In a question thread for Leverage on the blog Kung Fu Monkey, a hairstyle called the “Revere claw” was mentioned. It seems to be a Boston style.
There’s only three results on Google for the phrase, and the only thing I can tell from them is that it’s a woman’s hairstyle, and quite possibly tacky.
So: what’s a Revere claw? Is it tacky?
I have never heard of the hairstyle but, if it is from Revere, it is tacky by definition. Revere is one of Boston’s inner suburbs on the coast near the airport. It isn’t known for being affluent and it is known for being ethnic, specifically Italian Guido. Revere Beach is where you would go to see tanned bodybuilders in muscle shirts cruising to pick up ladies who look similar. It is basically The Jersey Shore, Massachusetts edition. They do have some interesting ideas of hairstyles there as well but I better stop thinking about it or I am going to puke.
Shagnasty adequately captured the sense of Revere, although I’ll add that Revere Beach was once very much like the Jersey Shore, amusements and all. It was a major amusement draw. Now there’s nothing there but the beach. Wikipedia and other sources will tell you that the big storm of 1978 washed away anything that was left, but they’re wrong. I visited Revere beach in the earlier 1970s, and it was dead already. There was nothing for the storm of '78 to blow away.
It still is a close-by beach to go to, sunbathe, kite-fly, and people-watch.
Never heard of a “Revere Claw”, though.
I’m assuming they are talking about the huge bangs - I always heard of it as “Reve-ah Hai-ah”
They’d tease their bangs up really high and then have them bend forward - like a claw coming at you. This was the age of the huge 80s hair and the semi-frozen straggly perm hair that was supposed to be a wave not a poodle - then you had the highly feathered bangs that stood up several inches from your forehead and then kind tilted over and slightly back.
And yes, it was tacky.
Now there’s four.
melodyharmonius has it right - that’s the perfect “claw” description. If you’re from the southeastern part of Massachusetts, where we’re all half Rhode Islander, it’s called a “Cranston claw” after the Rhode Island community. Same hairstyle, same conditions, different city.
With the added bonus that Revere Beach is the only beach that’s accessible by Boston’s public transit, which certainly contributes to the character of the beach…
melodyharmonius nailed it on the hairstyle. Down south, we called it “mall hair” during the 80s, but it was basically this, with the bangs sprayed so stiff they could stab your eye out (note: that is NOT me in the picture).
Shagnasty also described Revere and Revere Beach perfectly - the Mass. version of Jersey Shore.
Wow. That’s some hair there!
Thanks for all the answers, everybody.
Meh. I guarantee that the fashionable hairstyles we are all wearing now, as well as the clothes, will be “tacky” sooner or later. Probably sooner.
