ciorac Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 I never did get a chance to meet Rick, but Chuck McCleary on the other hand I did. In fact, some friends of mine and I bought his entire, formidable, collection of golden age back in 1996 What was his reason for selling his entire collection at that point in time? I guess he just thought it was a good time. He started buying stuff again afterwards as far as I know. He had over 2300 golden age books when we bought the collection. We called it the More Fun Collection after the comic store I owned in New Orleans Here are a couple of pictures of the collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBedrock Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 I never did get a chance to meet Rick, but Chuck McCleary on the other hand I did. In fact, some friends of mine and I bought his entire, formidable, collection of golden age back in 1996 What was his reason for selling his entire collection at that point in time? A mess ton of money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tri-Color Brian Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 I never did get a chance to meet Rick, but Chuck McCleary on the other hand I did. In fact, some friends of mine and I bought his entire, formidable, collection of golden age back in 1996 What was his reason for selling his entire collection at that point in time? I guess he just thought it was a good time. He started buying stuff again afterwards as far as I know. He had over 2300 golden age books when we bought the collection. We called it the More Fun Collection after the comic store I owned in New Orleans So...my Targets from the More Fun collection used to belong to McCleary? Wow...that's cool...even though I never knew him... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tri-Color Brian Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 I only know a couple of guys on the boards (tricolorbrian) and a couple others maybe that would appreciate the Rick Durell article. I know the Carters would drive up from San Diego once in a while as well. Not many of us left that got to walk up that crooked stairway to Burt Blums lair at Cherokee or stare in awe at the stuff in Collector's Bookstore. A few of us know and rest of you, you really missed out. Hollywood was a meca for comic collectors in the late '60's-early '70's. There was also Bond Street books around the corner that was full of old books for us poor kids. I would save as much money from cutting lawns, yardwork, paper route and recycling pop bottles until my dad would drop me off for a few hours while he was doing buisness in the area. Good times! I remember the climb up the stairs very well. I also remember seeing a couple guys in the loft one day with cardboard boxes filled with ACG stuff from the 25c boxes in the hall. I wonder who they were? And, how many others who remember Cherokee thought Burt's brother downstairs looked a little like Barnabas Collins from Dark Shadows? He was a very "reserved" fellow... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellow Kid Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 Here is a little history lesson for you about the development of comic book stores in Southern California. In the late 1950's, some regular book stores, for example Jim's, started carrying old comic books because of customer interest. Usually this meant that they had one or two boxes hidden away that they would bring out if you asked. At Cherokee Books, Burt, his older brother, and his father ran a very nice book store. His father and older brother were very conservative, while Burt was young, flashy, and into other things they did not approve of so instead of having a box of comics, the exiled Burt to the attic and let him deal in comic books and smoke up there. He built an excellent stock, and it was always fun to go in the store and ask the father if Burt was in, and he would wave you up the stairs. During this same period, Leonard Brown and I developed a very successful comic book mail order business out of his parents' house in Long Beach--we were both young and lived at home. Even by the early 1960's, it was getting more difficult for us to make the great finds, and Leonard decided we needed to open a store so people would bring their books to sell them to us. I had plans to finish college and go to grad school, so he found Malcolm Willits and they opened the first store in the area, a few blocks down from Cherokee Books so customers could walk to both places in one trip, in 1964. It took a few years but eventually they moved into an empty bank at 6763 Hollywood Blvd., a nice location between Cherokee Books and The Chinese Theater. They eventually developed the best inventory of comics and movie material in the country and became the first store to deal in that material. What set them apart was that they were not a small part of a larger store, but the store itself. Steve Edrington opened Bond Street Books not far away and as Bob indicated, he mostly dealt in lower grade material but had lots of it and still has a store today. I am still in touch with Edrington, Willits, and McCleary, However, while Brown died almost eight years ago, the rest of that old group of dinosaurs who were there at the beginning are still waiting for the asteroid to hit. Sorry for the long post, but Bob encouraged me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timely Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 I never did get a chance to meet Rick, but Chuck McCleary on the other hand I did. In fact, some friends of mine and I bought his entire, formidable, collection of golden age back in 1996 What was his reason for selling his entire collection at that point in time? I guess he just thought it was a good time. He started buying stuff again afterwards as far as I know. He had over 2300 golden age books when we bought the collection. We called it the More Fun Collection after the comic store I owned in New Orleans Here are a couple of pictures of the collection Chuck was a really nice guy. He told me he sold his collection because he was getting older & he wanted to make sure his collection sold for a good amount. He was afraid his family would get pennies on the dollar if they were to sell it. He immediately started buying again, not surprised as he had the collecting bug. Bill, do you know of he's still around? I have not seen him in years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ciorac Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 I never did get a chance to meet Rick, but Chuck McCleary on the other hand I did. In fact, some friends of mine and I bought his entire, formidable, collection of golden age back in 1996 What was his reason for selling his entire collection at that point in time? I guess he just thought it was a good time. He started buying stuff again afterwards as far as I know. He had over 2300 golden age books when we bought the collection. We called it the More Fun Collection after the comic store I owned in New Orleans Here are a couple of pictures of the collection Chuck was a really nice guy. He told me he sold his collection because he was getting older & he wanted to make sure his collection sold for a good amount. He was afraid his family would get pennies on the dollar if they were to sell it. He immediately started buying again, not surprised as he had the collecting bug. Bill, do you know of he's still around? I have not seen him in years. I think he is. Rich Olson would know better, as they were long time friends. Rich introduced me to Chuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tri-Color Brian Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 This is really interesting stuff, and it makes me wonder who else might have owned a lot of the books in my collection...besides the obvious Pedigree copies...oh well...time to go to work and get back to reality... