|
Post by Icctrombone on May 18, 2019 6:36:20 GMT -5
Last Sunday it was Mothers day and after visiting my Mom in the old neighborhood , I decided to cheer myself up and drive around to my old comic book haunts. These are the places I bought my comic books ( way before comic book shops came to be). I grew up in the lower East side of Manhattan NYC in the 70's and it was great time to be a comic book fan. First up was the closest store to where I lived. I lived in the Laguardia Projects and 2 blocks away was Madison street where they had a place called Joes Candy shop. They were primarily a place to get candy and some household items. In the back of the store, they had a stack of comics. Not new, they seemed to be second hand but I remember them being in good shape. This is what it looks like now I remember walking down to this place almost every day. I also remember buying these two books there.
|
|
|
Post by rberman on May 18, 2019 11:03:17 GMT -5
Hey, I am in Times Square for the day myself! Catching the Harry Potter show on Broadway.
|
|
|
Post by Icctrombone on May 18, 2019 11:54:05 GMT -5
You should have given me a heads up, we could have met in the city.
|
|
|
Post by Rob Allen on May 18, 2019 13:24:58 GMT -5
Here are a couple of 2015 pictures of the store where I bought a lot of comics between 1964 and 1978. The pictures are from a news story about a hazmat spill.
|
|
|
Post by Icctrombone on May 18, 2019 15:10:28 GMT -5
I think those piles of debris are thousands of X-force # 1’s.
|
|
|
Post by badwolf on May 18, 2019 17:08:43 GMT -5
I think those piles of debris are thousands of X-force # 1’s. Thanos disintegrated half of them, hoping it would increase their value.
|
|
|
Post by Icctrombone on May 18, 2019 17:32:40 GMT -5
This candy store was near JHS 56 on Clinton street , which I attended . I remember going in and they also had piles of comics. This was another candy store. I remember going in one time and they had water logged candy for sale. You could see the water stains on the boxes of Good n Plenty. Yuck. They had used comics there too. It was located on East Broadway. The next block from the previous picture.
|
|
|
Post by Icctrombone on May 18, 2019 17:41:21 GMT -5
When I was a kid this used to be called Cozy Corner. It had a counter where you could buy floats and sandwiches. it was located on Grand Street not too far from the East river where they had , and still have parks. I remember buying this beauty there- And I also remember turning this back because they wanted full cover price for this, even though it was not a " new" issue I made a mistake with that one...
|
|
|
Post by Icctrombone on May 18, 2019 17:46:17 GMT -5
As I got older, I started going to this place . It was a full blown Newsstand type store and had a huge section of comics and magazines.It was located on Grand Street and on the same block they had a movie theatre. I remember getting this there- It pretty much became my go-to place for new comics
|
|
|
Post by Reptisaurus! on May 18, 2019 17:54:45 GMT -5
Cool thread! Little bit depressing that everything closes/changes.
|
|
|
Post by Icctrombone on May 18, 2019 17:55:24 GMT -5
This place has a cherished childhood memory of having my first comic bought for me by my Grandma. It was located on Delancey street and it was an old fashioned Newsstand (Of course it's not there anymore . Newstands are like the 8 track tape.) , complete with spinner racks and magazines and girly mags. I wanted my Grandmother to buy me this- But she wasn't having it. Not at that price!. She talked me into this instead- This pretty much started my life long love of the comics and the Fantastic Four.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 18, 2019 20:50:05 GMT -5
Icctrombone ... Neat Thread and I have been inside of Cozy Corner back in 1976 with my Mom and Dad and we had Sandwiches for Lunch there. That's the only thing that I remember of your times in New York City revisiting some of your Comic Book Memories.
|
|
|
Post by rberman on May 18, 2019 21:47:33 GMT -5
You should have given me a heads up, we could have met in the city. Would have been fun. We are in a tight schedule. Next time!
|
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,376
|
Post by shaxper on May 18, 2019 22:38:18 GMT -5
WOW what a topic! Only took me two hours of investigating to be able to attempt a reply to it. There were really two shops that were equally responsible for my developing a love for comic books, one stuck in the past and the other a part of the future. I first got into comic books because of The Video Encounter on Willis Avenue in Albertson, NY. My mother and I rented our videos there when, in 1989, a college drop-out sub-rented the front of the store as a small LCS. I found the racks and racks of colorful comics interesting, even if the back issue long boxes were paltry in hindsight. The comic book bubble was beginning to inflate, what with the Tim Burton Batman film about to hit theaters, and this guy seemed to believe he was going to be able to earn a living off of his comic book collection. It didn't last, of course. He sold to another guy who eventually ran the thing into the ground, but for a few short years (1989-1992 or so), that was my first regular LCS. I got my first pull lists there (largely X-Men titles beginning in late 1991), and the first comics I ever bought there -- the first comics I ever bought with the intention of getting into comic books -- were Batman #436 and #437 (the title had gone bi-weekly for the summer): The store, and the entire block of stores it was a part of, are long gone, but I'm relatively sure from a google maps search that this is where they stood: I used to walk 2.5 miles from my house and 2.5 miles back just to be able to get my weekly fix without being in debt to my mother for giving me a ride (and also so that she couldn't see how much I was spending!). Meanwhile, the store that arguably meant even more to me was a tobacco shop on the corner of the block where my father's old supermarket used to be. Whenever I'd go to work with him, I'd do odd jobs enough to get paid a few bucks and then ask for permission to walk to the tobacco shop and buy some comics. As a bored kid with little else to entertain him, I spent A LOT of time in that shop, looking at and trying out new comics that I might otherwise have passed up. I distinctly recall buying the following stories there and then sneaking behind the produce stand in my dad's store to read them: I was nine when my dad sold his store, and he isn't around to answer my questions anymore, so I'm not 100% certain where it and the tobacco shop were located, but an extensive google maps search of commercial blocks in Jackson Heights, Queens, has got me relatively convinced that this was the block it all happened on: The tobacco shop would have been on the corner, my dad's store would have been where the pharmacy is, and there was a flower shop and perhaps some other store inbetween. At least I think that's how it was.
|
|
|
Post by Reptisaurus! on May 19, 2019 3:35:25 GMT -5
But she wasn't having it. Not at that price!. She talked me into this instead- This pretty much started my life long love of the comics and the Fantastic Four. huh. Kirby's last issue, right?
|
|