‘Doohickey’ Heaven Here on Earth : Nostalgia: Bins of nuts and bolts, merchandise piled to the ceiling, friendly service--fewer than a dozen such non-chain stores still exist in the Valley.

It’s the kind of store found in most happy childhoods.

Emerald letters spelling “HARDWARE” curve across a plate-glass window that frames a seasonal assortment: barbecues, outboard motors, snowplows--perhaps a few chain saws perched on wooden ladders.

Inside, narrow aisles lead browsers to rows of bins packed with small metal objects that invite extensive fingering: nuts, bolts, screws, hinges and knobs. Around the corner are display items that must be turned, pushed and poked: doorknobs, light fixtures and best of all, the doorbell assortment.

Old-time hardware stores are still around, waiting for the next generation of small fingers to test their treasures. Less than a dozen older stores built in the 1940s and ‘50s are scattered around the San Fernando Valley.

Although updated, many retain some vestige of their former glory with custom services such as window screening and pipe threading and hold a confusing jumble of inventory stacked to the rafters. Perhaps most important are the proprietors, those silver-haired gentlemen in navy blue vests who know the difference between a cat’s paw and a pry bar.

Rudy Nigro began his Woodland Hills hardware store--Rudy’s Hardware--in 1947, on a dusty street called Ventura Boulevard.

“When the store was built, it ran from here to here,” said manager Steve Nelson, pointing from the store’s entrance to a display of vinyl carpet runners. “We’ve gone from 1,000 square feet to 10,000 square feet.”

Nelson, 35, who has been with Rudy’s since 1979, showed pictures that detailed the store’s progression--from a sign in block letters that spelled out “Hardware” to the giant “Rudy’s Hardware” that flows in script across the store’s front today. A small sign of the times hangs out front: “We have Radon Test Kits and Earthquake Supplies.”

The manager before Nelson worked at Rudy’s Hardware for 20 years, a common length of stay for employees of older shops, said most store owners.

“We hear so much about people not getting service at bigger stores, so we always look for help who have experience,” said Nelson, who has no intension of leaving his job. He glanced up at a wooden seed planter, circa 1914, that hung above him. “If we can’t find that, we find that most new employees pick up things real fast.”

When customers ask for the “whatchamacallit that fits over the thing that you turn to make the doohickey work,” hardware stores that have achieved relic status are famous for deciphering the question, according to T. Philibin’s 1988 book “Complete Illustrated Guide to Everything Sold in Hardware Stores.”

Older hardware stores have a down-home quality not found in their chain counterparts. And it’s no wonder--most are family run or family hand-me-downs.

Frank Traverna opened the doors to Franklin’s Hardware, a 5,400-square-foot store, back in 1952. But the current owner is Chip Kurzeka, who began his career sweeping floors at his father’s Van Nuys store, Panorama Hardware, when he was 1. Chip’s father, Ray, purchased the Woodland Hills store in 1970 and immediately sold it to Chip. The elder Kurzeka also kept Panorama Hardware in the family by selling it his daughter, Kay, in 1977.

The list continues. Don Jordan started Empire Hardware in Mission Hills in 1954. It’s currently run by Jordan’s wife, two sons, his daughter and a brother-in-law. And in Sepulveda, Economy Hardware’s owner, David Hammer, said he recently purchased the store from the three Villani brothers, Joseph, John and Anthony, who first set up shop in 1958. Joseph and John Villani still work the cluttered aisles of the 8,000-square-foot store as clerks.

“Small, independent stores vanish every day,” said Pat McQuade, co-owner of Jim’s Market, a small grocery store just south of Franklin’s on Topanga Canyon Boulevard. “But it’s always nice to shop in a small place. You go into the store, everyone knows your hame--it’s a cozy feeling. I tend to get lost in big stores. You can’t get lost at Chip’s.”

Franklin’s, more eclectic than other hardware stores, is stocked not only with nuts and bolts, but also toilet seats, ironing boards, Pyrex dishes, furniture polish and kitchen knives. Tin wash buckets line shelves high above the worn linoleum flooring and various signs point toward personalized services that are offered.

A popular trend with many of the older hardware stores is buying into co-ops with larger, chain operations. The co-op partnership offers greater purchasing power, national advertising and some lower prices. For instance, Franklin’s teamed up with True Value Hardware in 1986, and Rudy’s joined Ace Hardware Stores in 1971.

Established in 1917, Roscoe Hardware in Sun Valley is perhaps the oldest hardware store in the Valley. The store has grown from a tiny shop to its current spread of 73,000 square feet. Manager Glenn Forsche said he can still locate various original sections of the store dating back to the ‘20s and ‘40s. Most of the original walls, he said, are now sandwiched between earthquake renovations that were completed after the store was damaged by a fire in 1981.

The lifespan for other hardware stores, however, has come to a close. Di Cecco’s Building Center in Canoga Park is one example.

“All I’ve got to say is I’ve had lots of wonderful customers, and I’m going to make it--I really am,” said Vince Di Cecco, 71, who owned the store that closed Aug. 15.

For 27 years, Di Cecco leased the land from Owensmouth Southern Pacific Passenger Depot, which is now negotiating the sale of the depot and four-acre lot. In an effort to save Di Cecco’s building from possible demolition, the Canoga-Owensmouth Historical Society helped the structure earn a Historic Culture Monument designation, which was bestowed on May 30. The status prohibits demolition for a year.

In a separate purchase, the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission is negotiating with Southern Pacific to purchase 25 acres of right of way and adjoining Southern Pacific property stretching from Burbank to Chatsworth, for potential use by the Metro Rail system.

Before Di Cecco’s closed its doors, the store was the keeper of an old hardware tradition. Di Cecco had laid four strips of colored tape on the floor, beginning at the store’s entrance and running to each department. A trip down the green line would take customers to the nuts and bolts section, yellow would end at lumber, white at plumbing, and so on.

“That system was a throw-back to hardware stores in the 1920s,” said Howard Shirley, 72, a 20-year Di Cecco customer. “I haven’t seen anyone do that kind of thing since before World War II. It was really helpful. You would walk in the door and the cashier could tell you immediately which line to follow. When you got to the end of the line, there was always someone there waiting to help you.”

“I’m going to miss that system.” said Shirley.