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Author Topic: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?  (Read 62895 times)

Offline Garf

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #100 on: February 09, 2012, 02:07:02 PM »
There were quite a few hobby shops in the early days. For me it was the Hobby Center, a medium sized shop that had most of what was needed. AND THEN there was the grand daddy of them all, Orange Blossom Hobbies. It was the largest hobby shop in this section of the country with a wholesale operation in the back. It had airplane, car, boat, and railroad departments. The owner died, then his son ran the business into the ground. It is now a drug store.

Offline Clare Bottorff

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #101 on: February 13, 2012, 11:15:51 AM »
My addiction came from watching an old man fly a Kenhi Chief with a rockin' Fox 35 for power. He used to come to my hometown to fly on a vacant lot and after several million questions by the kids that would come at the sound of the old Fox he told us about his model shop, but it was in Fremont, Michigan which was about 15 miles away. AS I remember it none of us kids could get a parent to take us to Fremont to look at the models in Fremont. Eventually another guy that lived in our town, joined him, and then set up a tiny shop in his house, using a front window to display "Gasp", an S1 Ringmaster with a Fox 35 on it, for sale for $10.50! I flew the wings off that Ringmaster, but the Fox ended up pulling a Kenhi Panther around and around in circles for me. It went on from there.
Clare

Offline ron testa

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #102 on: March 20, 2012, 12:51:04 PM »

if your from NJ who doesn't remember Rich's Hobby Town. Fond memories getting my parents to drive us there, and flying on their 2 or 3 flying circles. Also had a boat pond. The nhobby shop was 99% control line. Being there was better than a kid in a candy shop back in the 50's.

Offline Guy B Jr

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #103 on: April 03, 2012, 10:58:31 PM »
My earliest model airplanes were Comet stick and tissue kits from a dime store in Danville, VA during WWII. For control line it was the Hobby House in Ft. Lauderdale, FL (1950). It was a camera shop with a counter across the back that dealt with models. The guy behind the counter had a Stuntwagon. The Hobby House also sponsored my Little League baseball team. I feel so blessed that I was able to grow up in Ft. Lauderdale during the 50's and 60's. In those days you could still have beach parties with bonfires on the beach. Ha! Try that now.
Guy Blankinship

Offline Cliff Henke

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #104 on: September 27, 2012, 10:50:21 PM »
 Being a Military Brat and never living anywhere for more than 9 months, I can't remember the names of the early hobby shops from Chicago to the North Jersey Shore ( 61 - 74 ). Sorry.  ???
I returned back to North Carolina in 1978 and started a great relationship with Hayes Hobby House in Fayetteville, N.C.. Been with them ever since and going back in 12 hours................

Great Site Y'all,
Cliff Henke
Wasting away the moments that make up a dull day...................

Offline Bob Heywood

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #105 on: September 30, 2012, 09:58:22 AM »
Baker's Modelcraft @ Patterson & Smithville in Dayton, OH.

A classic shop run by the Jennings family by the time I got there as an 8 year old. It was a short bike ride from home. The shop and the nearby public library offering up Model Airplane News got me...hook, line, and sinker.

And...The ride took me right past the Moler's Dairy store. Fresh ice cream and the best malts ever.
"Clockwise Forever..."

Offline Steve Helmick

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #106 on: October 16, 2012, 03:28:32 PM »
When I was a kid, mostly just the PX, wherever. Oh, there was a real hobby shop in Chattanooga, Clover Dale Hobby in Montgomery, and Hobby Craft (?) somewhere in Los Angeles. I used to know the name of the owner (Rudy ?), but no more. They had a Borgward, and drove it up the AL-Can to Alaska! They made a few kits...a 1/2a Delta R/C, "The Ghost" A-1, and Tosh Matsuda's "Zero" 1/2a gas free flight...they had good taste!

We used to have some good hobby shops here in the Seattle area, but they're all gone now. I sometimes go to Hobby Town in Parkland (they are not part of the chain, and got sued for the use of the name, but they had it first). On occasion, I'll stop into R/C Hobbies in Covington, but it's mostly an R/C car shop. Been to Tim's Hobbies in Everett once, but they didn't have anything I wanted (decent fuel being #1 priority). Been to Tammie's in Beaverton, OR, twice. Not terrible, but didn't buy anything. Best hobby shop I get to now is Eugene Toy & Hobby, but I only get there in May, for the NW CL Regionals. They only carry SIG fuel, which is ok, but not my usual stuff. It does run different. Most everything comes by USPS or UPS now, after buying online. It's convenient, but it's just not the same. I'm cleaning up the shop and finding unopened boxes...!  LL~ Steve
 
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Offline Sonny Williams

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #107 on: October 27, 2012, 05:33:03 PM »
I just had to get in on this thread. I saw my first G-line model airplane in 1944. Then I saw my first engine powered model airplane in 1945 being flown at the fairgrounds in Reidsville, NC and I was hooked from that moment on. We had a small but pretty well equipped model shop that was started by a returning veteran of WWII. I started buying balsa wood there in early 45 and at the same time I got a job at the grocery store next door selling pop corn from a street side popping machine. Every penny I got was spent at the model shop. I purchased my first engine there which was a Rogers at the tender age of 12. I just about smoked my parents out of the house breaking the engine in down in the basement. That was a great little hobby shop that specialized in nothing but model airplane stuff. The veteran who opened the shop was a returning veteran highly decorated for his heroics. Not only did he run the hobby shop, but was my Scout Master as well. Life did not serve him well as he carried many scars from the war and his life ended at an early age, but he and his model hobby shop is still remembered to this day by many I'm sure including myself. God bless our veterans.

