tables to a point where you can’t feel who is breathing on you, and the walls feature alcohol adverts and a range of awards from previous years for having the best wings in town or recognition from politicians for community impact. And yet, it has its charm to engage in the community here, with celebrations ranging from birthdays to promotions to firings to general survival creating a microcosm of local humanity. There is a familiarity in these places, but this one happens to be a surfer bar with beach views and the Pier just beyond the parking lot. It is so close that after a drink you can be swimming in the Pacific in under five minutes.

One of the most recognizable parts of this bar is the line of dad hats strung on a wire over the bartenders, creating a rainbow of tones and patterns. Heat-pressed, printed, or embroidered onto the front of the hat is the Shellback logo, or one of two versions of it. Yes, the hats are a more recent addition to this bar, but it is now just part of it. When you think of the Shellback Tavern logo, you don’t think of it on the side of the building but rather on the front of one of those foamy trucker hats worn by someone who doesn’t otherwise look like they have found success.

Then the hats got famous. Mark Cuban, The Real Housewives, Josh Peck, and Jason Kelce (Taylor Swift’s brother-in-law) all have been seen wearing the hats. They have been spotted on hikes in the Amazon, the streets of New York, and far beyond. To some extent, Shellback Tavern is more recognizable as a hat company than an actual bar. The hats are available to order by sending the bar an email, and the hats are not particularly expensive, but the locals push back. The bar is a local spot and feels worthy of protection, much in the same way communities globally work to keep tourists away from ecological hotspots or cultural centers.

The bar tends to be fine with purchasing multiples, but the locals give looks. The locals will remind you when the paper filler is not removed from your hat, potentially to reduce reselling. For the people in the bar, the hats are part of the enjoyment of the bar but it is local culture they fear spreading beyond the community. 

And I personally have given in, getting a new hat every time I go and forming my mini string of hats in my own collection. Having only turned 21 around the time the hats became a mainstay, the hats and the bar are one unit. It is not “Shellbacks” without the hats, but then again the hats are not themselves the experience of the bar. 

So, if you find your way to Manhattan Beach, just south of LAX, and decide you want to check out a local surfer dive bar, pop into Shellback Tavern. Then, maybe get a hat.