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Author Topic: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?  (Read 62891 times)

Offline Shultzie

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MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« on: September 16, 2008, 10:42:51 AM »
So maaaaaaaaaaaaany shops!!!
First addiction, perhaps like so maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaany of us that help feed our first addictions.....had to be AHC advertising in every major model mag-rag.

But my first real addiction was fed by a little hobby shop that was located across from the Iowa State Fairgounds in DesMoines Iowa. It was located just a short distance from my Woodrow Wilson grade and jr. high school.
Even more addicting...it was located on the sidewalk on my way home from school. My twin sister Mary Jo and I would stop in every day to spend our school lunch money change to buy candy or peanuts or a bottle of coke-aaaah-cola from their machines just inside the shop door.
Hummm?
Not only did they feed my habit for cola n candy...BUT FAR AND WAY WORSE!!! MY LIFE LONG ADDICTION TO MODELING!!!
For example...right next to the candy machines...were those little "GOOD TO GO" balsa wood gliders & rubber powered models that were priced almost as cheaply as those sweet toothed snacks.
It wasn't long before my sister Mary was walking the rest of the way home...and tattle-talin' to my grandmother about how I would often save and then spend my lunch money...ON MY NEW ADDICTION TO MODELING!!!

I KNOW ANYONE LURKING..MUST HAVE THEIR OWN "HOBBY ADDICTION STORY?"
Trust me...YOU WILL FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLL! SO MUCH BETTA...if you just...
"STOP!"
Lay down on Sparky's website internet COUCH and SHARE YOUR OWN ADDICTION STORY WITH US?
Don Shultz

Offline Just One-eye

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #1 on: September 16, 2008, 11:42:04 AM »
I was in a town of 5,000 when I started building model planes.  I didn't know that enough people were interested in models to have a store just for hobby stuff until I was almost 11, I think.  All of my early supplies were purchased at a variety store that didn't offer much selection.  Then, a couple of teenagers began bringing their CL glow planes to the football practice field below the Junior High, that was just across some vacant lots from where I lived, and before they decided to ignore me any time I didn't have money in hand for their castoffs, I learned that their hardware came from one or another of two stores some 30 miles away in the nearest city. 

I further never realized that model building was of interest to adults as well as to kids, or that entire monthly magazines about the hobby were being published until I actually was inside my first hobby shop, Jefferson Hobbies, after we moved to Texas. 

Offline Joe Gilbert

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #2 on: September 16, 2008, 04:04:59 PM »
Mays Hobby shop in Sapulpa Oklahoma, she had lots of stuff. We raced Slot Cars there also. Trains, airplanes and lots of stuff she had a Fire Baby left over from the old days and dad got it to play with. Every body that flew control lint in Sapulpa flew it for fun. This was in 1966.
Joe Gilbert

Offline Dave Nyce

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #3 on: September 16, 2008, 04:15:10 PM »
I don't like to use the word addiction, but I knew I had to fly more, right after my first flight on my cousin's Li'l Jumpin' Bean. I crashed the plane after about 3 turns, but was thrilled by the experience. We went to the local hobby shop later that day. My family was visiting my cousin's family in Florida, so I don't remember the name of that hobby shop. I built the wing while we were still in Florida, and finished the plane when I got back home in Pennsylvania. After that, I flew a lot, and also started a local club. Believe it or not, the best palce I found to buy plane kits and engines in my area was at the local J.C. Penney's store. Babe Bee engines were $2.99.

The first hobby shop that I really liked, a few years later, was the Penn Valley Hobby Center in Lansdale, PA. It is still in business.

Dave
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Offline Dave Nyce

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #4 on: September 17, 2008, 12:30:47 PM »
I forgot to mention that the Babe Bee engines for $2.99 at J.C. Penney's was around 1961.

Dave
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Offline Bill Heher

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #5 on: September 17, 2008, 05:28:58 PM »
The 1st place I remember was a SS Kresge's in Beloit WI, the box display of 5, 10, 15, and 25 cent gliders and rubber powered planes, kites and plastic kits.

Then a few shops in the Wilmington NC area my dad took me to but they were too far to ride my bike, so mostly it was plastic kits from the 7-11 ( imagine a 7-11 with models!).

My first Hobby Store hangout was a little place on Main St in Roswell NM. I went there 3-5 time a week to thumb the magazines, drool over the kits and wait until I had a $1.95 for a Sterling 1/2 A profile warbird.

