"I liked the idea that I did it, and everybody was asking where I got the outfit. My (future) partner looked at me and said, 'Michael, we could market something like that.' "

Hoban, nicknamed "Hobo" because he prefers to dress like a bum, fought the idea at first. Creating clothing didn't fit his self-image. Even today, he confesses that he dressed up for an interview--in a simple, slate-blue silk shirt with neutral slacks.

"My girlfriend dressed me," he admits, referring to Isabelle Gabai, a French interior designer with whom he fell in love last year. "This shirt, I haven't worn in about five years, and I don't own a suit jacket."

Despite his long-standing preferences for ripped jeans and ratty sneakers, Hoban went into the clothing business with partner Frank Morgan in San Francisco's North Beach area during the counterculture's headiest days. Before there were North Beach stores, such as the Los Angeles shop on Sunset Boulevard, the styles were sold from a friend's boutique. There were three items: leather jeans, a Levi's-style jacket and a double-breasted, knee-length Edwardian coat "that it seemed like everybody in the world wanted."

Customers soon included Hells Angels leader Ralph (Sonny) Barger and Black Panthers co-founder Huey Newton. After the late rock entrepreneur Bill Graham asked Hoban to start making clothes for his acts at the Fillmore Theatre, the North Beach clientele became truly impressive: Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, Jim Morrison, The Who, Tina Turner, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles.

Hoban recalls creating custom-painted white leather suits and capes for Elvis from 1969 until "he got big. It was very hard for me to make clothes for him in white, which he loved. He went up to almost a 40(-inch) waist. That's really big for making show clothes with no jacket."

Slim Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis became a customer about 10 years ago and still "comes to our New York store once every year or so. I work a lot in chamois and suede (for her), just simple little things," Hoban says.

Though North Beach once provided many entertainers with original designs, only rap stars favored by Hoban's sons, 14-year-old Cassidy and 17-year-old Cody, get exclusive styles these days. Arsenio Hall, who regularly exposes millions of TV viewers to North Beach ingenuity, is the only star who gets freebies.