I took this photo in January of 2006. This was the old Trost Hobby Shop on West 63rd Street between Troy Street and Albany Avenue. This place was a phenominal 3 Storefronts big, and was long a neighborhood fixture on Chicago's southwest side. This place served the needs of Hobbyist from Chicago's Marquette Park and Chicago Lawn neighborhood communities. This photo was taken during the official "Last" days it was open in January of 2006. After the passings of Mike, Betty, and Verna Trost in recent years, the surviving family members closed the store on West 63rd Street and kept the wholesale warehouse at West 47th and South Troy streets operating untill being sold last year.The old Trost Hobby Shop site today, is now the home of a large Mexican Bakery shop.
7 comments:
Eddie,
The CTA Historical Calendar for 2008 is now available as a PDF download. Here is the link:
http://www.transitchicago.com/news/whatsnew2.wu?action=displaynewspostingdetail&articleid=122075
Looks like you would have been out of a job last year if you stayed there.
One week in the summer of 1976 my best friend and next door neighbor Richard and I went out hunting for our first "real" jobs. He got hired at Trost and I got hired at the old Polk Bros. department store directly across the street. The injustice! He was a fine employee, I'm sure, but he couldn't give a crap about working in a hobby shop, let alone "The Shrine" among south side hobbyists--Trost!
Ha Ha Ha!
Thanks Anthony. That is a really funny story from Chicago's southwest side. There are proboubly many more. I used to shop occasionally at the Trost store, and eventually worked for nearly 7 years at the West 47th Street Wholesale Warehouse.
I loved the trains, but hated the fact that I was in My late 20's and early 30's just barely earning a FRACTION above minimum wage.
I was a good recieving clerk and stockman though.
Eddie K.
When I saw this picture of the old Trost hobby shop just now, it brought a tear to my eye. I won a lot of model car contests there in the sixties and I still have all the trophys. Unfortunately, my parents tossed the model cars when they moved from 56th and Pulaski. I have only one left and it's presently proudly displayed in my home.
I spent many hours at the store 0n 63rd. I still have many items bought there. They had everything you needed and more. It was a sad day when it closed . There is no place anywhere today like it. I miss it
Back in the '70s, I used to live near 63rd & Harlem and I went to high school at St. Rita. I used to pass by Trost every day on the CTA bus. I was really into model railroading back in the day, so I would sometimes get off the bus at Trost and ABC Cycle and Hobby (on 63rd near Cicero) on the way home from school. Last time I was at Trost was in 1990. Their model railroad inventory was getting pretty sad by then. The neighborhood wasn't so great either.
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