Before I was able to drive, some of my favorite haunts in the late 60's and early 70's were local hobby shops. I was either building a model car, or saving up to buy one. Some of the great shops in San Jose were: Houston's Hobby Shop. #1 1st st, and #2 Town and Country The Boy's Store. 1st st. A few doors down from Houston's Chuck's Hobby Shop. Alum Rock ave Lindy's Bike and Model Shop. Union ave Ed's Hobby Shop. Lincoln ave Marsden's Hobbies Meridian ave. De France Hobby Shop. Winchester ave The Engine House. Alberta ave, Sunnyvale and also the full isle of model cars at Gemco on Hillsdale and Kiddie World on Steven Creek. All of these except for Chuck's and Engine House were within biking distance for me. Does anyone in my area remember any of these?
Houston used to have a great hobby shop at Sharpstown Mall, but the thugs and gangsta wanna be's scared them away. Along with a lot of other good businesses. I'm sure there's more here, but I out grew models.
I'm not sure what time period you are talking about, but as a kid in the 1950's-60's, there were lot's of them. My local one was Milwaukie ( Oregon) Hobby Shop. The grand Holy Grail of shops was Vic's Hobby Center in Portland, which just closed recently. But you could buy models EVERYWHERE: grocery stores, drug stores, dime stores, Sears, Wards, even convenience stores !
I miss my hobby shop days. I was blessed as a kid to also get to go down the hobby shop my dad hung out in as a kid in his home town. Last time we were there, the owner had died and his wife was selling out. We found the control line airplane my dad was taught to fly with in the early 50's sitting in a corner and she let us take it home. It still hangs in my office today.
In my hometown of Glenview, IL it was Klipper's on Waukegan Road - bought a ton of stuff there in the '60s and '70s. Fun fact: Klipper's was a Crosley car dealer who switched to toys & hobbies after the car company shut down; you could say they were always in the toy car business!
Our hobby shop in Mankato Mn. was Don's Hobby Shop. We got our cox control line airplanes there-H O race cars & tracks-model car kits. It was Great!!!
Webster's at Camelback and Central always had huge display windows out front. I won a contest when I ten for an H.O. railroad building and was asked to build one for the window display! BIG TIME!!! Tower Hobby was at 36th street and Thomas in the old Tower plaza, and right down the street from our family business... Pay checks didn't last long! 'Course, Vintage Ford was at 34th street and Mcdowell (now So-Cal Phoenix) and they got my paychecks after about age 13 or so. Exeter hobbies was right down the street from Vintage Ford at 32nd and McDowell, and was a sometimes haunt when payday hit on Saturday, too.
And d&j is moving after 40 years in the same location.....if they can find a new location .!!!! It does not look good for them... Dave
I used to go to Kmart or the local General Store (Mills Mart) to buy models, paint, etc......etc.....Kmart and Sears used to carry those old Cox gas cars, slot cars, trains. That was pretty much my hobby store.
good ol' "WEST SEATTLE SPEED WAY AND HOBBY" in the junction largest indoor slot car track in the state in the 70's and 80's , think its a yuppy Juice bar now
Anyone know of any hobby shops in the Taichung area? Specifically, Im looking for analog clock modules; various sizes of pre-cut wood and brass/copper tubes; and RC stuff. Thanks
Wold's house of hobbies in Dublin, CA. This place had it all, models of every and any kind, R/C anything, trains of all scales, even all the figurines for D&D - in short they had EVERYTHING! Also had some really cool vintage stuff for sale(vintage as in old when it was the 80's, the time of my youth). Spent some serious time in the place pestering everyone who worked there, as well as what meager funds I had. Sadly, Chet (the owner, 2nd generation - if I remember right his dad was Wold) closed up shop 5+ years ago due to the poor economy and rising lease rates. Man I miss that place......
I grew up in the San Jose area (Campbell/Los Gatos) and lived within bike riding distance of one of the best hobby shops in the country, D & J Hobby. They had the biggest and best model selection in town. Model cars, trucks, airplanes, ships, military, even had a good selection of monsters. Their electric train and RC selections were amazing. I stopped there when I was in town a couple of years ago, the model selection is now only a shadow of what it used to be, but the electric train and RC stuff is still awesome. I used to hit Houston's at Town and Country occasionally. Kiddie World was one of my favorite places as a kid. The Toys R Us in Sunnyvale had a huge isle of model cars as well, with the added bonus of being haunted by a ghost.
just like the small town speed shops-hobby stores in my area are becoming extinct-thanks to the god damn internet
Like #4 said, it used to be that lots of places sold model kits and supplies. I grew up in Danville, Ky during the 60's; there were 3 stores on Main St that always had a good selection. Gem Supply was my favorite. The five & dime store used to have model car contests, don't remember if it was the Woolworth or Newberry store.