Finally- Benners Bike and Hobby, downtown Grand Forks ND. They had it all, bikes, model kits of all types, science stuff, a huge  slot car track and rental cars, plus a whole annex just for balsa kits FF / CL / RC, engines of all types, Aero - Gloss Dope, Ambroid, Sig-ment, Silk-Span you name it. The guys working the annex would let me open kits and look at the plans, put props on engines and flip them over, read the magazines, pretty much anything to keep me from asking them another 20 questions. It was a sad day when I saw the Gong out of Business Sale sign.

Good times back then- but good times are still around , just gotta look a bit harder.
Bill Heher
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Offline john e. holliday

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #6 on: September 18, 2008, 09:14:26 AM »
The White Church Hardware Store was where I would go to get my Scientific kits.  My Guillows Rat Racer and 35 size engine that I have been told didn't exist at that time came from Charley's Hobby Shop down at 18th and Chelsea in KCK.  That is where I learned about the flying circle at City Park.  Mr Brooks is the one who put the initial flights on the plane and told me about the Flying Eagle Model Airplane Club.  Even after I moved to southern Missouri it was Charley's Shop when I needed something.  When he didn't have it was Americas Hobby Center in New York.  When I moved back to KC it was to Charley's to let him know I was back in town.  A young man with a shotgun put him out of business for ever.  We have not had a decent shop since.  Hobby Haven in Overland Park was close.  Now I am afraid to go to new shops I hear about as they don't stay in business very long.  Oh, I almost forgot Jim's Key & Hobby on Central Avenue in KCK.  Still Having fun,  DOC Holliday
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Offline Michael Brooks

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #7 on: September 19, 2008, 08:24:57 AM »
Ah yes, Charley's. I remember his shop well. Not been in one I liked half as much since I moved from KCK to Arkansas. Hey, Doc. Do you remember Mr. Brooks's first name? I wondered if might have been my dad?

Mike
« Last Edit: September 19, 2008, 04:28:12 PM by Michael Brooks »
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Offline Bootlegger

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #8 on: September 19, 2008, 02:41:47 PM »
      H^^  Ulmer's hobby shop in Baton Rouge, La. it was just about 4-5 block's from my Aunt's home, and I would walk when we visited her, the time was about 1955-56 and he had several Barnstormer's with Fox 29's and 35's. Man, I would sit and "daydream" about flying one of these model's !!
  All the "older" guy's flew the Barnstormer, so I had top have one also, never got to fly it though as a girl cousin of mine managed to get it off the freezer.... it never was the same after that.
  Shoultzie, you sure do have a nack for trips "down memory lane".  Thanks,    y1
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Offline Steve Helmick

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #9 on: September 21, 2008, 09:46:43 PM »
Hmmmm. I was thoroughly addicted to model airplanes long before I ever saw a real hobby shop. Many hobby visits were to the base PX, wherever we were. Many others to the hobby department of some local store, the last of those I recall being "The Empire Dept. Store" in Pullman, WA. Didn't have much except the basics, but they were pretty good about getting what you wanted. Can't say that for our LHS, these days. Last week, I was in the LHS, and the guy (that flat lied to me before) was busy flying an electric toy helicopter up & down the aisles. I was looking for all the hardware twirly display thingys, and they're gone. But I digress.

The first really astounding hobby shop I encountered was Barney Snyder's Model Craft, somewhere in LA. We got by there once every month or two, while we lived at Edwards AFB. There were some good ones in the Seattle area, but none of them lasted all that long. Easy to understand why, if you have any business schoolin' at all. Too much inventory, expensive to display twiddly stuff that sells for pennies, persnickety customers, high rent, inventory taxes...  R%%%% Steve
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Offline john e. holliday

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #10 on: September 22, 2008, 08:27:09 AM »
Ah yes, Charley's. I remember his shop well. Not been in one I liked half as much since I moved from KCK to Arkansas. Hey, Doc. Do you remember Mr. Brooks's first name? I wondered if might have been my dad?

