Believe it or not, I heard from a chashuveh Lakewood Rosh Kollel and mechaber sfarim that the reason for a hat in the street was in order to cover the yarmulka! It was not recommended to advertise that you wore a yarmulka in the 40’s and 50’s in the USA, and in those times, only the ‘JDL’ types wore the yarmulka openly. Now that is is much more normal, and nobody thinks twice about it, maybe the reason for the hat has passed, especially since it makes one stand out even more, which is exactly what it was supposed to prevent.
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