What are you old enough to remember?

[Guest]

42 minutes ago, bashful said:

In Detroit, I remember dialing WEATHER for the weather forecast.

Also remember we had a party line.

 

[Rudynate]

On 2/16/2021 at 11:10 AM, Charlie said:

I ate many lunches at the Woolworth's on Market St in Philadelphia when I worked downtown.

As a little kid, I used to do errands and chores for the neighbors for pocket money. When I got 75 cents, I used to love to go downtown to Newberry's and get an order of french fries and a ginger ale at the lunch counter.  The waitresses were all middle-aged ladies in waitress uniforms with white nurse shoes

[+ bashful]

On 2/16/2021 at 1:17 PM, Charlie said:

I remember my father teaching a friend's wife how to drive on their new brown 1949 Nash.

We didn't live far from the Nash (originally Kelvinator), and later AMC headquarters on Plymouth Rd.  Easy bike ride for a kid.

[samhexum]

TO HELP Y'ALL REMEMBER...

https://astoriapost.com/museum-of-nostalgia-in-astoria-come-for-the-toys-stay-for-the-memories

 

When The Museum of Nostalgia in Astoria opened its doors last month, within two weeks there were guests that became regulars and an overwhelming amount of messages online and calls to the museum looking for certain toys, or to sell and even donate their collectibles.

The part toy store, part museum offers its visitors a portal to simpler times and innocent joy-when toys were brought to life by childhood imagination.

The museum is filled with thousands of toys, games, and other collectibles, mostly from the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s.

The owners, Jeff Zappala and Phebe Taylor, have been collecting toys for fun for most of their lives and wanted to share their world with the community.

“We just really wanted to make sure that we can contribute to the community and do something that’s different in this neighborhood,” said Zappala.

“We do sell on eBay too, but it’s much more fun to have a kid come in here and [see a toy] and start screaming that he hasn’t had that since he was little,” Taylor added.

Zappala and Taylor have been a couple since 2010 and got married in 2015. They both work in education, Zappala teaches second grade and Taylor is a sightseeing guide for a student travel company.

When they met, Zappala mainly collected Transformers, and Taylor had a more diverse collection from her childhood era. It became a part of their relationship to help each other grow their collections. 

“When we got together, we just kept the cycle of collecting,” said Zappala. “Every Christmas, every birthday, we’d buy each other toys and we just kept adding to our collection.” 

Museum of Nostalgia

Eventually they would have floor to ceiling shelves that a friend built for them, but they didn’t initially have a plan in mind to open a museum. Their first taste of sharing their collection came in 2020. While stuck at home during the city shutdown from the pandemic, a friend suggested they audition for HGTV’s Cash in the Attic, which they initially auditioned for via a Zoom call.

While the premise of the show is to see how much your items are worth to sell them and put the money toward a major goal, Taylor and Zappala gained something else from participating in it.

“The expert on the show is actually just a wonderful comic bookstore owner upstate,” said Taylor. “So he was our first contact with someone who owns a small business in that realm of nerdy, geeky collector stuff. The best thing about the show was not what we made in the auction, it was really meeting him, and he also introduced us to other people that have been very helpful.”

When the 31st Avenue Open Street in Astoria became introduced to the neighborhood, the couple used that as a first point of contact with the community to get a better idea of what people responded to and were interested in. They would eventually become regulars at the Queens Night Market in Flushing, which they still attend, but once they found an available space for rent in the neighborhood, they were more than ready to put their ideas to life.

“New York City doesn’t really have a lot of vintage toy shops,” said Taylor. Zappala added, “I think if we were just a toy shop we might be doing even better, but we wanted that little touch that separated us from any other toy shop.”

Taylor and Zappala admit that with all of the toys and collectibles the museum is filled with, it’s only about 5% of their collection at home. They also have arcade style video games and a vintage Ms. Pac Man cocktail table which they keep in one of their most beloved aspects of the museum, a family room, complete with a plastic covered couch and TV, just like you may remember growing up.

