A B Charles and Son Hobby shop Pittsburgh, Pa.??????

[frank mccune]

        Hi All:

        Anybody remember this store? 3229 1/2 Liberty Ave Pittsburgh 16 Pa.

       In the 40's, I frequented a hobby shop that I thought was on Highland Ave. near Penn Ave.  Is this the place? I could be wrong. Did Highland become Liberty Ave as the street got closer to the city  The place that I remember was very narrow and very long. A hole in the wall but it was packed with model airplane goodies.  "The place dreams are made of."

       I have one kit from that store.  This kit the Di-Doe won the 49 Nats in stunt.


                                                                                                                   Tia,

                                                                                                                   Frank McCune

[afml]

Hi Frank!
Now there's a Hobby Shop name I haven't seen for a long time.
My favorite place to be! Years later, they had a HUGH slot car track in the basement.
1/24th scale!
'A B Charles' is where I deposited all my birthday, lawn mowing, and other savings as a youth.
The street car line ran in front of the store with pick-up islands in the middle of the street.
Located in Dormont, PA. The street car line entered the main drag just before the long straight section of street.
If memory serves, we took RT 19 from Washington,PA to get there. Street parking was always a challenge!
Our C/L mentor, Don Mohr, flew a Di-Doe with a Johnson 35 pulling it through the 'tricks'. Plane & motor still survives.
Thanks for stirring up the memories!
Have a GREAT day & "Tight Lines!"
Wes

[Bill Mohrbacher]

That's almost the right address; it was on WEST Liberty Avenue up in Dormont, not in downtown.  Downtown was Bill & Walt's.  AB was a great place. 4 to 6 of us from the Beaver County MAC used to pack into a car and spend Thursday night up there.  "Bud" Charles had a heck of a time getting us out of there.  He was really a model train guy and I liked them too so we got along.  He always had a model plane guy working so all was well.  Kids don't know what they're missing now, but most seem to prefer talking to a screen rather than close up.  WE hob Knobbed with guys from the Greater Pittsburgh ARCs up there; one of the oldest clubs in the country.

Seems like a lot of the old hobby shops were narrow and deep.  Bill and Walt's was for sure. And so was Bonnage's in Beaver Falls.

[frank mccune]

    Hi Bill:

    Yes the address on the box says W. Liberty Ave.  I omitted the W in my original post.

    I wonder what the name of the hobby shop was in East Liberty.  It was near Penn and Highland, near the Peoples Natural Gas building and the Liberty Theatre.  There was also a large church on Liberty Ave and now the area is called Penn Circle. There was also a Sears store across the street.

    As an 8 year old, I was mesmerized by all of the model airplane stuff in this tiny store. There was only room for one person in the aisle at a time!

                                                                                                             The good old days,

                                                                                                              Frank McCune

[David Felinczak]

Last I knew A B Charles moved to McMurray, PA in Peters Twp. back in 2013.

I think all of the old time hobby shops and hardware stores had the same building architect! Long and narrow, a great inventory and one elderly gentleman behind the counter that knew
were all the parts were located and the price!

"Those were the days my friends"!