Rainbow Cobblers
| Location | 780 Columbus Avenue, North Beach, San Francisco, California, United States |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 37°48′07″N 122°24′45″W / 37.801850°N 122.412623°W |
| Opening date | 1971 |
| Closing date | December 1974 |
| Owner | Bruce Smith Howard Z. Fuchs |
| Goods sold | shoe maker, retail shoe store |
Interactive map of Rainbow Cobblers | |
Rainbow Cobblers was a 1970s shoe maker and retail shoe store in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco, California, U.S..[1][2] They were known for "exotic" hippie-style boots, often with patchwork, or appliqué.[3][4] They crafted bespoke, one-of-a-kind boots, often using traditional techniques, and were considered wearable art by many. A second location was in Los Angeles, California.
History
The business was owned by Borogrove, Inc. and co-founded by Bruce Smith.[4][5][6][7] Smith was from Pennsylvania and was in the shoe sales business prior.[4] It was headquartered at 780 Columbus Avenue (now 785), at Greenwich Street; and had a second location in Los Angeles.[4] Many of the Rainbow Cobblers employees in San Francisco were master craftsmen from El Salvador.[1][3] Rainbow Cobblers were able to make custom shoes like extra small sizes, extra tall boots, or for specific uses like dancing, police work, theatre or orthopedic shoes.[1][3]
The boots were popular and sold to musicians, bands, and activists, including Three Dog Night, Buddy Miles, the Grateful Dead, Black Oak Arkansas, Bobby Seale, and Huey P. Newton.[4]
Legacy
Rainbow Cobblers were part of the exhibition "The Summer of Love Experience: Art, Fashion, and Rock & Roll," (2017) at the De Young Museum in San Francisco.[8][9]
A pair of men's patchwork boots (1972), and a pair of women's boots called the "Sequoia" boots (c. 1970s) are part of the collection at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.[10][11][9] Rainbow Cobblers are also part of the collection at the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto, Canada.
See also
References
- ^ a b c Crawford, Mary (December 17, 1972). "Volunteers Cheer Laguna Honda Boy With Boots". San Francisco Chronicle. p. 56. Retrieved January 16, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Photo". The Berkeley Gazette. March 31, 1973. p. 3. Retrieved 2026-01-16 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c Revenaugh, R. L. (July 18, 1971). "The Cobbler's Art". San Francisco Chronicle. pp. 178, 180 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d e Boss, Michael (January 27, 1974). "The Changes At Rainbow". San Francisco Chronicle. pp. 19, 20, 21. ISSN 1932-8672. Retrieved January 16, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Farber, M. A. (July 26, 1973). "61 Seized in a Drug Ring With Middle-Class Ties". The New York Times.
He said that Mr. Fuchs was vice president of Water Bros. Company of Buffalo and held interests in Pan World Importing of New York, Rainbow Cobblers of San Francisco and other enterprises.
- ^ Plate, Thomas (November 5, 1973). "Coke: The Big New Easy-Entry Business". New York Magazine. New York Media, LLC. pp. 63–70.
...Borogrove, Inc. of San Francisco, which owned and operated shoe stores in San Francisco and Los Angeles under the name Rainbow Cobblers...
- ^ "Ex-City Aide Guilty In Plot to Distribute Millions in Cocaine". The New York Times. January 15, 1974.
- ^ D'Alessandro, Jill; Terry, Colleen; McNally, Dennis; Selvin, Joel (April 11, 2017). Summer of Love: Art, Fashion, and Rock and Roll. University of California Press. p. 208. ISBN 978-0-520-29482-0.
- ^ a b "Sequoia boots". FAMSF. Retrieved 2026-01-16.
- ^ "Hippie style's legacy". News Times (see carousel). April 10, 2017.
- ^ "Men's boots". FAMSF. Retrieved 2026-01-16.