Boy, do I! Lived in Santa Clara, bought model cars at the Sportster hobby shop right on Franklin St., when Santa Clara had a real town. (before the councilmen Kielys leveled the downtown area...) We got into Control Line airplane building/flying in 1955, and frequented all the hobby shops in the area, all of which were mentioned here. Houston's moved from their #2 location in Town & Country village in the '70s, and re-opened on Winchester Blvd in Campbell. Lasted until 1983, I bought much of Larry's leftover stock then, as we were flying again. (never stops) Highway Pioneers kits were 1/32 scale, I built about 20 of the 'Hot Rod', the '32 roadster. And its sister kit, 'The Jalopy'. When AMT came out with the big (1/25 scale) '39 Ford sedan, then the '40 Coupe, we were in Model Heaven! Then the '32 roadster... We found Kiddie World to have the best prices for model cars AND model airplane parts. I still do model cars, Control Line planes, (scratch build now, but I'm old) H-O trains, real hot rods, my Gasser, Galaxie, F-100, F-1, and I just got a '66 Dorsett Runabout. (yeah, a boat...but it looks GREAT behind my F100!)
Thanks. I was beginning to think it was all a dream. I saw Larry at one of the Kaybee toy stores in the mid 90's. I was very impressed that he still remembered me. I forgot to mention Hobbies Galore on El Camino. They had the biggest selection of old kits up until the business was sold. The new owner sent all the old kits back to "up date" his stock.
Ok growing up in stockton c.a.in the late 80s hobby shops didn't stsy open vere long. After moving to cal east bay I found hobby town concord. I liked the place so much I now work there part time. I injoy taking to car guys even if it is a (toy) car.
Used to go to Blasdell Hobby in someones basement in the middle of a neigborhood....just open the door and walk in.... Lots of HO train stuff, and slot car stuff.....used to buy new brushes and springs for our AFX cars, also he had larger geared rear ends that we had to hack out the bottom of the car to get them to fit.....
Simms Cycle and Hobby in Medford, Ore. He would let us kids assemble his display models in exchange for the models we liked ! My brother and I had "Tons' of model car kits, custom accessories and anything wheeled ! Sure wish I had all that stuff back !
anybody from Fremont remember the hobby shop at the Glenmoor shopping center? right across from the Schwinn shop. ... I can't remember the name, the guy had almost no arms, just hands up by his shoulders. get out of school, go to the Glenmoor Variety store and get an Icee for 12 cents with the money you were supposed to spend on lunch, then go to the Schwinn shop and dream of owning an Apple Krate, then to the hobby shop and look at the models. those were the days.
You missed WALT'S (near Central express and Fairoaks) in Sunnyvale and SHELDON'S (originally on) on Alum Rock in San Jose. recently I went into several Hobby shops looking for some of the traditional balsa airplane/boat kits to teach my grandkids some useful skills. All that the local hobby shops had were pre-assembled, ready to use models made in China. These pre-assembled ready to use models don't teach the kids anything about craftsmanship and pride of taking a stack of parts and making it into something that will fly or float. Searching the internet I found a lot of the traditional type of kits are still available (even new designs) but they are from "Specialty Hobby Shops". I think most of us grew up putting models together and learned many of the skills that were later used to build and maintain hotrods. The majority of kids now days don't have the opportunity to learn the mechanical skills as they grow up so when they are old enough to drive or own a car they don't have a clue. Unfortunately we are all seeing the effects as diminishing numbers of young adults attend the races, hot rod or even car events. It is a damn shame.
Hobby City on Beach and Ball in Buena Park. There was a world class 10 lane slotcar track and a smaller 5 lane. There was trains, a doll shop, an old west store called "The Flintlock". Everything that made having a ten speed bike worth it. We'd be there all day.
Thanks. I don't remember Walt's. Sheldon's was originally Chucks's Hobby shop (When he used to have the slot car track in the back room). It changed to Sheldon's in the mid 70's and gradually phased out the slot cars and model kits.
I remember that place, but not the name. Do you remember the slot car track on railroad street? I did get an Apple Krate and I still own it. Even have the owners manual.
howard e ruth hobbys on genesee st in buffalo ny had a main entarance way with with lage glass windows on both sides where they would have a model car contest every summer could not wait and would pedal my stingray bike with my good friends there every afternoon to see the new enterys get put in the windows wow wish i could relive those days again
no clue the name but we used to race slot cars at the hobby shop here I would say the early 70s then in 80s there was a kool one prob 10 miles from my house tons of models In CT
The Jalopy Journal