Offline Shultzie

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #108 on: October 28, 2012, 03:06:57 PM »
I just had to get in on this thread. I saw my first G-line model airplane in 1944. Then I saw my first engine powered model airplane in 1945 being flown at the fairgrounds in Reidsville, NC and I was hooked from that moment on. We had a small but pretty well equipped model shop that was started by a returning veteran of WWII. I started buying balsa wood there in early 45 and at the same time I got a job at the grocery store next door selling pop corn from a street side popping machine. Every penny I got was spent at the model shop. I purchased my first engine there which was a Rogers at the tender age of 12. I just about smoked my parents out of the house breaking the engine in down in the basement. That was a great little hobby shop that specialized in nothing but model airplane stuff. The veteran who opened the shop was a returning veteran highly decorated for his heroics. Not only did he run the hobby shop, but was my Scout Master as well. Life did not serve him well as he carried many scars from the war and his life ended at an early age, but he and his model hobby shop is still remembered to this day by many I'm sure including myself. God bless our veterans.
Thanks for sharing your story....WOW! "G LINE MODELS IN 44!"
Don Shultz

Offline Steve Fitton

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #109 on: November 09, 2012, 07:23:45 AM »
Nassau Hobby and Crafts, Princeton, NJ.  What an awesome place!
Steve

Offline tom brightbill

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #110 on: December 10, 2012, 08:48:31 PM »
Has anyone mentioned City Cycle in Paducah, Ky.? About the same time as the Humbler (Shark 45) came out....
AMA 34849

Offline Norm Furutani

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #111 on: September 18, 2013, 02:32:05 PM »
1950ish. I have fond memories of Model Craft in SW Los Angeles. This was the usual destination of the family outing, proprietors, Barney and Peggy Snyder would tell great stories of back in the day. The trip was always good for at least a TF Jigtime kit and Barney would toss in a 5 or 10 cent glider. Afterwards, we would go next door for an ice cream at Curries! On the way home, Dad would yell at us to not open the little packet with the nose button and washers- we would yell back- "we will, Dad".

Later, in the 70's, Barney taught me how to fly RC gliders. One day at Dockweiler beach (we could park the cars along the ridge) Barney said he had to leave and would make one more flight. His plane slipped behind him and flew into the back of his open station wagon, clipping the wing tips. He said with a grin, he had to leave but not that big a hurry!

NormF

Offline donchandler

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #112 on: November 27, 2013, 06:03:50 PM »
The first one was Don's Hobby Shop in Menlo Park, CA. Then graduated to J&M Hobby shop in San Carlos. They had everything a guy could want and if by chance they didn't, the owner , Joe White would get it quick. 
Don Chandler

Offline don boka

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #113 on: January 04, 2014, 12:50:43 PM »
This brings back memories of REAL hobby shops which are going away sad to say! Joes in Detroit was originally owned by the Dallaires who also had a wholesale outlet. The retail shop was bought out in later years by Don and Jack Josaitis and stocked just about everything and they even had a few additional hobby shops which sadly closed a few years ago. The other was Temples' in West Dearborn and they closed many years ago. If I recall the names from many years ago it was owned by Al and Doris Temple. There were others but none like these in my estimation. Would love to find something like this around here these days.


Offline Mike Keville

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #114 on: January 04, 2014, 06:22:58 PM »
Good old fashioned hobby shops have gone the way of the model airplane hobby in general:

Mail-order...foam...electrics...and Chinese RC imports.

<sigh>...I miss the Old Days.
FORMER member, "Academy of Multi-rotors & ARFs".

