Not many stores today play Pavarotti over their public speakers. Batsakes Hat Shop, on Sixth and Vine, would be the exception.

Photograph by Jeremy Kramer
The music comes courtesy of 82-year-old Gus Millerāowner, proprietor, and hat maker. Millerās uncles, George and Pete Batsakes, opened the shopāthen located at the current site of the Contemporary Arts Centerāin 1907. Pete brought his nephew over from Greece in 1951 and put him to work in the shop the next day. Miller points to a photo of himself taken a week after that. āI weighed about 95 pounds. Now I weigh 100,ā jokes Miller, who is known for his abiding love of Luciano Pavarotti (a friend and client), in both spirit and size.

Photograph by Jeremy Kramer
The then-17-year-old started out sweeping floors. Next he practiced cleaning and reshaping old hats. Finally, under the tutelage of artisan (and former employee) Barney OāNeill, Miller learned how to make everything from fedoras to straw hats and eventually even Western hats on his own. By 1973, Miller was running the place.

Photograph by Jeremy Kramer

Photograph by Jeremy Kramer
It takes three to five hours to make one hat by hand, but Miller says heās usually making somewhere between four and six at a time. He works Monday through Saturday (the shopās closed Sundays), rising daily at 4 a.m. His clients come from as close as downtown and as far away as the U.K. āA gentleman from London comes in twice a year to buy hats here,ā says Miller. āHe called a couple weeks ago. He ordered two hats, said: āIāll be in Cincinnati March 19. Iām gonna pick āem up.ā ā
Millerās outfitted some pretty famous heads during his 65 years in the business. Thereās Pavarotti of course, but heās also made hats for Ronald Reagan, both Presidents Bush (41 and 43), Tony Bennett, Paul Brown, even Bob Dylan and Snoop Dogg.

Photograph by Jeremy Kramer
This month Miller turns 83, an age at which some people might consider retiring. Miller, however, says thatās unlikely. āYou got something better for me to do?ā he shrugs.
His days at work are peppered with friendly waves out the window to passersby and chats with regulars at the shoeshine seats on the north wall. But does he ever feel pressure to change the way he does business in the digital era? āI donāt advertise,ā he says, noting that word-of-mouth from satisfied customers has kept business steady so far. After all, he trusts his work to speak for itself: āThe nice things always stand up.ā
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