Mike

Can't recall first name as that period in time we always addressed adults as Mr or Mrs.  He did have a new born that grew up to be Dennis Brooks a young man that I helped get really started in control line competition.  Then he went the route of RC and the giant scale planes.  He said his dad was killed in a plane accident.  DOC Holliday
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Offline Leo Mehl

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #11 on: September 26, 2008, 09:07:54 AM »
It was during ww2 and there were a lot of military planes at Gieger field in Spokane. One day I went into town and ended up at the hobby shop there. There was a beatiful New Ruler free flight hanging there with a Motor on it. Boy was I a watent person then. But alas, I could not afford such a plane so I bought a stick Model. I built a lot of them during the war with thier pressed paper formers and basswood stringers, but I learned how to build them and I used to set them on fire and toss them off the Garage roof. I been sort of goofy every since. HB~> HB~> HB~> HB~>

Offline Scott B. Riese

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #12 on: September 26, 2008, 10:22:48 AM »
Art Mays Camera and Hobby ...Bismark N.D.
Ed's Camera Corner.... Portland Or
Strictly RC...Portland Or
RC and More... Portland Or
Scott Riese
Portland, Oregon
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Offline Ralph Wenzel (d)

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #13 on: September 26, 2008, 09:15:38 PM »
Originally enough, it was The Hobby Shop in Lexington, KY. On Main Street down near Broadway. Of course, 8 or 10 years later, I discovered Joyner's Bike Shop, which was 10x as good!

Ralph
(Too many irons; not enough fire)

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Offline Richard Grogan

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #14 on: October 01, 2008, 02:27:03 AM »
Zempter's Hobby Shop in old downtown Lake Charles. It was next to the Paramount movie theater. Just a hole in the wall but twas the place that did it for me. They got ALL of my lawn mowing money! They were also a Bell Hearing Aid dealer and I guess thats how they really kept the doors open. All gone now like the rest...sighh
Later on my brother opened up Jim's Hobby shop for about 5 years.I worked there a few summers.He had too many "good buddies" that all got discounts and helped him close the doors too.
Long Live the CL Crowd!

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Offline walter weatherford

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #15 on: October 01, 2008, 03:07:00 PM »

State Line Hobby Shop, Kansas City Mo. 1955.  I got a Ringmaster, K & B 35 Greenhead, lines, weird handle, dope,etc.

I built the plane and the owner took me to Swope Park and taught me to fly.  Bought  a McCoy 36, and more

Rings.

Hothandle


Offline Don Curry AMA 267060

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #16 on: October 01, 2008, 10:33:27 PM »
Jim Easton's Hobby Shop s.e. 92nd and Division in Portland Or. There is a freeway exit there now.

Don

Offline Leo Mehl

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #17 on: October 03, 2008, 10:09:52 AM »
Jim Easton's Hobby Shop s.e. 92nd and Division in Portland Or. There is a freeway exit there now.

Don
Arn't you retired now? Have you flown your Actic Fox Yet? Welcome aboard! H^^ H^^ H^^ H^^

Offline Don Curry AMA 267060

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #18 on: October 03, 2008, 09:55:30 PM »
Hi Leo: Yep I am finally retired. That last month was a killer. The Fos is still on the bench.I am still fighting the dizzies so I will save it for later.

Don

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #19 on: October 06, 2008, 11:38:10 AM »
I remember a lot of places but the one that was always a treat because it was close enough to ride my bike to was Sumner's Trading Post. It was a nice old fashioned hardware store that also did model airplanes. I can still see the firebaby hanging in the front window and especially the Fox Black head Combat Special sitting in the display case. I bought a lot of Fox Super Fuel and Testor's 39 there. We burned it up 2oz at a time in Fox 15's and TD Baby Bees. Dawn to dusk.......

Offline David Shad

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #20 on: October 08, 2008, 01:53:51 PM »
My grandad (mom's dad) had one of those little drug store...sundries type
places that they now call a convenience store in Jacksonville Fla. in 1960.
We lived in Valdosta Ga. then about two hours away but would visit every couple of months and even more often in the summers. He started my younger
brother Steve and I out on rubber powered models then gave me my first cox PT-19 shortly thereafter and I never looked back. I just got my brother Steve back into it when we met at the KOI contest in Jacksonville after more than 30 years off into the darkside. I brought an ARF Flitestreak with a LA.25 on it and he smiled from the moment he picked up the handle till he lawndarted it trying..I fixed it in one evening with a new prop and i'll bet he is still smiling.  We had a blast together 45 years ago and we still love it.
Big Dave AMA 80235

Offline EddyR

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #21 on: October 09, 2008, 06:00:05 AM »
 I grew up in hobby shops.
Ed
« Last Edit: October 14, 2013, 11:08:34 AM by Ed Ruane »
Locust NC 40 miles from the Huntersville field

Offline Jerry Eichten

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #22 on: October 13, 2008, 09:11:09 PM »
Don's Hobbies on Front Street in Mankato, Minnesota.  The airplane kits were leaning on one end up high on the left wall as you'd walk in.  I still remember how HUGE those kit boxes looked after all the 1/2As I had built. 
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Offline Leo Mehl

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #23 on: October 15, 2008, 10:46:18 AM »
Don's Hobbies on Front Street in Mankato, Minnesota.  The airplane kits were leaning on one end up high on the left wall as you'd walk in.  I still remember how HUGE those kit boxes looked after all the 1/2As I had built. 
That is probably why you don't build half "a'S now.That's a good thing. My moto, Nothin smaller than a 15.