Offline afml

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #115 on: February 12, 2014, 05:43:42 AM »
My first 'eye popping' Hobby shop was ABC Hobbies in Dormont, PA. in the mid 60's. My C/L mentor, Don Mohr, packed us in his station wagon to visit his favorite shop. I was stunned at all the planes hanging from the ceiling & walls. They were EVERYWHERE! Don had to literately pick me up and set me aside so the rest of us could enter the store.
ABC also has ships, trains, everything you could imagine. Including a HUGH slot car track in the basement!!
This introduction eventually led to a BIG Region Contest held in '69 that sent the overall points winner to the NATS in Willow Grove. Dat be me... LL~
But that's another story...
The shop that led to my 'addiction' was located on Euclid Ave in Lexington, KY. X-CELL MODELS! My Family & I were at UK for a scholarship audition. The first day I entered the store there was Lew McFarland talking to Randy Hancock. I needed a couple of props for my OS MAX 35S.
Lew was out of the ones I needed, but Randy had a few extra in his stash at home. He lived the block behind the shop. He ran home to get them for me. Super Glue was coming 'on the scene' and Lew had glued a quarter to the floor. It was always interesting to see how many customers tried to kick that quarter or attempt to pick it up.
MANY more stories...
Ralph Wenzel lived a few blocks away....
Working for Lew at X-CELL....
Lending Kenny Stevens that same OS Max 35s....
Painting the floor at one of the early Mid-Am Distributors Lew owned...
Selling planes during a tornado at X-CELL...
Making Akromaster kits...
Sorry to run on.....  Memory flood.....
"Tight Lines!" H^^
Wes
Wes Eakin

Offline John Park

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #116 on: March 11, 2014, 12:35:41 PM »
Here's one from England: back in the early 1950s in Aldershot ('Home of the British Army'), in a little side street that linked the two main shopping streets of the town, was a TINY place that my father called 'Jean Standing's', which was mysterious because the name painted on the fascia was E STANDING: it wasn't until I was about nine that I heard the name Eugene, and the mystery was solved.  Gene Standing's model shop was a classic: there was hardly room for more than a couple of people in front of the counter, because the whole place was crammed with every kind of modelling merchandise you could imagine - aircraft and boat kits, a huge rack of balsa, another of dopes and enamels, shelves of accessories like wheels, props (including the only example I've ever seen of an 'Elmer' constant-speed feathering prop.) and, under the glass top of the counter, an array of English diesel engines, both aero and marine - ED, Mills, Amco, Elfin, Allbon, FROG - all diesels, of course, except the FROG 500.
There was a back room, and it was in there that second-hand engines would be test-run by prospective purchasers to see if they were worth buying.  Enter that place on a Saturday afternoon, as I usually did, and you found it thick with diesel exhaust fumes - the shop may have been tiny, but you could hardly see across it, let alone breathe: and of course, when an engine was running, even a little Mills .75 - the most civilised model aero engine in the known universe - you couldn't make yourself heard, either.  For an aeromodelling-mad kid in the '50s, it was Paradise, pure and simple.

All the best.
John
You want to make 'em nice, else you get mad lookin' at 'em!

Offline FLOYD CARTER

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #117 on: March 30, 2014, 01:42:18 PM »
deleted
looks like a repeat (short memory)
89 years, but still going (sort of)
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Offline Steve Scott

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #118 on: April 06, 2014, 11:54:13 AM »
I had never seen anything other than a plastic RTF Cox offering.  Most of my friends early '60s had one but never knew anyone who ever flew one.

Visiting Seattle and the downtown Bon Marche department store had a LARGE hobby shop up on the 4th floor.  Display cases with scale DC-3 (CL) and a large speed model on it's dolly and I think a Dynajet speed model.  Lots of other airplanes, engines, etc. which I never knew existed.  I was 12 and totally mesmerized.  Bought my first model magazine - the 1965 American Modeler featuring the '64 Dallas Nats writeup.  I wore that thing out, reading so much.

We were on our way to join my dad overseas at Clark AB in the Philippines.  They had a hobby shop on base with a few Foxes and many OS and Enya motors.  There was also an area in the rear of the shop for the airmen to build models.  It had only screens in the windows so you got 3-way ventilation year 'round.  Silk and Aerogloss seemed to be the dominant finishing method.

I finally got trained on a Cox PT-19 the built a Ringmaster/McCoy 35; Jr Nobler/Fox 19 and a Minnie Mambo/Cox .049.  Flew them all.

Offline WLGeorge

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #119 on: August 31, 2014, 09:36:02 PM »
Don Stills Hobby Haven in Beaumont Texas 1960.  Still there.  Been all over but Don is Still the best. Pun intended. Still go there. A wellspring of information on how to make my crooked airplanes fly straight.

Offline Phil Krankowski

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #120 on: August 31, 2014, 09:55:17 PM »
Wing's Hobby Shop, Lakewood Ohio.  The article on the business closing in Model Aviation was pretty accurate. 

I used to bike down on first my 1-speed, and later my 10-speed (about 1 1/2 miles from home), eventually driving (although parking was always difficult) for whatever suited my interests.  Model airplanes, Lionel trains, D&D... Always good people.

Then college, no time for fun and when I became interested again, and had time and money, the selection dwindled to trains, some books, and building materials with some toys thrown in for good measure.  Now it is 2 hours to visit my parents, so I hadn't been there in years.  I remember there were plywood shelves of model airplanes in the back of the store.  Stacks of kits, materials, and supplies.  The turn over was pretty quick too. 

I only had a couple 1/2a planes to call mine, both built with my parents.  (I still have them too, and don't fly them for fear of breaking them...quite unlike my recent builds) My parents flew cl too, and taught my older brothers and I to fly.  Dad flew combat and sport, Mom sport.  Only Dad ever competed. 