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellow Kid Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 Chuck is definitely still around! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tri-Color Brian Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 Have you ever invited him to post on the boards? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellow Kid Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 I don't think that Chuck or the other guys spend a lot of time on the internet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted February 25, 2015 Author Share Posted February 25, 2015 I never did get a chance to meet Rick, but Chuck McCleary on the other hand I did. In fact, some friends of mine and I bought his entire, formidable, collection of golden age back in 1996 What was his reason for selling his entire collection at that point in time? I guess he just thought it was a good time. He started buying stuff again afterwards as far as I know. He had over 2300 golden age books when we bought the collection. We called it the More Fun Collection after the comic store I owned in New Orleans Here are a couple of pictures of the collection So that's where the More Fun collection came from. What a mouth watering group of photos. Thanks for posting them here Bill. You know it's an old school collection. Lots of un-bagged books and books that look like they were in cleaners bags. Must have really been a thrill to go through that load! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted February 25, 2015 Author Share Posted February 25, 2015 I only know a couple of guys on the boards (tricolorbrian) and a couple others maybe that would appreciate the Rick Durell article. I know the Carters would drive up from San Diego once in a while as well. Not many of us left that got to walk up that crooked stairway to Burt Blums lair at Cherokee or stare in awe at the stuff in Collector's Bookstore. A few of us know and rest of you, you really missed out. Hollywood was a meca for comic collectors in the late '60's-early '70's. There was also Bond Street books around the corner that was full of old books for us poor kids. I would save as much money from cutting lawns, yardwork, paper route and recycling pop bottles until my dad would drop me off for a few hours while he was doing buisness in the area. Good times! I remember the climb up the stairs very well. I also remember seeing a couple guys in the loft one day with cardboard boxes filled with ACG stuff from the 25c boxes in the hall. I wonder who they were? And, how many others who remember Cherokee thought Burt's brother downstairs looked a little like Barnabas Collins from Dark Shadows? He was a very "reserved" fellow... I spent a lot of time in the hall boxes. The stuff was 25 cents to $1.00 I believe. I got a ton of pre-code horror books for a buck or less. Never pain more than 50 cents for Marvels and got some single digit Spideys and stuff I missed on the newstand. Think of all the Bakers that were probably in the quarter boxes... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted February 25, 2015 Author Share Posted February 25, 2015 Here is a little history lesson for you about the development of comic book stores in Southern California. In the late 1950's, some regular book stores, for example Jim's, started carrying old comic books because of customer interest. Usually this meant that they had one or two boxes hidden away that they would bring out if you asked. At Cherokee Books, Burt, his older brother, and his father ran a very nice book store. His father and older brother were very conservative, while Burt was young, flashy, and into other things they did not approve of so instead of having a box of comics, the exiled Burt to the attic and let him deal in comic books and smoke up there. He built an excellent stock, and it was always fun to go in the store and ask the father if Burt was in, and he would wave you up the stairs. During this same period, Leonard Brown and I developed a very successful comic book mail order business out of his parents' house in Long Beach--we were both young and lived at home. Even by the early 1960's, it was getting more difficult for us to make the great finds, and Leonard decided we needed to open a store so people would bring their books to sell them to us. I had plans to finish college and go to grad school, so he found Malcolm Willits and they opened the first store in the area, a few blocks down from Cherokee Books so customers could walk to both places in one trip, in 1964. It took a few years but eventually they moved into an empty bank at 6763 Hollywood Blvd., a nice location between Cherokee Books and The Chinese Theater. They eventually developed the best inventory of comics and movie material in the country and became the first store to deal in that material. What set them apart was that they were not a small part of a larger store, but the store itself. Steve Edrington opened Bond Street Books not far away and as Bob indicated, he mostly dealt in lower grade material but had lots of it and still has a store today. I am still in touch with Edrington, Willits, and McCleary, However, while Brown died almost eight years ago, the rest of that old group of dinosaurs who were there at the beginning are still waiting for the asteroid to hit. Sorry for the long post, but Bob encouraged me. Thanks for posting this Richard! There's a lot of us old guys that eat this up. You are a fountain of knowledge since you were there. PLEASE post anytime you want to here! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted February 25, 2015 Author Share Posted February 25, 2015 I don't think that Chuck or the other guys spend a lot of time on the internet. Send him a link to this thread. He'd probably enjoy it and maybe be persuaded to join in! I'd love to hear from Richard Kyle as well. He was a good guy and also very helpful to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted February 25, 2015 Author Share Posted February 25, 2015 How 'bout you MITCH??? You must have visited the SO CAL mecca of early comic collecting once or twice. Or, at least could tell us about the N CAL stores in the day. Join in with us geezers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted February 25, 2015 Author Share Posted February 25, 2015 OK, enough of the good old daze. How about a little Al Feldstein goodness? I don't think he really gets enough credit as an artist. Nobody drew babes like he did. I met him numerous times over the years. A true gentleman and is really missed. I remember having him sign a Junior once for me. He was floored to see it. He was probably asked to sign EC's and MADs mostly (of which I got him to sign plenty) but he really got a kick out of the Junior. Here's some stuff you probably see and some you probably don't very often. Enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted February 25, 2015 Author Share Posted February 25, 2015 VERY hard to find book. Looked for years and finally found one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted February 25, 2015 Author Share Posted February 25, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted February 25, 2015 Author Share Posted February 25, 2015 EC romance is VERY hard to find in any shape. I might have a dozen of them. Here's a good one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