Offline Randy Ryan

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #24 on: October 17, 2008, 09:17:51 PM »
Joe's Hobby Shop on Wyoming in Detroit. What a great place. Dope and fuel smells and walls and shelves stacked to the ceiling with kits. I would go down on Saturday's with my Dad and while he'd shoot the s--- with the hangers out, I'd explore. I could never see it enough, and walking past the engine case, I couldn't wait to get one of those big engines that the exhaust came out the stack instead of the OK Cubs I had. I saved my money and bought my first kit there, a Jetco Trooper glider, it was $1.19 and that's exactly what I had. When I went to pay for it the guy said I had to pay sales tax, 5 more cents. I was crushed, and told him I didn't have it. He looked at me and made me promise to bring it the next time I came in and I got a nichol and held it for just that time. When it finally came and I tried to pay my "taxes" , he swore he didn't remember, so I added a nichol and bought a tube of Comet cement. Joe's is still around by name, but far from the mecca it was in the '30s-'60s, and no longer in Detroit but ironically in the suburb where I grew up.
« Last Edit: October 18, 2008, 01:47:36 PM by Randy Ryan »
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Offline john e. holliday

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #25 on: October 18, 2008, 07:40:27 AM »
You can't find a shop like that now, but, now we have the big credit card people to help us out when we don't have the cash.   Charley at Charley's Hobby Shop would let me make payments on an engine I really wanted.  Stipulation was that family came first, in other words as he would always state, "Don't rob Peter to pay Paul".  It is still with me and I guess why I worked so much over time when I could get it.  Having fun,  DOC Holliday
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Offline bob werle

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #26 on: October 21, 2008, 10:48:35 AM »
 AP^
ama 5871

Offline bob werle

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #27 on: October 21, 2008, 10:51:24 AM »
My first was Stantons in Chicago.  The entire ceiling was covered with hanging models both FF and C/L
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Offline Chris McMillin

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #28 on: October 22, 2008, 12:42:00 PM »
We moved to Chicago when I was 5 years old. Dad bought a bunch of PDQ and Veco kits from a mail order wholesaler under his company name of BAC, Best Air Craft. BAC owned all of our family airplanes too. Dad would go to the hobby shops with guys his age, I was in school or something.
I do remember going to Stanton's and Lee's. I don't remember which was which from that time, just the Comet airliner with Dyna Jets hanging from the ceiling.
I think when I was older and we were visiting the Nats in Chicago, Bob Whitely, Al Rabe, Tom Lay, Dad and I went to Lee's and Dad bought me a used Super Tigre 35 or 40 R/C from the used engine bin. It was for a Scale Class I Carrier model I never built, a "Dave Gierke and Jerry Worth finish" inspired Charlie Reeves Airabonita.
I was around 13 when he bought me a Guillows Trainer III and a JRoberts outfit for Christmas so the engine was probably a 35.
I remember riding my bike to Colonel Bob's when they moved to Costa Mesa from Los Angleles. We had settled in Huntington Beach, CA and the store was pretty big, lot's of kits and good hardware for a while. It was gone by second year of High School (1975) as I remember driving there when they were going out of business and bought a Guillows Triplane I converted to C/L with, of all things, a Tee Dee 049.
I still go to Evett's in Santa Monica for stuff now that I live in Pacific Palisades. Christmas presents and stuff too. Colby is still there and building models in the back for Hollywood and modelers. They cemebrated 60 years in business this summer!
Chris...