Also Hopkins airport had the flying circles, which are now part of the long runway.

Phil

Offline 50+AirYears

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #121 on: December 01, 2014, 10:38:22 PM »
I remember Wings well.  Last time I was there, they still had a number of Cleveland kits on display.  They had gotten pretty well away from model airplanes, as their customer base had changed with the local area getting overdeveloped.I used to be just a 15 minute drive from them.  Now, I have moved to South Carolina, where there doesn't seem to be as much in the way of well stocked hobby shops as there was in Northern Ohio.
Tony

Offline Mark OConnell

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #122 on: December 22, 2018, 07:58:22 PM »
I know it has been years since a post but I just discovered this thread. The first hobby shop I ever went to is Branford Hobbies in Branford Connecticut which I saw and talked my mom into stopping in 1964 when I was 7 years old. I was struck by all the airplane models but also by a large N Scale train layout the owner had in the front. The owners name was Frank and him and my mom started talking while I wandered around checking things out they had the old conversation where the owner Frank said excuse me ma'am you look very familiar. My mom introduced herself and said you also look familiar. After talking for a while it turned out that they both had worked for the A.C. Gilbert company in New Haven CT in the very early 1950's. Frank was a model maker and my mom was a secretary who of course had a different last name after marrying my dad. After that it was always easier to get mom to stop by when I said I have to get something and you can talk to Frank. His store is still open owned now by his son Mark ( Frank left us in 1997 I believe) and I stopped in to see Mark last night. But his store was over 20 miles away and when I was struggling to fly my Cox RTF's a new store opened in my hometown of Clinton, CT. It was a very small store called Dave's Hobbies. It was owned by a local guy who drove a tanker truck for Esso in the evenings. He had kits wood dope and glue and also engines and all the accessories for me to build my first "real" controlline airplane. It was a Sterling Beginers Spitfire with a Cox Babe Bee for power. I flew and busted and rebuilt that plane so many times that it ended up being more glue than wood. Dave also had a group that flew controlline at the local school field and me and my buddy Walt (who I still fly with today) would take our planes on our bicycles and fly with the big guys who all had Fox 35's and even some OS and Enya 35 size planes. But I think the real thing that got me addicted to this hobby was watching a local gentleman named Len Minnick who flew a Sterlin Skylark silk and doped res and black with Fox power do the complete stunt pattern. it was like wow there is way more to this than flying in circles and a loop or 2 thrown in. Branford hobbies is still there and I now live only 5 miles away but Dave's was razed to become a driveway fro the local tavern that was next door. Brings back some very fond memories of my early teen years.

Offline john e. holliday

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #123 on: December 22, 2018, 08:07:04 PM »
Great story and nothing like progress to eliminate some businesses. H^^
John E. "DOC" Holliday
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Offline Skip Chernoff

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #124 on: December 22, 2018, 09:18:42 PM »
I just found this old thread as well. The closest real hobby shop to me was about a 15 minute bus ride (or an hour walk) from my Philly neighborhood to Upper Darby Pa. (Danny Banjock grew up there BTW) The name of the shop was Todd's Hobbies. Todd's had everything from plastic kits to airplane stuff, trains and model boat gear. Typically I'd buy a Scientific "hollow log" for my BabyBee 049. Naturally you needed "sanding sealer,dope,thinner,brushes and then  a pint of Cox fuel.
 When not building flying models I enjoyed assembling the plastic car kits that we all grew up on. Todd's would have a yearly model car contest for the kids. I was proud to see my car on display in the shop window. Sometime around 1960 at the very beginning of the Go Kart craze my pals and I strolled into the shop to see 3 brand new racing karts for sale. We went totally nuts!!! At $180 dollars each they were way out of a kid's paper route money. Anyway,all of this brings back some great memories.......Skip

Offline 50+AirYears

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #125 on: December 22, 2018, 10:21:34 PM »
Just thinking that before I joined the USAF in 1964, I had 9 hobby shops within a half hour walk.  (Home Town population around 83,000)   Just before I moved to South Carolina, I had 2 hobby shops within a half hour DRIVE.  Now,  not counting several Hobby Lobbies, I have a 10 minute drive to a Hobbytown USA, a 20 minute drive to a Model RR oriented HS (yes, I am also into that), and about a 25 minute drive to a small local MA oriented shop.  That's in a quarter million or so population metro area.
Tony

