I am pretty sure that my dad got my first 290 set in 1951, when I was 6, from Baker and Hamilton Hardware, where he got a discount as a San Francisco city employee. I did buy a Silver Bullet passenger set with Chrome loco and satin cars at Merrills' Drug Store in downtown SF. They didn't normally sell AF, but they apparently had a closeout in 1954 of 1953 Silver Bullet sets. They had a display set up of a huge oval using only curved track. It was painful to see the Silver Bullet barreling down a "straightaway" of S curves.
What I really remember best though, is riding the old "Iron Monster" street cars from Noe Valley where I lived, to downtown San Francisco and the J.C. Penney Department Store, which regularly sold AF and had a big display layout on the 6th floor. I didn't buy much but I still enjoyed seeing the new stuff and that was the highlight of every trip downtown. Fast forward 45 to 50 years from those days -- J.C. Penney is no longer there and the building has been gutted inside and refurbished as office space. I have been to law school and practicing law for better than 25 years. The 5th and 6th floors of the old J.C. Penney building are now occupied by the regional offices of the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, before whom I regularly argue cases. Every once in a while, after a settlement or status conference, I look over the central atrium of the building to the northeast side of the 6th floor and think back to an earlier time when I had a whole lot more fun in that same airspace. Even if you can go back, it isn't there anymore. Dale Smith Pacifica, CA S-Trains list sponsor: http://www.americanflyertrains.com All the Flyer you desire...books and accessories too! To UNSUBSCRIBE from this list send a note to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
