Brooklyn Hobby shops

[Tony Drago]

Hope this link works. Old / Semi Old hobby shops in Brooklyn N.Y.

http://brooklynwargaming.com/2014/09/22/a-gamers-guide-to-manhattans-hobby-shops/

[Mike Griffin]

Thanks for posting Tony.. That was very interesting.

Mike

[Bootlegger]

 Ahh, the memories, I can smell the old shops...those were the "good ole days"

[Jim Kraft]

One of my first experiences was visiting a hobby shop in Kansas City back in the 40's. I had been exposed to model aviation at Swope Park, but had never seen a hobby shop. As I approached I spied the ignition engines in the window and began to drool. There were several modelers there looking through the vast amount of hobby stuff. Then I noticed a few in a back room that were working on engines and then heard the scream of an engine being run out in the alley.

I was about 6 or 7 years old, and I thought I had died and gone to heaven. What is it that makes one person love something and another a completely different thing. My older brother had absolutely no intererst at all, and I thought he must have been deranged somehow. My younger brother did do model trains for a while though. I have been in this hobby in one form or another my whole life except for a few years during high school, and for a while after I got married.

Those old hobby shops do bring back the memories. Most are now a thing of the past as the huge hobby mail order houses have taken over. I still have Don's Hobbies about 20 miles from me, but it is not the same as those old ones were. Most of his business is mail order of giant scale R/C planes.


I still have many of my old engines from years past that I could never let go of. Glad I kept them just for the memories.

[john e. holliday]

I wish I had kept track of the hobby shops in the KC area.   They were mostly a side line.  Charlies Hobby Shop in KCK started as a bicycle shop.  When he was murdered it was mostly ceramics and plastic kits.   Before that it was Jim's Lock & Key.  That is where I got first ready to fly gliders and rubber power.  There were two I considered true hobby shops.  One was Ace's Hobby in KCMo and Independence Hobby on Independence Bulivard.   At one time there were at least two dozen shops where model supplies could be bought.  Now we have Hobby Haven which is nothing like the first store on Johnson Drive many years ago. 

[Jim Kraft]

I remember Hobby Haven out in Mission. I use to ride my bike from Roeland Park out there. A great place in the 40's. We lived just down the street from Roseland school on Clark Drive. About 2 long blocks north of the old Indian Mission. A great place back then.

[Dennis Moritz]

Thanks for posting, Tony. Does Rudy's have any balsa planes? I'd take the trip. I grew up in NYC, Lower East Side, Manhattan. We'd ride our bikes up to AHC. Hang out and haunt. The English diesels priced beyond our means, beyond our ability to run. Fascinating. Followed the AHC monthly adds. Their catalogue a source of dreams. Our first planes scientific kits. Bundles. I remember a two tone Chipmunk I built powered by an Atwood cadet .049. Great shine of pactra paint that streaked immediately when hit with fuel. Learning experience. This was the 1950's. I reconnected with my best friend from childhood a few years back. He's building free flights, many in that catalogue. I'm doing CL for the last twelve years, with almost as much dreaming and passion as I had when I started. Life circles around. Round and round. My friend and I would jump on the J train ride out to Rays in Jamaica Queens, where stuff was bought at heavy discount. Was it possible to buy a Fox 35 stunt for $4 in 1958?

[peabody]

Brownie's Hobby shop, on Staten Island should be labeled with a historic marker.....more nifty old control line stuff that you can imagine, and run by some of the nicest people....
The Browns are multiple National Champions (Speed or Racing, I forget, but think Speed) with several generations participating.
When I last visited, the adjoining building was chocked full of stuff, with a layer of balsa duct covering things....
A great place still....

 http://www2.brownieshobbies.com/

Have fun!