Offline 944_Jim

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #126 on: December 22, 2018, 10:44:15 PM »
When: early to mid 1970's
Why: Parts for my AFX slot cars and the joy of watching the model train displays.
Where: Eric Fuchs Model Railroad Store, Tremont St, Downtown Boston, MA.
I first took the subway system to get to this shop for my slotcar parts. The model trains pulled me in, so one Christmas or a birthday (early February, so they blur together "in the fog of time"), I got an N scale loop of track with a loco and a couple cars. I had been building AMT/Revell plastic models as a smaller kid. The slotcars came at about the same time, followed by the trains.
Two or three times in the mid to late 70's my mom got me Cox airplanes for Christmas. Fuel was expensive, and hard to get. Fuchs had it! Over time, I'd ride my bicycle downtown for fuel. While the slotcars and trains dominated my attention in my early childhood...the string of Cox airplanes appeared under the tree, or for birthdays in my early teens. I had the Cessna, each of the "Wings" series, and an electric Spitfire. The Spit flat stunk after the internal battery stopped taking a charge!
Anyway, back to Fuch's. He had all sorts of balsa kits too! I took one of my engines down there so one of the counter dudes showed me a CG Stuntman 23. With kit and Ambroid in my backpack, I pedalled home to start my first balsa CL kit. Two more trips yielded dope...clear to seal, bright red for the entire finish. My mom pitted for me. Then a Fuch's-bought Lil Satan hung from the lines. A few years later I joined the Army, and basically left the hobby for the next 30+ years (there was a short period where I tried to stay "in the hobby" while on active duty, but my platoon sergeant didn't like dope in my wall locker).
My mom sees this hobby as a way for me to return to a simpler time in life. When I tried to bring my boys into the field a couple of years ago, she was visiting and got to watch all three of "her boys" fly...that is, me and my sons. I think at one point she was actually crying! Unfortunately, the hobby didn't stick with the boys...but it is keeping me young. I'm having a ball building and flying again. The smell of the fuel and dope snatches me back 40 years, and I'm so dug into the hobby that the storage closet (all 12'x5.75') in the garage is now being converted into my air conditioned hobby room!

Offline Al Takatsch

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #127 on: December 24, 2018, 05:18:44 PM »
My first hobby shop was Tom's Hobby Shop on the corner of Bleeker and Forest Ave in Ridgewood Queens, NY.
Got my first Ringmaster, McCoy .35 and U-Reely from him. I was 15 at the time. He mostly sold trains and dolls to pay the bills.

Wilson's Hobby Shop underneath the El on Jamaica Ave and 105th Street, Queens, NY. This was my favorite hobby shop. Run by the Tallest, biggest man I had ever met. His nickname was Tiny. He sold everything Control Line that I could ever imagine. The Flushing Meadows and Forest Park control liners all shopped there. After Tiny passed away, his son took over and sold lots of radio planes and cars.

Memories....

Offline Roger Vizioli

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #128 on: March 18, 2019, 04:26:40 PM »
Wykagyl Hobby - just outside of New Rochelle, NY heading toward Tuckahoe. 
Worked there in 1951-1953. Always sorted the incoming Firebaby kits (aka ARF's ;-) and noted which engine was included. I bought the ones with the WASP engines.  y1

Westchester Hobbies, White Plains,NY - customer there from 1953 - 1955. then learned about hot rods and full scale airplanes.

Anybody remember these Hobby Shops??? Maybe Bob Zambelli??,  Walter Umland??

Roger Vizioli
 
« Last Edit: March 19, 2019, 08:51:06 AM by Roger Vizioli »
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Offline Oldenginerod

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #129 on: December 06, 2019, 09:58:01 PM »
This will only mean something to those familiar with the Victoria, Australia model scene,'cos that's where I am.  Late sixties, early seventies I'd be a regular visitor to George Amiet's toy shop in Warragul.  Got my first Aeroflyte balsa rubber powered kit there.  Not sure what model it was, but there was a whole series of 12" span models that I tried to collect all of.  Then on our annual pre-Christmas trip to 'the big smoke" (Chadstone shopping centre) I'd have saved up enough to get another kit from Tim the Toyman.  That was my favourite place at Chadstone apart from the Hot Nut bar on the ground floor just as you entered Myers.  Couldn't resist those hot Cashews %^@
When I got a little older and could travel by train to Melbourne myself I'd head straight to the Model Dockyard or Hearn's Hobbies. (Hearn's Hobbies is still there).
I could only drool and imagine having the stuff I saw in those places.  (Still gotta learn to insert pictures.)
After that I discovered The Hobby Hangar in Caulfield which was a lower-key operation and a little more affordable for a poor farm boy.
Once I got into Control line at about 12 years old I frequented Tas Gray's shop in Drouin, about 15 minutes drive from home.  Got my first brand new engine there, an Enya .15.  Also got my beloved Jelly .177 air rifle.  It was an odd shop.  Tas was a locksmith, but also sold sporting goods, guns and model stuff.  He used to mix fuel for customers where you could get your old fuel can refilled.  No-one ever asked what was in it, but it seemed to work ok.
Sadly, every shop I used as a kid is gone apart from Hearn's Hobbies, but they no longer carry anything for builders.  No balsa, no nitro, no building supplies.  Just RTFs, drones and plastic scale kits.
Ah, the memories :-\

