Search Continues for Real Hardware Stores
Back in September of 1984, I asked readers of this column to nominate their favorite real hardware stores.
I thought the old-time Main Street hardware stores that stocked a little bit of everything were an endangered species that would be quickly replaced by 100,000-square-foot discount warehouses like HomeClub, Home Depot and Price Club, and by large home center operations like Builders Emporium and Lumber City.
The response to that Sept. 9, 1984, column was overwhelming: I discovered that--rather than being displaced by the big warehouse-style outlets--hardware stores and large independent home centers like Ganahl Lumber in Anaheim catering to do-it-yourselfers were holding their own.
Readers supplied me with names and addresses and I visited real hardware stores in Sierra Madre, Culver City, San Fernando, Woodland Hills, Reseda and many other communities.
I’m again issuing a call for names and addresses of your favorite stores, including ones in San Diego and surrounding towns, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura/Oxnard, Santa Barbara and Orange County. I’ll list as many as I can in future columns.
The photo accompanying this column shows Tsutomu Maehara, founder of Anzen Hardware & Supply Co., 220 East 1st St. in Little Tokyo. Maehara started Anzen in 1946, when he was 26.
Send your nominations and comments to: Dale Baldwin’s Hardware Quest, Real Estate Department, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles 90053. Typewritten or computer-generated letters are preferred, especially if your handwriting is as bad as mine!
I’ve reported on the excellent instructional videocassettes from the Taunton Press since the series was introduced in 1985. Currently 12 in number, they are uniformly excellent, among the best of their kind in quality and clarity. The latest, “Repairing Furniture With Bob Flexner,” is one that should appeal to the readers of this column who have pieces with chipped or damaged veneer, loose joints or more severe structural damage. Don’t throw it out, fix it!
Flexner believes that a poor repair is worse than none at all and that the right kind of glue and clamping procedure is vital to the operation. Most of the furniture shown in the 70-minute, $29.95 tape are antiques, but the techniques will work with the latest chair, dresser or table.
Flexner discusses the various kinds of glue, including hide glue that has to be used hot from the glue pot (those who took wood shop in the ‘50s will remember the distinctive odor of that glue pot!), as well as the more familiar white and yellow glues.
Hide glue isn’t nearly as convenient to use as the white or yellow stuff, but it’s much more versatile, as Flexner shows. It’s especially useful to reglue old furniture, since it was all that cabinetmakers had before white or yellow glue was developed a couple of generations ago.
The videocassette should be at well-stocked home centers and bookstores or can be ordered direct from the Taunton Press, 63 S. Main St., Newtown, Conn. 06470.
