He’s Got It Sewed Up

Fifty years ago, Nat Leventhal made his living with needle and thread as a tailor in New York City, one of thousands who worked in what was then a common trade.

Now, Leventhal said, mass production has nearly killed the trade that he practiced in New York’s Garment District for more than five decades, crafting apparel to an individual’s measurements and tastes.

“There are very few tailors left. They have all died out,” he said. And the tailoring trade itself is vastly different from the early part of this century, when each garment was stitched together by hand, and dresses cost a dime. Garments were cut to an individual’s measurements and tastes to achieve a perfect fit.

“People buy suits for so much money,” he said. “They think there is tailoring, but there is none.”

Leventhal, 87, of Northridge is a volunteer who teaches professional tailoring techniques to about 40 seniors at a weekly class at Bernardi Multipurpose Center for Senior Citizens in Van Nuys. He started the class in September.

Tailoring has been a way of life for Leventhal since he was 6 years old and had his middle finger tied down to teach him to hold a thimble.

Born in Czarist Russia in 1898, he came to this country in 1914, living in Chicago until he moved to New York City in 1926. He moved to California in 1980, eight years after his retirement.

Student Florence McCready, 89, of Van Nuys said she knew how to sew but Leventhal taught her money-saving tailoring methods.

“That really helps when you are on Social Security, which most of us are,” McCready said.