Offline Shultzie

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #29 on: October 24, 2008, 05:56:33 PM »
Nice story, Chris.....
Hey CHRIS AND GRUNTS...this favorite and great photo of Chris and is Dad....pretty much says it all!!!
Don Shultz

Offline Leo Mehl

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #30 on: October 26, 2008, 09:49:43 AM »
Nice story, Chris.....
Hey CHRIS AND GRUNTS...this favorite and great photo of Chris and is Dad....pretty much says it all!!!
Chris's dad has a Grish 3 bladded prop on that smoothy I remember using one of the 9/6's on one of my planes back in the sixties. I had to because most of the flying fields in those days were grass. The prop felt like mush when you did a corner but they didn't have many 3 bladed props in those days.
Nice Picture of Chris and his dad, Boy you used to take a lot of Pictures in those days. I am suprised that you don't have Camera elbow to go along with your Carpul Tunnew or windyyyyy TTTTTunnnnel!
 Keep thos Pictures comming Donnie! H^^ H^^ H^^ H^^
« Last Edit: October 26, 2008, 05:25:58 PM by Leo Mehl »

Offline Douglas Babb

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #31 on: November 01, 2008, 11:27:26 AM »
My uncle owned a slot car track in the sixties in National City, Ca. I used to like going to the distributor with him to check out the models and stuff on the shelves, not one or two but cases worth, the smell of the balsa storage was worth the trip. Engines were in another spot stacked by the hundreds or it seemed that way to a young kid at the time and occasionally I would be able to leave with something to build or fly but it was never the ones that I really lusted after. There was another hobby shop in town that catered to model planes and that was where I bought my stuff after the slot car business was closed, still remember the owner telling me not to handle the balsa  :-\, but he did sell 1/2a kits in a deal where you bought the kit and got a babe bee for half or free depending on the sale and/or his mood or you could opt for dope and glue. All gone now but there are still a few stores in San Diego but you have to hit the freeway to get there. I now live in PA and Penn Valley is only a couple miles away so I have a good shop locally.

Offline Paul Taylor

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #32 on: November 02, 2008, 08:16:03 PM »
I went with my best friends family up to Boston as a kid. We both bought 1/2a balsa kits. Took them back to Va. Beach and flew them in his back yard with Golden Bees back in the early 70's. When my step dad got transfered to Millington Navy base, my mom would go out to the base once a month to shop. I would asked to get dropped off at the base hobby shop. I would spend hours in the hobby shop. They bought me a Cox RTF Mustang and I flew the paint off of it.
As I got older, I discoverd Action Hobby's owned by Lester Goldsmith in Memphis where I bought my first big plane. Ackromaster with a McCoy .19.
Paul
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Online Bob Hunt

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #33 on: November 05, 2008, 06:57:45 AM »
There were only two local hobby shops in my area when I was a kid. One was Roscoe's and it was located in Hillside, New Jersey. Roscoe had a limited stock, but for some reason we went there fairly often just to check it out. The better of the two was Clito's, and it was located on Morris Avenue in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Ironically it was situated almost directly across the street from the hospital in which I was born (Might be a connection there...). That hospital, by the way, was nothing more than a large home that was converted. It no longer exists...

Can't remember exactly when my dad started taking me to Clito's, but I know I was very young. The thing I remember most - and what is still vivid in my mind to this day - was the smell of the place, Actually I prefer to think of it as an "aroma." The strong scent of model dope always filled the air, but it was blended with the aroma of acetone, and various other liquids that must have been spilled on the floor of the shop over the years.

The other thing that remains vivid in my mind were the exquisite rubber powered models that were hanging all over the place from the ceiling. These were all made from early stick and tissue kits I'm sure, but they just looked amazingly perfect to me.

This was the hobby shop that all the UMAC (Union Model Airplane Club) members frequented, and that included the legendary Red Reinhardt and Larry Scarinzi. Going there when they were present was a delight, as they would be telling stories about building and flying and everyone in attendance would be hanging on every word. Red eventually was banned from the shop for a few weeks after he pulled a prank. He selected a piece of 1/8 inch diameter music wire from the wire rack and placed it atop the glass-topped main cabinet at the back of the shop. He then placed one finger on the wire to hold it. Only the very end of the wire was actually on the cabinet; the rest of it was hanging off the edge. He "twanged" the wire so that it was moving up and down as it was cantlivered off the edge, and then he began to slowly draw the wire towards the cabinet, still holding it under his finger. As the end hanging over the edge got shorter, the oscillations of the wire became more frequent until, when the wire was almost totally drawn onto the cabinet, the resonance frequency of the glass was reached, and then POW! The wire broke the glass in a clean line from front to back! Clito was enraged and threw Red out of the shop, That didn't last too long, as the story goes, because Red was such a draw. If Red (and Larry) shopped there, then it was the place to buy modeling supplies!

I also remember the bin of balsa behind the main cabinet (which, to my knowledge was never repaired...). Clito carried Testors brand balsa mainly, but I also remember seeing Sig balsa there when it first became available. The prices on the balsa were amazing. I remember a piece of 1.16 x 3 x 36 inch balsa costing 10 cents!

