After a half-century of outfitting Anchorage with cowboy hats, boots and other western wear, the Silva Saddle is about to close its doors.
The store is tucked into a strip mall on the city's east side, and its walls are covered in autographed photos of country music stars.
Many of them became friends with the store's owners, first Dea Silva, then her son, Don Causey. Some of those singers — passing through on tour, maybe for a quick fishing trip — even played free shows there.
But the Silva Saddle is set to close, as first reported by the Anchorage Daily News.
As Causey put it on a recent afternoon inside the store, where the country music plays nonstop, it's been a good run and a lot of fun, since the store opened in the '70s.
Below is the transcript of an interview with Causey on Alaska News Nightly. It has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Don Causey: The pipeline days, all the Texans and Okies were up here, and it was a good time to open up. Good business and a lot of money in this town back then.
Casey Grove: So that's like folks working on the (trans-Alaska oil) pipeline that were from Texas and Oklahoma that wanted Western wear?
DC: Yep, exactly. And it just thrived. It's been a lot of fun.
CG: What's fun about it?
DC: I tell you, everything. I like the customers, all the employees of the manufacturers. You know, I'm a joker, so I like to have a lot of fun talking to all those people and the customers. We have a good time down here.
CG: I guess some of the folks that have come in over the years are pretty famous country musicians whose photos, I mean, we're looking at, they're signed, autographed photos around the store. Is there anybody that you remember that kind of stands out to you that was a big name that came in?
DC: My favorite was Steve Wariner. He's a country singer, back in the '80s he played with Dottie West, and that's how he got his start. But Chet Atkins taught him how to play guitar, and he played in here, like three hours.
CG: So there'd be, like, actual shows?
DC: Yeah, with a lot of lot of good friends coming in. Good songwriter friend of mine, Bobby Tomberlin, came in with Tom Vrem and Hank Williams Jr.'s youngest boy, Sam Williams, and they played in here. And just, you know, when the country stars would agree to do that, we would just throw a party in here after hours, and I'd put it on Facebook and invite everybody.
CG: With country music, at least, you know, I feel like it goes to these cycles. Does it feel like that to you? And I guess I wonder about the western wear, too.
DC: Yeah, it does. When it rides its high cycle, everybody wants to be a cowboy. And that's OK with me. I love everybody. I'll dress you. But yeah, up and downs.
CG: So I guess I should ask, how come you're closing?
DC: OK, the truth, the competition that's coming in Boot Barn there into Tikahtnu (Commons mall). And good luck for them. That's a big chain, and like I said ... they did their homework and built right by the military gate, and those are my customers. So that was a big decision. I'm getting up there too now. I'll be 67 coming up, and I think it's just time for me to get out and do my traveling like I've done all my life, traveling to Asia, Europe and Africa. So that'll be what I'm gonna do.
CG: Sort of riding off into the sunset.
DC: Out west. Yeah, galloping.
CG: I'll be honest, I mean, I read this article, and I have to give a hat tip to Alex DeMarban and the Anchorage Daily News.
DC: Yeah, he did a good job
CG: I was reading it, and just the idea of it made me think of like it was like a sad country song or something like. I'm not sure if that's a question. I just wonder if you see it like that.
DC: You know, I'll have to call my country singer and country songwriter friends and see if they can do a song about that.
CG: Ask the experts.
Speaking of giving Alex and the ADN a hat tip, I wondered if you could give me a hat tip in another way, in that, like, if somebody came in, you know, not already wearing a cowboy hat, and they just said, "Hey, I want to get a cowboy hat." What do you tell somebody like that? Like, what kind of advice do you give them?
DC: Well, I'm all out of hats right now. Everything's gone. Yeah, so there's, there's no adult hats here. I have a lot of kids hats. So the first thing I would say is, you know, "What size do you wear?" And they say, "I don't know." Then we just fit the hat. And then I look at it, and I'm so honest, if it looks bad on you, I'll tell you it looks bad. And so they go out of here looking good. I have a friend, and he wanted a hat so bad, but every one he put on, he looked funky. I never got a hat to that guy.
CG: So, like, I wonder about myself. I mean, if you're just somebody that's not, you can't pull it off, you're gonna let 'em know?
DC: Oh yeah I would. Now, I don't want him going out and saying, "Don put me in this hat," and look bad. That comes back to bite you. You got to be honest with people, but then I never even tell them. You know, hey, if you like it, it's OK.
CG: Yeah, that's kind of what matters.
DC: Yep.