Offline C.T. Schaefer

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #130 on: December 08, 2019, 01:01:56 PM »
I just discovered this thread and it got me going a bit!  My first hobby shop was the Dog House in Livingston , N.J.  Although it was primarily a pet store he had nicely stocked airplane section. It had everything needed to get a 10 year old dreaming of owning a real airplane and drooling on the glass display counters! This place and the library were within easy walking distance. I would go to the library and read all of the M.A.N. magazines and then stop into DH to make sure the plane I wanted was in stock. Of course I wanted the McCoy .60 but decided to ask for the Stuntmaster and OK .074. That got me started on the road to being a flying modeler. Success did not come easily but after trashing a couple of planes I got the hang of it.
  Some time later I discovered Rich's Hobbytown. That place really set the hook! Not only did he have 3 circles, there was a tether car track and a tethered boat pond where guys would run their home made hydroplanes with home made engines in them! Total sensory overload. There was also a hot dog shack right next door! The best part though were the people I met there. I got to witness the possibilities of the models from folks who really knew what they were doing. John D'Ottavio and Larry Scarinzi inspired many of us and still do!  Got more but......      TS

Offline Dave Moritz

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #131 on: January 01, 2020, 05:08:09 PM »
Ah, it was Hoffman Hobby Shop in Iowa Falls, Iowa. The year was 1965. Sensory overload for sure what with the Cox engine displays and the slot car track. Traded some of my paper route money for a few the goodies on hand.

On a related topic, it seems to me that it was about this time that brighter and more radiant colors began to appear in advertising and in commercial production. Hoffman's product lines really showed that trend. It wasn't too much longer when fluorescent colors started to appear, and designers of model paints, planes and cars were among the early adapters. All this seemed so amazing to me.

Dave Mo...
It’s a very strange world we live in, Master Jack.” (4 Jacks and a Jill)

Offline Shorts,David

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #132 on: March 26, 2020, 09:54:53 AM »
STANDARD HOBBIES - Lodi and Stockton, California. The owner was a control line and r/c flier. He opened in 1970 and retired about 2000. I first went in when I was just a baby and would often stare at the kits after kits after kits. There was a stack of 1/2a kits, a stack of profile kits, then a couple built ups kits, like the SIG CHIPMUNK and the GIESEKE NOBLER. The rest of the kits were r/c, but that was okay too.

The ceiling was filled with enough models to spend a week staring at. I'd even get the discard catalogs and pretend I was flying all the planes.  That even became my first job, working at STANDARD HOBBIES till my twenties when Lanny retired and sold it all. Did I mention he was my dad?

During college I ventured into SHELDON HOBBIES in San Jose. My roommate showed up with a box of .049s from his grandpa and we grabbed a little kit at Sheldon's when it was still a true model shop (it's mostly cars and weird stuff now but still has some good hardware). That was my first time grabbing a handle since I was 5 and my first time having no trouble at all flying.

Now I enjoy R/C COUNTRY in Sacramento. R/C Country is a true hobby shop and yes it's still there. His control line section is adequate, but his rows of hardware are fantastic. Great employees who all fly (r/c) and know how to build.

Offline Mike Lauerman

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #133 on: May 07, 2020, 04:42:19 PM »
J&M, in San Carlos that Don Chandler mentioned: We went there weekly in '79-'82, recall finding my Japanese kit F8F Bearcat there...
Anyone remember Dr. Ralph Brooke that flew R/C early on, around Chicago area? Dr. Brooke imported many scale C/L Japanese kits cut by Japanese civilians right after WWII, marketed them thru AHC and the brothers' hobby building in NYC. Heavy, but 'scalelike', I first saw a DC 3 with 60" W.S., older gent flew it on 60 ft. lines, two O.K. .29s.

When married to ex wife #2, we moved around a lot. When we'd hit a new town, I'd scan the phone book for ALL the hobby shops. There was one in Oakland, on E.14th., or Telegraph...two older brothers ran it, they were C/L contest fliers, names escape me. But in '68, they had a stock of OLD stuff...Treasure!

Former partner Bonneville Butch used to shop at Reginald Denny's shop in Hollywood. Butch built/flew C/L since '46. Also in L.A., Tony and Addie (his Mom) Naccarado's hobby shop.
Tony's Mom would build balsa planes right in the front floor space of their shop, would converse...wonderful folks! I bought a Sterling Mr. Mulligan kit from them when I was down in Culver City for BMW school.

This has been a GREAT thread, very reassuring that I'm not the ONLY balsa addict! Stay well.

Offline Robert Zambelli

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #134 on: October 18, 2020, 07:00:32 PM »
Wykagyl Hobby - just outside of New Rochelle, NY heading toward Tuckahoe. 
Worked there in 1951-1953. Always sorted the incoming Firebaby kits (aka ARF's ;-) and noted which engine was included. I bought the ones with the WASP engines.  y1

Westchester Hobbies, White Plains,NY - customer there from 1953 - 1955. then learned about hot rods and full scale airplanes.

Anybody remember these Hobby Shops??? Maybe Bob Zambelli??,  Walter Umland??

Roger Vizioli

Brown's Hobby Shop, The Bronx!

Bob Z.

