Andrew Gross Custom Hatter - Oakland

Andrew Gross Custom Hatter was a downtown men's hat maker and repairer, in business for decades.

The business dated back to at least 1926, when it was Gross and Emanuel, run by Andrew Gross and Joseph Emanuel at 1225 Broadway.¹ By 1941, the shop had moved to 515 - 16th Street (next door to the Rotunda Building), and Emanuel sold his share of the business to Gross.² In 1950, the shop moved around the corner to 1551 San Pablo Ave.³

Andrew Gross continued in that location until the 1970s, when he sold the business.

19491950 ³1951

1958 ⁹ 1951 Sanborn map showing "Hat Wks"

Family

Andrew "Andy" Gross (May 7, 1897 – December 17, 1990) was born in Hungary, to Joseph Gross and Janette Danzinger. He immigrated to the U.S. about 1912.

In 1927,⁴ Andrew married Bess Boyarsky (Gross) (January 31, 1904 – August 25, 1968), and they had two children, Justin Arthur Gross and Rhona Ruth Gross (Singer). ⁵ The Grosses were members of Temple Beth Abraham, where Bess was active. She was also a member of the local Hadassah chapter, ⁶ which supported women and women's health in what was then Palestine.

The Gross family lived for many years at 982 Grosvenor Place.

Bess and Andrew are interred in Home of Eternity Cemetery.^7,8