In the mid 1950s my dad was very busy just trying to make ends meet. He didn't have too much time or money to spend on modeling. I was a very lucky young man as my step-grandfather was quite wealthy. He was the owner of E.J. Handler and Sons, a concern that made virtually all of the then used dental office equipment. He was actually retired from daily work, but still kept his hand in the business. He had lots of spare time and he loved me like a son. He would lavish all sorts of attention (and dollars) on my interests. He bought me my first really good drafting tool set (which I still have to this day!) and loads of balsa, modeling tools and glue so that I could practice building. We made very frequent trips to Clito's hobby Shop. Until "Poppy" (as my step-grandfather was known to me) started taking me to that shop, Clito hardly ever acknowledged that I was alive. Funny how increased revenue will change a man's perspective. When Poppy and I came through the door, Clito always had a smile on his face and something good to say! He was normally a very grumpy individual as I recall from my earlier visits without Poppy... 

Clito also sold stamps for collectors and some train stuff as well. I guess that the hobby business started to suffer even then from competition from early mail order houses. America's Hobby Center, or AHC as it became known, was advertising heavily in the model magazines of the time and they offered many attractively priced package deals as well as great pricing on individual items. The President of our Union Model Airplane Club was a man named Vernon Davies, and he worked in New York City - where AHC was located. He arranged a great 40 percent discount deal for the club and began taking weekly (yes, we met weekly in those days!) orders from the members for hobby supplies. He would purchase the merchandise at AHC on his lunch hour and then bring it to the meetings for dispersal. I remember helping him -along with other junior club members - bring in the mountains of Ringmaster kits, Fox .35 engines, and all sorts of other neat stuff week after week after week... I think that is what really killed Clito's business.

Ah memories...

Bob Hunt     

 

Offline Shultzie

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #34 on: November 05, 2008, 10:26:59 AM »
Thanks Bob...
Speaking of memories...I just have to run this all time favorite shot of a model makin' family that shows sooooooooooooooo much LOVE, PRIDE, RESPECT AND DOIN GREAT THINGS TOGETHER.
The quality of my zzzrocks' & scan suckuth that I coped from AAM?...If  you still have that great photo in your collection. It would be great to see if you could grab that ditzitzeee' camera and show the real thing on this Grunt of the Day thangie?'

Thanks for taking the time to share your Hobby shop story with us.

« Last Edit: July 12, 2009, 09:18:31 AM by Shultzie »
Don Shultz

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #35 on: November 05, 2008, 10:54:07 AM »
Ouch! I hate that photo! Not because of the content, but because of the squinty-face that I am displaying. Here's the story on that...

I have very sensitive eyes and will always wear very dark sunglasses at the field. Some might have noticed that I actually wear two pairs of sunglasses when I fly - one normal pair of dark glasses and a pair of "fit-overs" that are also very dark.

The lady who took that cover shot, Ruth Chen, asked me to remove my glasses for the photos she wanted to take. The first one she took was while my eyes were still trying to adjust. I asked her not to submit that one, and she agreed - then she went ahead and  submitted it anyway! Oh well.

At least my son and my father look handsome in that photo! All kidding aside, I was very pleased to have that memory and I'm really not mad at Ruth, who went on to become a good friend.

Later - Bob

Offline Shultzie

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #36 on: November 05, 2008, 11:24:59 AM »
Bob!!
DOES SHE STILL HAVE THE ONE THAT YOU WANTED TO HAVE PUBLISHED...or another one showing you and the FLYING HUNT CLAN??? H^^
Don Shultz

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #37 on: November 05, 2008, 09:17:13 PM »
Probably, but she is a professional and a lot of film (pixels...?) have been expended by her since that photo was taken. If she is organized - and I'll bet she is... - then she wil have the negs. I'll try to get in touch with her. I haven't talked with her form some time now, and she was getting pretty long in the tooth the last time I saw her. I hope she's still with us. I'll contact Rob Kurek at AMA and find out.

Later - Bob   

Offline Scott B. Riese

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #38 on: November 06, 2008, 10:19:02 AM »
And after all these years I thought you where getting fresh  ~^............It's a great photo.
Scott Riese
Portland, Oregon
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Offline nobler

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #39 on: February 07, 2009, 09:05:31 PM »
George's Hobby Shop in Alexandria, Va, right on King St. I would work there on the weekends for a 20% discount. Sometimes, maybe I'd get a gratis hamburger from the greasy spoon across the street.