Museum of Nostalgia

“Her concept was to have that environment of someone’s basement or your family room that you kept your toys in,” Zappala said. “I love this room. I never dreamed of how it would all come together. It just has a great feel.”

According to the couple, many visitors often make themselves at home and watch whatever cartoon or movie they might have been playing that day. Overall, the reception from the community has been incredible. 

In the short time since they’ve opened, they have received great feedback and are regularly brainstorming to create new, fun concepts for their visitors to enjoy.

“The turnout has been amazing, people have been so supportive,” said Zappala. “A couple in the neighborhood keeps on bringing different family members in. There was a guy that came in and he was tearing with joy. He was so happy to be in the experience and seeing triggering memories, like “I had this toy when I was younger.”

The Museum of Nostalgia is located at 31-27 31 St. in Astoria and is open from noon to 7 p.m. daily, except on Wednesday.

Museum of Nostalgia

Museum of Nostalgia

Museum of Nostalgia

[samhexum]

https://foresthillspost.com/queens-historian-joins-brooklyn-based-preservationists-in-salvaging-signs-from-shuttered-nyc-businesses

 

Queens man joins Brooklyn-based preservationists in salvaging signs from shuttered NYC businesses

Gone, but not forgotten.

A Queens historian and preservationist has teamed up with a Brooklyn-based foundation to salvage storefront signs from shuttered city businesses — including the distinct red and yellow sign of the Alpha Donuts coffee shop in Sunnyside and the Tower Diner sign in Forest Hills that sat under the building’s tower clock.

Forest Hills resident Michael Perlman and the operators of the New York Sign Museum, located at 2465 Atlantic Ave., have been carefully taking down notable local signs and placing them in safekeeping in order to save the pieces of local history from being tossed in the dumpster.

The museum has accumulated dozens of signs with the aim of preserving and promoting the history of signage and advertising across the area. It was founded by David Barnett and Mac Pohanka.

Perlman, who is the founder of the Rego Park-Forest Hills Preservation Council, joined forces with the museum in early 2022.

He said that preserving such signs is important in order to remember the past.

“If not salvaged, works that hold much significance in regard to 20th century history, art, culture,and construction methods would have ended up in a landfill,” Perlman said. “All too often, we inhabit a needless throwaway culture. Now the spirit of these cherished businesses and art that is part of New York City’s fabric can live, intriguingly serving as an educational resource. These historic signs also bridge the generations.”

Perlman said that his partnership with the museum has resulted in the salvaging of several significant signs.

For instance, one of the most recent signs taken into the care of the museum was that of the Alpha Donuts coffee shop in Sunnyside which closed abruptly in late June. The inside of the store was completely gutted and the only remnant of the shop that remained was its distinctive sign.

Perlman said when he heard the news of the closure, he contacted owner Patty Zorbas in order to save the 1970s-styled sign.

 

Other noteworthy items taken into the possession of the museum include the sign to Jones Surgical Co., a former medical supply store on Metropolitan Avenue in Forest Hills that shuttered last year after an 80-year run (I bought something from them once), the sign to the Tower Diner, a beloved diner in Rego Park that has been demolished to make way for apartments and retail space, and the sign to the Oxford Bake Shop in Ozone Park that shut its doors in June after 94 years in business.

Jones Surgical in Forest Hills before the sign was taken down. The only SIZZLER left in the northeast was at the other end of the block.  It closed in 2019.  I guess they couldn't save that sign.

The sign to H Goodman Furs, located at 11607 Queens Blvd., in Forest Hills now also sits in the museum.  It was the first project Perlman and the museum teamed up on.

In Manhattan, the preservationists have saved the sign to the famed Starlite Deli near Times Square and the sign to the New York Jewelry Center in Diamond District, while in Brooklyn they have taken possession of the sign to the Gestetner Print Shop in South Williamsburg.