Offline Robert Zambelli

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #135 on: October 18, 2020, 07:02:27 PM »
There were quite a few hobby shops in the early days. For me it was the Hobby Center, a medium sized shop that had most of what was needed. AND THEN there was the grand daddy of them all, Orange Blossom Hobbies. It was the largest hobby shop in this section of the country with a wholesale operation in the back. It had airplane, car, boat, and railroad departments. The owner died, then his son ran the business into the ground. It is now a drug store.

Who was the owner????

Offline Walter Hicks

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #136 on: November 26, 2020, 11:39:51 AM »
Hobby Haven, Visalia,Ca had a small slot car track also. Had tons of Cox planes hanging on the ceiling. We lived in a very small town Three Rivers,Ca and my Mom would go once a month to Visalia,Ca to shop. She would drop me off at the hobby shop with a bunch of quarters to run my slot cars. Got my first "big" kit a Goldberg Shoestring there. I was given a McCoy 35 red head and flew that plane with the McCoy. Later on in the late 70s it was the best of the best T&A Hobby Shop in North Hollwood,Ca ? Tony And Addie Nacarato, stuff everywhere, and seems they were always building something in the shop. Tons of planes hanging from the ceiling. Later I would drive from Kingsburg,Ca to T&A once in while to get stuff. Fortunate now Medford,Oregon has a hobby shop. Al's' bicycle and hobby. Half Bicycles and half hobby. The local R/C club actually has lots of people that build kits and scratch build so lots of stuff in the local hobby shop. Hardware, fuel, lots of Balsa wood, etc, Brodak ,Sig dope, Props, good people. Also Eugene,Or Toys and Hobbies has lots of stuff.Eugene toy and Hobbies used to bring a U Haul truck to the Northwest Regionals contest and sell C/L Stuff on site.

Offline GallopingGhostler

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #137 on: November 26, 2020, 07:44:48 PM »
1964 at Keesler AFB, Biloxi, MS, was a 4th grader. Remembered the Scientific kits, many of them on the shelves to include other manufacturers. The services squadron sold them below retail basically at cost plus. My 1st CL kit build about a year later was Scientific (Musciano) stand way off scale 18" wingspan built up fuselage and silkspan covered wing Grumman F6F Hellcat. My dad supplied me with a Cox .020 Pee Wee. Also built many rubber powered Comet kits, learned stick and tissue from that. Largest was 32" span Sparky. For a 12 YO, that model was huge.

Offline Mike Krizan

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #138 on: August 09, 2021, 05:11:49 AM »
Marshall’s Hobby Shop Austin Tx.  Castor oil and dope fragrance in the air.  Mike Krizan

Offline doug coursey

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #139 on: November 11, 2021, 02:16:03 PM »
Orange Blossom Hobby shop in Miami....there was a lot of control line flyers in Miami then in the 50's
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Online Donald Main

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #140 on: January 05, 2022, 02:17:29 PM »
Hobby Fair on the northwest side of Indy. Cut grass to earn money to buy airplanes and engines. Then Westside hobbies as Hobby Fair closed

Offline Bill Gibson

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #141 on: February 02, 2022, 02:29:50 AM »
Some time around '67 '68 i went into a hobby Shop in Clearwater Fl......i was 10 years old and i saw things that just opened up a whole new world of FUN for me, and i've never really looked back! My basement is now the model workshop i always dreamed of.......and im  RETIRED! :D :)

Offline alfred whitehurst

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #142 on: March 25, 2022, 12:18:03 PM »
Geneva and Elinor's Hobby Shop, Los Banos, California--a small farming community in the middle of the Central Valley--1964.  These ladies sold and serviced Schwinn bikes, and stocked a very complete inventory of free flight and control line models and accessories.  But they were much, much more than mere merchants--
When you walked through the door, Geneva would most likely be pulling on a wrench on someone's bent Sting Ray, and Elinor was around back in "The Model Room."  "The Model room" . . . where the ladies had set up level tables covered in cork board where they would help their young customers, patiently and step- by- step, through the building process, from unwrapping the box through mounting the engine, tank and wheels.

Then on Sunday morning, they'd--both of them, driving their '61 Buick the called "Black Beauty," meet the new pilot at the wide open high school field and test fly the new airplane, then teach the cadet to earn his--or her-- wings--sometimes without even the almost obligatory, "what the heck am I doing?" crash.  Geneva, who stood about 4'11," would crank up the redhead McCoy .19 on the front of their all-forest green Ringmaster, get it into the air, and call the trainee out to hold hi--my--hand on the red plastic "hot rock" control handle until trainee had the feel.  Elinor would take pictures on her old Brownie, and I still have pictures of me after my first landing.

But more than the building and flying, the learning to love the smell of castor oil and to tolerate the sharp smell of fresh butyrate--here's what really set these two lovely girls apart:  They taught a bunch of us youngsters about responsible credit.  They'd sell you a model, an engine, finishing and flying products and gear, and they'd allow you the use of their model room, and all their experience and expertise--all at $2.00 down, and $2.00 a week.  You had to make payments by every Friday, and if you missed a week, you couldn't build until you caught up--no interest, no penalties.  But the finished model stayed in the shop until you paid up.

