Curious & Stimulating Find in New Collection! 1 1

[thehumantorch]

On 5/18/2023 at 9:08 AM, Ghastly542454 said:

I had only been collecting comics for a couple of months in 1966. One Saturday I went the Roadium Swap Meet in Gardena a town next to the town I lived in. It was there that I met Nancy Scotto, mother of the legendary So Cal dealer Nick Scotto. She first introduced me to the concept that sometimes in order to get older comic books that I wanted, I had to pay more than a nickel or dime than the comic books I was buying at the swap meet. 
I remember buying 6-7 comics from her that day for .50-.75 each.

She gave me her phone number and address and within a few weeks, I was spending most of the $35 a month I earned delivering the Herald Examiner newspaper with her.

Nancy Scotto lived in a duplex on 237th St in Torrance between Crenshaw and Arlington. The entire back house was filled with Nick’s comic books. Nick was serving in Vietnam when I first started dealing with her. She eventually opened up a store on 237th and Arlington. When Nick came back in 1970, he took over the store and eventually opened 2 other stores one on Crenshaw near Marine (Compton Blvd at the time) and later another store close to where I lived at the Old Towne Mall on Hawthorne Blvd called Ye Olde Comic Vendor. After he closed the store at the Old Towne Mall, he opened another store in Torrance on the corner of Crenshaw Blvd and Artesia Blvd. Nick could be quite a nasty person if he chose to be and most of time, he ran nasty 🤢! Nick was married to a very attractive woman named Sandy. In 1972, one of his employees Mike, showed up at my door (how he found my address I’ll never know) and told me he had been fired by Nick for making a pass at Sandy! He needed money 💰 and offered to sell me Mad #1-#23 and Panic #1-#12 for $200 which I quickly purchased from him.

I lost track of Nick from the 80’s on but I do know back when you could see the buyer of stuff on eBay I would sometimes see his name. He operated some type of comic book distribution warehouse in Carson for a long time. I heard he had died a year or two ago.

Thanks.  These are the stories and stories about guys from the early days that we don't want to lose.

[Tri-Color Brian]

On 5/17/2023 at 5:26 PM, Robot Man said:

We were pretty lucky in SO CA. We had Collector's, Cherokee and Bond Street in Hollywood. Later the American Comic Book Co and Fantasy Castle in the Valley. Then Geoffrey's and Nick Scotto in the South Bay. This was pretty much before comic book shops as we know them now. I never went to Fantasy Castle much. Pretty sure @Tri-ColorBrian hit it. And @Ghastly542454 can speak better of Geoffrey's and Nick Scotto. 

Yeah, a hundred bucks was living LARGE. I rarely spent any more on a book than $20. but I wasn't buying GA Timely's and DC's much. PCH, GGA and the stuff that is so popular now could be found for $5. or in some cases as little as $1. By 17, I was on my own and my $2. an hour job was just enough to pay my rent living in a house full of hippies...

I never went to Fantasy Castle.    In the 80s I frequented Passport Comics in the valley, and loved listening to Earl hype whatever he had a lot of...  One time he had about 20 copies of Superman #123 on the wall, all priced at $10 each.  I should have bought a dozen of them.  In the early 90s he put Dave Stevens books on the wall with high prices.  I had never seen a Stevens cover, and I really liked the art, so I started grabbing high grade copies in the quarter boxes at other comic shops...

As for expensive books just sitting...Cherokee had a copy of Batman #11 in the storefront window priced at $25 in 1966.  It was still there in 1968, but had tanned really well by then. 

[Tri-Color Brian]

On 5/17/2023 at 7:41 PM, Robot Man said:

I went to Hi De Ho a few times. I remember fishing out a copy of Voodoo Annual and a few PCH books out of their store boxes on one trip. 

These are from Hi De Ho in 1994 (and a No-Prize to anyone who knows the reference for the store's name).

 

[Jesse-Lee]

On 5/16/2023 at 5:38 PM, Robot Man said:

I remember the American Comic Book Co well. A very early store in the LA area run by David T Alexander, Terry Stroud and Carl Macek. They were the early “rock star” dealers. Great covers on their catalogs by William Stout and Scott Shaw!. They threw great parties with actual attractive females attending. If you got in good with them, you got access to the back room where almost daily walk in buys were stacked unsorted in boxes and on tables. I got a lot of killer stuff there. 

They don’t get much acclaim, but they originally coined the terms “Esoteric”, “Good Girl Art”, “Bondage Cover” and many others. This happened because they were buying so many vintage comics and a lot were just sitting around unsold. They figured if they “marketed” them a bit, a lot of books would move. Was a great move. As time went on, a lot of these terms just stuck with collectors.

Just look at those Fiction House prices. These were considered very aggressive at the time. But with some creative marketing, ads in the Buyer’s Guide and their catalogues, they did quite a sucessful business.

A real treat to see those early catalogues. If I only knew then what I know now…

Were they affiliated with American Entertainment? I fondly remember getting those catalogs in the mail and even ordering from them a couple of times in the early 90s. They always had a great section with Cherry, Bettie Page, Milo Manara, etc. in addition to the "normal" comics.

[Kramerica]

On 5/19/2023 at 3:14 PM, Tri-ColorBrian said:

These are from Hi De Ho in 1994 (and a No-Prize to anyone who knows the reference for the store's name).

I always thought it was from Betty Boop.....

[Tri-Color Brian]

On 5/19/2023 at 7:34 PM, Kramerica said:

I always thought it was from Betty Boop.....

Nope...

[Kramerica]

On 5/19/2023 at 8:21 PM, Tri-ColorBrian said:

Nope...

