Hobby shops recollection

[Astro32]

When I was a kid it was Chuck's Hobby Hangar in Woodland Hills, Ca, and Karl's Toys in West Hills. In the UK there was a hobby shop near my uncle's home in Sandhurst, and a big shop in London where I found an Airfix 24th Spitfire for the equivalent of $5 US thanks to the exchange rate. In Glasgow I don't recall an LHS but just about every small convenience type shop had a selection of kits. Fun times! 

[gerry1]

On 4/17/2021 at 6:50 PM, LSP_Mike said:

 "and when I lived there, Franciscan Hobbies on Ocean Ave. In San Francisco. "

 

Was that the hobby shop off 19th avenue?  If so, I remember that place back from the '70's.  I remember walking in and seeing model kits stacked to the ceiling or it seemed like that.  Great place.  We have Dibbles locally here in San Antonio and they sell mostly planes and some car model kits.  It hasn't changed from the '70's when I was a teenager.

[LSP_Mike]

Franciscan Hobbies was right on Ocean Ave. I don't remember one on 19th. What cross- street? There was a toy store in West Portal that sold kits as well.

[gerry1]

I believe Ocean was off 19th Ave.  but the hobby shop was not on 19th.  I think we're talking about the same place.  There was another hobby shop in San Rafael at that time also. 

[gwana]

Memories. When I was a kid, my local hobby shop was on 3 levels. The basement had seven HO and 1/24 scale slot car tracks - drag and circuits - that you could rent by the hour. I think the longest circuit was over 200'. Plus they had games like air hockey and foosball. It was a sensation when Asteroids came out and they got one. There were lines to play after school.

 

The middle level had an amazing assortment of die-cast in display cases. I don't remember much NASCAR, but more fantasy stuff and the supercars of the time. James Bond cars with working ejector seat and pop-out machine guns, all sorts of scale construction equipment, lots of military - from tanks and other armor to Napoleon's troops and cannons. The other side of that floor was mostly model railroad and slot car items, plus a couple of aisles of dollhouse and crafty stuff.

 

Upstairs was models. Balsa models, plastic models, wooden ships, monsters, everything. Completed kits hung from the ceiling. The beginnings of mainstream RC stuff, but the radio equipment was horribly expensive and the planes were mostly Balsa and tissue. One corner had sporting goods.

 

They changed it up a few times before I moved away - got rid of the slot car tracks and put in more arcade games, and the model section got smaller and smaller as RC and sporting goods got more popular. "Hobby" became a rich-man's sport; rather than 50 customers each dropping $8.95 on a model kit and supplies, they'd wait for one guy to spend $400 on a radio and servos, only to crash his plane and never come back.