42 | BOROMAG.COM | APRIL 2015 SHOPS Story & PHOTOS BY BRADLEY HAWKS Fighter planes soar overhead, while beneath them train cars are stacked upon semi-trucks, taxi cabs, and trolley cars. St. Basil’s Cathedral stands proudly by the front door, a 3-D puzzle, of course. “That came from a customer who bought the puzzle,” recalls Marvin Cochran, “but once it was finished, he had nowhere to put it—so he brought it back to me.” Cochran and his wife own the Hobby Shop, which has been selling models, train sets, puzzles, records, books, paints, kites, games, religious memorabilia, and a whole array of creative fodder since the late 1980s. The store inventory reads like the palate of a child’s imagination. Passing through the doors is like stepping back in time. The shop first popped up on 30th Avenue in 1939, owned by Mr. Cochran’s father-in-law, Rudy Oest. Rather than a Hobby Shop, it was then known as Rudy’s Confectionery, an old fashioned icecream parlor with marble countertops and a classic soda fountain. As the ice cream business began to fade and replacement parts for the equipment became harder to find, the store gradually started selling trains and transitioning into its present incarnation. One of the only signs of the original shop is the antique cash register that was bought secondhand during World War II. “I was a toy train collector,” Cochran recalls, “and I would buy whole sets, take one piece out I wanted, and then sell the rest. There was another hobby shop in the area, but she wouldn’t do trains— even if you prepaid her.” Soon thereafter, the demand for trains precipitated a demand for buildings, and then signs, and trees, and eventually a new business was born. “There was an art framing store on Steinway that was closing, and when I went to buy their showcase, the guy said to me, ‘if you’re taking my showcase, you’ve got to take in my paints, because it’s matching what you’re doing,’ and that’s how I got into the art supplies.” Now Cochran sells acrylic paints, canvases, and brushes. In response to why the model business is fading away, Cochran hypothesizes, “Now people don’t have the space. You used to have a basement and maybe a spare room. One family homes now have three families living in them. Even garages are made into apartments.” That, and the increased presence of electronics. “Kids are all into the iPads and Mario Brothers,” he reflects. “You don’t even see kids hanging out together and shooting hoops or batting a ball anymore.” The Hobby Shop harbors a crowd of loyal patrons. It is even featured in the guide, 111 Shops in New York That You Must Not Miss: Unique Finds and Local Treasures. Its place in the book is certainly justified, and you should swing by to peruse the shelves on a leisurely afternoon. Who knows what new hobby you might find waiting? Open Wednesday – Saturday 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. 35-16 30th Ave., Astoria, NY 11103 (718) 545-8280 The Hobby Shop
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