Wagons, HoPeople driving down the freeway from...

Wagons, Ho

People driving down the freeway from Lancaster to the San Fernando Valley are likely to do a double take passing through Acton.

On the west side of the roadway sitting up on a hill is what looks like a town from the 1890s, complete with a sheriff’s station, a town hall, dozens of old wagons and even a stagecoach or two.

It’s The Barnyard, owned by Canyon Country’s Dennis Neice, who has a passion for, and knowledge of, Wild West memorabilia, which he collects, reconditions and sells.

Neice collects the stuff from movie companies in town and from other collectors throughout the American West and sometimes rather surprising places such as England.

There are sellers and buyers for this kind of thing all over the world, Neice said, and he knows a lot of them.

It’s hard to imagine who might want a covered wagon or a stagecoach, but Neice said movie companies buy or rent his stuff, and some people take it home for their yards, not that Neice actually likes parting with it.

“I love these things, because they are part of our country’s history and my own,” he said.

Neice, whose grandparents made farm wagons, said he came to California in 1960 when he was 16. He had run away from the poverty of his old Kentucky home and arrived here penniless and alone. He went to work at Abner’s Yellow Barn on Sherman Way in Van Nuys, which sold used furniture. Owner Boyd Sailor didn’t really need any help, but he knew Neice did. What Sailor didn’t know was that his new clerk couldn’t read or write.

Neice opened his own used-furniture store in Woodland Hills in the mid-’60s--calling it Little Abner’s--and was so embarrassed by not being able to read the business transactions that he decided to do something about his illiteracy.

“I attended night school in Van Nuys but mostly taught myself from dirty books,” he said, smiling. “The four-letter words were repeated so often, it was easy to learn to group the letters into words.”

He can smile about it now, but the memory is still painful. “You never forget the shame and how embarrassed you feel,” he said. “It takes a lot of nerve and courage to do something about illiteracy when you are an adult.”

He said he loves working with the wonderful old things he has for sale at The Barnyard, including the milk cans and wagon wheels and other lower-priced antiques.

But nothing beats his pleasure at being able to read.

“It makes me feel good being able to wake up every morning and be able to read the paper,” he said.

“Adults who can’t read should get help.”

Play It Again

The Antique Amusements Co. on Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks is another commercial venture based on a private passion.

Wurlitzers.

The store is packed with nostalgic jukeboxes of all ages and descriptions, some that play 45s and some that have been converted to play compact discs. They are the result of the fervor of Paul Reno, who bought his first jukebox at 16, 35 years ago.

“My dad was at his high school prom, and he bought the jukebox they auctioned off,” said Reno’s son, Bob, who runs the shop.

Bob Reno said that, once his father bought the first one, he just never stopped.

For a while, the collecting was a personal hobby, but a few years back, Paul Reno bought Antique Amusements from another collector and went commercial in a big way.

The shop now carries about 10 reconditioned machines in working order that are ready to be taken to someone’s home or place of business. A warehouse contains 50 or so more that are being put into working order or stored, Bob Reno said.

Prices range from $500 to $40,000, but the machines usually cost about $12,000, he said.

Bob Reno isn’t eager to give out information about the clientele, but he isn’t denying that musicians Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue, Eddie Van Halen, Michael Jackson and Ozzie Osborne, as well as actors Michael J. Fox and Ann Jillian, have been seen on the premises.

Field of Dreams

Sam D. Battistone, whose business interests have included the 1,100-restaurant Sambo’s chain and the Utah Jazz basketball team, got the idea for his latest business venture from his son Jason’s enthusiasm for baseball cards.

Field of Dreams, with a new store in the Glendale Galleria as well as two near Palm Springs, is filled with sports memorabilia that includes--at the Glendale store--a $900 porcelain statue of Wayne Gretzky and a $600 49ers football helmet signed by Joe Montana, according to the local store’s manager, Stewart Brakin.

“We sell all the baseball, football, hockey and basketball cards, as well as items like player-autographed baseball caps, bats, gloves, football helmets, footballs, baseballs, basketballs and that sort of thing,” Brakin said.

“Everything that is autographed carries a certificate of authenticity, so the buyer knows he is getting what he paid for,” Brakin said.

Play Ball

During big sporting events such as the World Series and the basketball playoffs, television cameras always have a shot of some bar where the fans are maniacs and go crazy on cue for the local team.

Telly’s at the Sheraton Universal in Universal City is that kind of place.

If you are looking for a noisy, sports-fanatical spot in which to observe Super Bowl Sunday, this could be just right for you.

There is almost no surface--be it walls, ceiling, tables or post--that is not filled with a sporting autographed picture, shirt, ball, cap, helmet, pennant, trophy or whatever. And there is nowhere in the place from which you cannot see one of a multitude of television sets tuned to the big game--and that includes under most of the tables.

This place is so big and loud and friendly it looks like a movie set.

You’ll think you made a wrong turn on the Universal Studios Tour.

Overheard

“Welcome to the lifestyle of the flat broke and totally obscure.”

--in North Hollywood