There was a place in Washington, DC, right across the river, called Corr's, I think. It was in a very iffy area of DC, 9th St, home of Berly Q joints, whose luminaries did more than one US Senator in (Lilly St Cyr, Patty (no relation) Waggin, etc.  The hobby shop moved across the street sometime in the 50s. The first store had a large, hand painted freeflight mural in the back. The second store had a beautiful dark blue Smoothie hanging in there, and I lusted after it. These were classic big city hobby shops.

We flew at the Alexandria Sailing Marina (still there), which is only a mile or so south of Reagan National Airport. We would see those Capitol Airlines Viscouts whistling in all the time.

Currell

Offline Jim Pollock

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #40 on: February 08, 2009, 08:23:18 PM »
My place of addiction was Bob's Bicycles on Yosemite Ave. Modesto CA circa 1956-1972.
I bought lots of Pepsi's from his flat drink container and bought Balsa Wood, Kits - a Chief
A T-Bird, and an Ares.  A few engines a McCoy .35, a Torpedo .35 a Fox .29 and an OS .35S

Jim Pollock  H^^

Offline Hoss Cain

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #41 on: February 21, 2009, 05:32:19 PM »
My first real Hobby Shop mentor was one Mr. Don Still at Don Still's Happy Hobby Haven in Beaumont, Texas. As a kid growing up in the backwoods of east TX just outside Livingston, TX, somehow airplanes fascinated me from almost day 1. While my first model experiences were with the Joe Ott, Comet and such models during the WW II days, available at the "dime' stores, later I received some help from a 4th grade teacher with a donation of Air Trails magazines. That introduced me to real flying magazines.
During the war years every so often we took the train from Votaw TX to Beaumont, TX. There i saw my first H/S. Later just after the War, we went every so often to visit my grandfather, mom's side. i was able to visit Don Still's place. I well remember that Stuka hanging on the wall. At that time it was a G-I-A-N-T model airplane. #^ I loved it.
Now for some next 7-8 years after the war, when I needed anything, even if it was simply a couple yankee dollars, Don always saw that I got whatever I ordered. In the early '50s, several of us school kids played hooky one day and  visited Don. None of us could fly inverted. Don made a phone call, we had models in the car, and before the day was over each of us was doing inverted flight. Don's friend was a drugstore manager and went out with us to a local school ground and the rest is history.

Mr. Don Still is, and always will be a GIANT of a MAN in my mind.  ;D
Horrace Cain
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New Caney, TX  (NE Houston area)

Offline Mike Keville

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #42 on: March 25, 2009, 07:23:58 AM »
Hi-Way Hobby, Haddonfield, NJ - 1950/1956.  Originally at 20 Tanner St., later moved to the corner of Kings Hwy. & Haddon Avenue.

Honorable Mention:  Al's Hobby Shop, Elmhurst, Illinois / Penn Valley Hobby, Lansdowne, PA
FORMER member, "Academy of Multi-rotors & ARFs".

Offline 50+AirYears

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #43 on: May 10, 2009, 05:56:13 PM »
Boy, thanks to some situations at work and a health situuation, I haven't been on this site for a while.
While I had been going to a couple corner stores for Comet and Guillow kits for a couple years, sometime around 1949 or 50, I took a box of pennies, nickles, dimes, and quarters, even a couple silver dollars, and went with my dad to the Cycle Shop on 28th Street in Lorain, and bought my first CL plane and engine.  An Enterprise Air Racer with an O. K. Cub .099.  Never got that plane finished, but I eventually learned to fly CL with that old engine and an Enterprise profile P-51.  Still have that old engine, and once in a while still put it on something.  Has almost as much power as some of my Babe Bees.
Interestingly, that bike shop was in the same store building my grandfather had his dry goods store in until losing it during the depression.
Tony

Online John Miller

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #44 on: May 11, 2009, 03:02:58 PM »
There were two in the town of Glendora, California. The place I bought my first "large" airplane kit, a Sterling Mustang, and engine, a McCoy .35, was Vincents drug, and 5 and dime, store. It was in the middle of down town at the time. A year or so later, about 1958, Mrs Myers opened her little shop out on Route 66. Locally called Alosta Ave. Her shop was a small free standing buildingon the north side of the highway, just west of the train overpass.

It's no longer there, gone many years now, but I'll always remember Mrs. Myers and her small hobby shop. As far as I know, she didn't build models, but she was enthusiastic and would order anything we wanted, and sold it to us for a discount.