“The NY Sign Museum’s collection is a treasure trove,” Perlman said. “[The signs] are unique examples of commercial archaeology that tell the story of families, neighborhoods, and methods of design and construction.”

The New York Sign Museum takes down signs at no cost to building or business owners and then stores the items at its facility in Brooklyn. The foundation, which is made up of preservationists, artists, archivists, and signage professionals, also offers repairs and refurbishment, tax incentives for donations, as well as a rebate program for businesses that would like to replace their old signs. COOL!

Independently of the museum, Perlman recently salvaged the sign to Housewares World hardware store in Forest Hills, and a huge Art Deco sign to the Jay Dee Bakery in Forest Hills in 2009. (My dad occasionally purchased from them.)

New York Sign Museum/Noble Signs, located at 2465 Atlantic Ave   Fancy-Shmancy!

Edited August 22, 2023 by samhexum
for absolutely NO @%!*ING reason at all!

[samhexum]

When 'Brick and mortar' stores were just stores.

https://apple.news/A4gLZVwAuSUmBCaWmS8c4MA

 

Radio Shack went through multiple bankruptcies and, while the brand shuttered thousands of locations, it never fully went away. In the U.S. a few hundred franchisees continued to operate as did franchise owners around the world. 

The biggest franchise operator of the brand, El Salvador-based Unicomer Group, has now acquired the company. It has big plans to not only revamp its website but also to build back its brick-and-mortar presence in the U.S. 

Radio Shack's new owner plans to add more merchandise for its current franchisees to be able to stock and it plans an Amazon storefront as well as new physical locations for the once ubiquitous chain. At its peak, Radio Shack was pretty much everywhere, operating 7,000 stores globally with most of those in the U.S.  

The new owners plan to lean into the offerings that differentiate the brand from Best Buy and chains like Target and Walmart that sell a lot of electronics.

"Private label offerings, including drones, headphones, radios, and adapters, were strongly emphasized pre-bankruptcy to offset the margin pressures, a push expected to be continued under the new owners," RetailWire reported.

Does the market need Radio Shack?

Radio Shack went out of business because Amazon (and to a lesser extent Best Buy) made its selection less unique. As smartphones became common, chargers and accessories basically became commodities, which squeezed margins, and forced Radio Shack into bankruptcy.

That competition has only gotten more intense and it does leave questions as to whether there's a need for the chain to grow its brick-and-mortar presence. 

"A major comeback in the US will be extremely challenging. The electronics market has thin margins, loads of competition, and because the products are very similar from retailer to retailer it can be hard to differentiate," GlobalData retail division Managing Director Neil Saunders commented on Retailwire. "As such, I struggle to see a new pathway to success – especially in the current market where electronics sales remain firmly in the doldrums."

Gary Sankary, who has 50 years in the retail business, was less kind in his comments.

"I can’t see any scenario where this works in the United States," he wrote. "...The market for private-label electronics is small. The market for electronics components (which I do miss) is even smaller these days, no one fixes anything anymore."

[Rod Hagen]

I remember that Emmet Otter's Jug-band and Emmet's Mom both deserved to lose to the Riverbottom Nightmare band.

I remember hotel rooms that had smaller doors accessible on the hallway-side of the door to leave your shirt in to be pressed overnight.  More expensive hotels had a box to leave your shoes in to be shined overnight.  I realize those things still exist, but both are kinda old-fashioned now.

https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fckhyep13yy051.jpg

I remember kids making the Bionic Man noise during play when lifting or throwing something or otherwise straining and the bionic eye sound effect, badly, for looking far away.

I'm guessing Millenial and Zillenial kids did the same thing, but would call-out GOKU Kamehameha instead.

 

I remember amassing an annual blossom of SkiLift tags on the zipper of my winter Coat to make my classmates envious.

I remember a Tahoe, CA rental Ford LTD so large my family was able to fit all of our skis..in the trunk!

I remember not swearing so fucking much. 

Edited January 15 by Rod Hagen

[+ FreshFluff]

 

Edited January 16 by FreshFluff