In a city where winters pass little noticed, filled with toasty
golden sunshine, the umbrella is often forgotten ““ left in
the depths of the closet, hidden in the car trunk.
But with record-setting rainfall this January, the
water-resisting tool has gained new prominence.
When days of consecutive rain pounded Los Angeles earlier this
month, customers grabbed every umbrella available in Westwood drug
stores.
At Long’s Drugs on Le Conte Avenue, staff weren’t
expecting the extended period of precipitation. The store waited
days for a shipment of umbrellas to arrive from Ohio, and turned
away many customers, said Store Manager Christopher
Whittington.
Chris Brown, who manages CVS Pharmacy on Westwood Boulevard,
said those who came late wanting umbrellas left empty handed,
without the suddenly precious commodity.
“I had sold out,” he said. “Of course, there
was a big run on them.”
While many people snatched up the first umbrella they could find
during the last spell of wet weather, not all umbrellas are created
equal.
Nena Beram, a sales representative at umbrellas.com, says ones
shaped like domes are less likely to break in a strong wind than
those that are flatter. She adds that larger umbrellas, heavier and
with fewer joints than the ones that fold up and fit in purses, can
also be a worthwhile investment.
“It’s nothing that could hold up to a
hurricane,” Beram said.
“But as far as which one would blow inside out first, I
would say the mini ones.”
Many umbrellas are made of nylon, a relatively recent
development, says Judith Josephson, a writer who authored a
children’s book on the umbrella’s history. According to
her research, the man-made material began replacing less sturdy and
less waterproof coverings such as cotton and silk in 1938.
The collapsible umbrella is a fairly new invention too, dating
back to the 1960s, she says. For parts like the shaft and ribs,
wood and bone have given way to tempered carbon steel, plastic and
fiberglass.
Josephson’s inspiration to write the book came when she
was teaching in Rancho Santa Fe. She says she looked out the window
to see hundreds of children on their way to school, carrying
“every different kind of umbrella you can think
of.”
“When it rains in Southern California, it pours,”
Josephson said. “It was one of the rainiest winters, not
unlike what we just went through, when it was just day after day of
rain. And (the umbrella) just seemed like such a universal
item.”
Josephson researched the subject for about six months, digging
through libraries, contacting an umbrella shop in England, and
searching the internet.
She says umbrellas have been around since 1300 B.C. as a
high-class staple for kings, queens and emperors of ancient Egypt,
India and China. Servants would use the tool to shade the nobles
from the sun.
An Englishman named Jonas Hanway brought an umbrella back to
London in 1750 after visiting Italy and Portugal, where the
instrument was more widely used by individuals, Josephson says.
Peers ridiculed Hanway for using an umbrella, but he felt it was
practical. At the time, men wore powdered wigs that became a mess
in the rain.
It gradually became more acceptable for people to carry
umbrellas, and the tool even worked itself into the writing of
Charles Dickens. A character in Dickens’s “The Life and
Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit,” published in 1844, pokes a
battered umbrella at other people, Josephson says.
Now a household item, the price of umbrellas has gone down over
the years. It’s easier to buy a new one than to find someone
to fix a broken one.
On a Web site dedicated to Newark memories, a man from New
Jersey posted a remembrance from 50 years ago lamenting the demise
of personalized customer service.
He remembers an umbrella repairman in his neighborhood who would
recondition people’s favorite umbrellas on the spot.
In an e-mail to the Daily Bruin this week, the man, Harry Roman,
wrote, “I don’t doubt that you cannot find anything
about umbrella repair. That art/craft has long since been rendered
obsolete. I could find no references for it either.”
“Umbrellas are so cheap today, they are a throw away
commodity,” he wrote. “Years back, they were given as
Christmas gifts. I clearly remember getting a couple along the
way.”