Oh, I knew that. From the Blues Brothers. That was too obvious! Since Betty Boop was Hi De Ho's Mascot-ette I always thought she said it before Cabs.

[Kramerica]

Now thinking about Hi De Ho I feel the ultimate shame when I think of the Timely's and Hulk #181's I gave up. And my ASM #1 and others. I always chose the credit option instead of the cash hourly wage because it was 1.5 and I always saved it up for big bunches of fun. We had a stack of over 20 DD #1's at one point and a full short box of Iron Man #1's and Subby's. I'm going to cry now.

[Old Fashion PB and J]

This thread is an amazing read, thanks for sharing this history fellas!

[Kramerica]

On 5/18/2023 at 2:00 PM, thehumantorch said:

Thanks.  These are the stories and stories about guys from the early days that we don't want to lose.

Quite a few on these Boards too IIRC.

[Robot Man]

On 5/19/2023 at 8:21 PM, Tri-ColorBrian said:

Nope...

Beat me to it…

[Robot Man]

On 5/19/2023 at 7:34 PM, Kramerica said:

I always thought it was from Betty Boop.....

 

[Ken Aldred]

On 5/18/2023 at 10:00 PM, thehumantorch said:

Thanks.  These are the stories and stories about guys from the early days that we don't want to lose.

They’re fascinating.

[Robot Man]

I can only speak of SO CA. An area rich with comic book history.

Before SDCC there was the Hollywood Women’s club shows and the Shrine Auditorium shows. Shows just packed with GA/SA comics. You wouldn’t believe what was in dollar and 50 cent boxes on the floor under tables piled with unbagged GA Timely, DC, Barks and ECs. But a buck a book wasn’t exactly cheap when you were making $2-3 an hour working. A lot of trading went on.

I remember trading a set of Beatles bobble head dolls to Terry Stroud for a few high grade ECs at the great Hollywood Women’s Club show.

Terry is still around and I bump into him often at the flea markets. Other than getting older, he hasn’t changed much…

[Kramerica]

On 5/20/2023 at 8:17 AM, Robot Man said:

I can only speak of SO CA. An area rich with comic book history.

Before SDCC there was the Hollywood Women’s club shows and the Shrine Auditorium shows. Shows just packed with GA/SA comics. You wouldn’t believe what was in dollar and 50 cent boxes on the floor under tables piled with unbagged GA Timely, DC, Barks and ECs. But a buck a book wasn’t exactly cheap when you were making $2-3 an hour working. A lot of trading went on.

I remember trading a set of Beatles bobble head dolls to Terry Stroud for a few high grade ECs at the great Hollywood Women’s Club show.

Terry is still around and I bump into him often at the flea markets. Other than getting older, he hasn’t changed much…

 

Don't forget the Creation Cons if you ever went. And there was a monthly one at the Ambassador Hotel in downtown LA.

[Robot Man]

The monthly ones at the Ambassador Hotel started at the Shrine Auditorium. John Verzyl got his start selling there. Was a great monthly show. I got started selling my excess there as well. Always tons of cool books. Bruce had a lot of ins into the movie and comic industry and had a lot of great guests. Kinda went down hill when Bruce started all allowing adult video tapes and modern toys. Covid finally killed it I think.

I probably went to the Creation Cons but nothing really sounds out in my memory.

There were quite a few vintage toy shows and of course great weekly flea markets including the Rose Bowl. Jamie Newbold has some great stories about the Bowl in his book. Used to be able to find tons of great stuff including comics but sadly, that ship has pretty much sailed as well. 

[jimjum12]

On 5/19/2023 at 6:14 PM, Tri-ColorBrian said:

These are from Hi De Ho in 1994 (and a No-Prize to anyone who knows the reference for the store's name).

Isn't Hi De Ho the phrase that Heidi Fleiss put on the T-Shirts she gave to her employees ? GOD BLESS...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

[FoggyNelson]

I noticed the CHIPS cards 👍‼️

[Nick Furious]

Anyone who didn't get to meet Nick Scotto missed a heck of an experience.  I don't know if he was a stereotype...or a prototype.  I started stopping by his Carson warehouse around 2009.  Not only did his books have no pricing, they also had no bags or boards.  Nick was pretty good at getting information from his customers, letting them dig out his treasures from the drek.    Then he would look up the prices and realize the books had achieved some recent high 9.8 price and use that as the starting point for pricing.  As one dealer told me, much like a Tijuana shop owner, Nick was always going to give you a great deal...until you showed interest in something.  Two ways to get good value from Nick were to buy in volume (he wanted to move large stacks of books), and the other was to go there when he was on vacation with his wife and the assistant was running the warehouse.  

[Robot Man]

On 5/21/2023 at 8:33 AM, Nick Furious said:

Anyone who didn't get to meet Nick Scotto missed a heck of an experience.  I don't know if he was a stereotype...or a prototype.  I started stopping by his Carson warehouse around 2009.  Not only did his books have no pricing, they also had no bags or boards.  Nick was pretty good at getting information from his customers, letting them dig out his treasures from the drek.    Then he would look up the prices and realize the books had achieved some recent high 9.8 price and use that as the starting point for pricing.  As one dealer told me, much like a Tijuana shop owner, Nick was always going to give you a great deal...until you showed interest in something.  Two ways to get good value from Nick were to buy in volume (he wanted to move large stacks of books), and the other was to go there when he was on vacation with his wife and the assistant was running the warehouse.  

I took the latter approach. Same thing over at Geoffrey’s. Problem was, Scotto didn’t often have much of what I wanted. I just didn’t like the guy. Period.