Quote:
Originally Posted by Tere1071
Paul's Liquor in South Gate, CA was literally a 2-3 minute walk from my home. I don't know if it had a wide fanbase for sports cards, but it served my needs quite well. In 1970 as a nine-year-old I got paid 20 cents a week to bring in the trashcans and I'd take my earnings to purchase two packs of cards. It worked until I sought a raise to 25 cents a week whereupon I was fired. Two years later I became a paperboy for three years and that helped me purchase cards.
The only thing "unique" about Paul's was that it sold some cards a year later. I purchased my 1970 packs in 1971 and the 1971s in 1972.
Ah youth, I wished I knew then what I know now.
Phil aka Tere1071
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Yeah, great story, Phil. Reminds me of my own card collecting intro as an eight-year-old. My old man used to take my brother and me with him on weekends to a grungy old bowling alley for about five hours a night. We were handed a buck each and told to sit in a booth in the barroom and stay out of trouble. Instead, we raced down to the corner Mom/Pop store and spent a couple of hours sitting on the floor reading comic books. The ancient guy who owned the store was very kindly and never told us to get out. One evening, he set up a table near the front door and hauled up several boxes of waxpacks from his cellar. In the boxes were cases of 1951 Topps baseball cards that had been collecting dust for months. He opened them up and spread hundreds of packs out on the table, pricing them at two for a penny. I don't recall if he ever managed to unload them all at that price, but my brother and I spent half of our allowance on packs of Redbacks, Team Cards and CM All-Stars. I sure wish I had somehow been able to save those cards, but most of them were quickly trashed by Ma the day after I enlisted.