It was a good ride on the bike to get there, but always neat to walk in, until that day when I arrived and found she had been burglarized. It had to be a modelor who did it. A few engines, a couple of kits, fuel and other misc. stuff. I don't think she ever trusted any of us after that. It was too bad, and should not have happened.
Getting a line on life. AMA 1601

Offline Wayne J. Buran

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #45 on: May 11, 2009, 04:04:46 PM »
The greatest shop ever when I was a kid was National Hobby at the corner of Brookpark and Ridge Road in Cleveland. It was a great shop and the ownor was Will Pachasa who was the brother of the ownor of Cleveland Models. National was a great shop. Lots of kits, balsa engines and whatever you needed. Will's daughter owns "Hobbies are Us" in North Olmsted. Nice shop to but not what National was to me in the fifties and early sixties. I wasnt around when the business was sold and then eventually went out of business. They had an auction and had I been there I would have bought the balsa rack. Hand made by Will with a whole bunch of slots. I had a real thing for that balsa rack. I rode my bike nearly ten miles from my home. All down hill going and all up hill coming home.
Wayne
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Offline Ron Hopping

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #46 on: May 14, 2009, 07:42:04 PM »
one shop brings back many memory's Rays hobby shop in Galesburg IL.Ray was an avid c/l guy and would go out of his way to make sure we were building and finishing our models the right way and always had time on sat morning to help us trim our new dreams.he always had everything in stock,and was always ready to deal us a discount to help us out,i remember my first u/c was a goldberg lil jumpin bean with a cox golden bee .049.
Ronald Hopping.Newbaden,IL

Offline Peter Ferguson

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #47 on: May 18, 2009, 12:26:13 PM »
I grew up in the town of River Edge N.J. It about 10 mi outside NYC. It was a good time and place to grow up if you liked model airplanes.
My first CL plane was a Flite Streak which I bought at the local Sweet Shop. I don't remember the name of the place but it was a soda fountain that sold among other things kits and engines. I remember how excited I was going there knowing I had the money to get the plane.  I built the kit in my basement by myself, my parents were desensitized to the smell of Ambroid and dope by my older brother. I put in a Torpedo 35, which my brother gave me, (he is still giving me engines). We took it to Rich's Hobbytown in Parsippany NJ for its first flight. There were flying circles outside of the back of the store. My brother did the honors, It was a fast plane and on the first wingover the nose and engine departed from the wing. That was my first lesson about making sure your fuse is well glued to the wing. My brother, being the good guy he is, consoled me by taking me into the shop and buying me a Sterling P-51 (my choice over the Ringmaster, it had flaps!). We then had lunch which started a tradition of stopping for lunch to discuss future projects after flying!
There were other shops in the area and several department stores had hobby shops in the basements that I would frequent, but the best one was Hi-way Hobby in Ramsey NJ, it was always worth the trip . Upstairs were airplanes boats etc and downstairs was an extensive model railroad shop. When I went on the Jr High school we moved to Ramsey, and I had the hobby shop all to my own. Before I could drive, I biked there so no one would have to wait for me. I had it memorized, and knew what they had on the racks and shelves better than the guys working there. By that time I was transitioning into R/C. I was building boats and planes so the buying was only limited by how many odd jobs I could work.
Peter Ferguson
Auburn, WA

Offline FLOYD CARTER

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #48 on: June 30, 2009, 01:22:57 PM »
Good Grief!  Al's Hobby Shop in Elmhurst, IL.  Went there at least  weekly for the 2 years we lived in Wood Dale, about 10 miles from Elmhurst--1961-63.

I also played in the Elmhurst symphony Orchestra, and rehearsals every Tues night and concerts 5 or 6 times a year.

Floyd
89 years, but still going (sort of)
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Offline Allen Burnham

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Re: MEMORIES OF YOUR FIRST HOBBY SHOP that led to your ADDICTION?
« Reply #49 on: July 11, 2009, 09:07:03 PM »
The fist shop I remember going into was "The Hobby Hole" in Cape Girardeau, MO. It was in the basement of a clothing store on Broadway. You had to go through a hole in the floor where a spiral staircase went into the hobby shop. I guess that was about 1973  or so. My brother Johnny would take me there to buy models and that lead to my balsa addiction. Anyone else remember that place?
The next one would be a hobby shop in downtown Temple Texas. We moved there in 76. I remember the fellow behind the counter whose was Randy Zavodney I think.  His name was unusual and it kind of stuck in my young head.
Then we moved back to Missouri. I would go to the big shops in St. Louis when we visited the relatives in "the City".
Hobby shops still fascinate me. Nothing beats a mom 'n' pop hobby shop!!
Allen
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