Seen In S.F.: The All-Wood Suit. No Typo!

Joe Eskenazi

Too much starch!

​Say what you will about Jay Leno, one feature of his tenure on The Tonight Show that even he couldn't cheese up and ruin was Monday night's "Headlines" compendium of bizarre newspaper clippings from throughout the realm.

One of the Leno headlines I remember from the deep past when Leno had dark hair, one (giant) chin, and a modicum of respect from the general public regarded "All-Wood Suits" being sold at a local store. Well, it's easy to see how someone could make such a mistake -- but it doesn't reduce the ridiculousness of conjuring up mental imagery of wood suits.

And then, decades later, I saw this wood suit right here in San Francisco.

This jaw-dropping and unexpected journey into punchlines of my youth can be found gracing the front window of Escobar Brothers Custom Tailors on Stockton Street. Interestingly, the all-wood suit is only a few steps away from another visually disorienting San Francisco sight: the "Pete's Cleaner Taqueria" sign.

Your humble narrator will now be on the lookout for the actual realization of another Leno headlines of yore: "Trees Can Break Wind." Well, maybe not the lookout.