These girls had serious cajones.  They settled in a small, conservative farming community in the 1950's--lived together, drove Harleys in their spare time, and made no excuses for their, let's say "unconventional" lifestyle.

Roll forward to 1980--My brother and I enlisted my wife to launch our Voodo and Spectrum, respectively, out at the high school.  Elinor was not in town that weekend.  Geneva heard the unmuffled Fox .36 x, and came out to watch the (pretty amateur) combat--really more like rat racing . . .

Geneva was pretty impressed with the consistency of the run with the pen bladder setup on my Voodoo.  she lamented her inability to handle the dizziness she expeienced as she'd aged, but speculated that with the way the Voodoo behaved with that engine, why would she need to circle?  So I replaced the 60' lines with my never-before-used 70' "Perfect" .018 seven strands.  My brother cranked up the Voodoo, I got it in the air, and Geneva jogged out, took the handle, and spent the next three minutes on loops, eights, and outside loops.  she only went around three, maybe four times.  When I rolled up the lines, there was only one twist.  Geneva always kept track of her loops vs. outside loops.

These ladies sdeserve a plaque.

Al Whitehurst

Offline Art Schmitt

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #143 on: June 11, 2022, 10:28:54 AM »
STANDARD HOBBIES - Lodi and Stockton, California. The owner was a control line and r/c flier. He opened in 1970 and retired about 2000. I first went in when I was just a baby and would often stare at the kits after kits after kits. There was a stack of 1/2a kits, a stack of profile kits, then a couple built ups kits, like the SIG CHIPMUNK and the GIESEKE NOBLER. The rest of the kits were r/c, but that was okay too.

The ceiling was filled with enough models to spend a week staring at. I'd even get the discard catalogs and pretend I was flying all the planes.  That even became my first job, working at STANDARD HOBBIES till my twenties when Lanny retired and sold it all. Did I mention he was my dad?

During college I ventured into SHELDON HOBBIES in San Jose. My roommate showed up with a box of .049s from his grandpa and we grabbed a little kit at Sheldon's when it was still a true model shop (it's mostly cars and weird stuff now but still has some good hardware). That was my first time grabbing a handle since I was 5 and my first time having no trouble at all flying.

Now I enjoy R/C COUNTRY in Sacramento. R/C Country is a true hobby shop and yes it's still there. His control line section is adequate, but his rows of hardware are fantastic. Great employees who all fly (r/c) and know how to build.

Sheldon's got a LOT of my paycheck in the 90's! It's too bad they couldn't sell OS engines.
How about P.E.C hobbies in (Mountain View?) or San Antonino Hobbies "up the street" in San Antonino?

Offline George Fruhling

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #144 on: August 09, 2022, 09:39:21 PM »
In the 1970's the hobby shop on base, at Naval Air Station Memphis, "NAS Memphis" in Millington TN always dad a great selection of control line models and engines. Same with balsa and hardware for scratch building.  Great prices AND no sales tax. And right outside was the flying circle. Just don't try flying with 70 foot lines.  A certain tree got a bit too large for that.  But there was a nice, 6 foot diameter concrete pad in the center. 


Offline Robert Zambelli

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #145 on: May 29, 2023, 04:49:47 PM »
For me, the start was Thompson's Sporting Goods and Hobbies, on North Seventh St in my hometown, Vineland, NJ.
I started going there in the early 50s and got to know the owner, Mrs Thompson, quite well.
A section of the store was dedicated to model aircraft and she had an incredible display of model kits, mostly Sterling (Vineland was around 30 miles south of Philadelphia) and PDQ (in the neighboring town of Millville). She even had some speed kits - Hell Razors and Speedwagons.
One time she made me a special offer: Since glow was "in" and spark was "out", she showed me a shoebox FULL of spark coils and Champion spark plugs, telling me I could have them FOR FREE. No, I didn't take them. Young and stupid, I guess. I was around eight years old.
We moved to the Buffalo area in 1954 and I never saw the hobby shop again   :'(.  I'm sure it's long gone.
But then we found Burd's Hobby shop on Delaware ave, in Tonawanda, NY. But, that's a story for another time.

Bob Z.

Offline Robert Whitley

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #146 on: May 29, 2023, 10:41:28 PM »
Moro-Craft in Edmonton, Alberta.
1/24&HO slot car tracks and all kinds of model airplane supplies but not much that was really modern for the day. (Early ‘70s)
R&M Hobbies which had awesome quality balsa and locally brewed fuel. They always had a really good selection of modern engines, kits and hardware.
Another really good shop was Northern Hobbies but I never went there very often since it was quite a ways across the city for me to get to.
Later another good hobby shop called Sunflight Hobbies opened. It too was pretty good.
Of course most of the owners and staff in all these shops were model builders themselves.

All are long gone and we now have Great Hobbies and Wholesale Hobbies both of which have helpful staff but not much for controlline. They both are generous with gift card donations for our annual contest.


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