Thanks to everyone for their Off List contacts regarding my inquiry about Browns Cycle Center. A familiar saga it would seem - a bike boom era shop which folded long ago. My interest was in hopes of contacting the one time owner to share photos of my 1971 Schwinn Paramount P15-9 (Touring Paramount) which is still in lovely condition, basically all original, and still a joy on the road. I have included below a few of the comments which list members had kindly offered.
A few years back I had contacted a shop in Denver about a Frejus I own which bore the still open shops label. The man who answered the phone turned out to be the original owner of the shop which had just opened its doors around 1970. That man well remembered the model of the bike and quickly recalled all the details of the paint color, full Campy build up with Universal 61 brakes, and even remembered it had come with 3TTT Gran Prix stem and bars. We had a nice conversation, and he was delighted to hear that one of his bikes from some 35 years past is still in fine condition and continues to put on more pleasurable miles.
Silly perhaps, but to me it seems worthwhile to take the time pursue these minor leads, both to share the info with potentially interested parties and sometimes to even add to minor details about one's bikes... before those threads are forever lost with the passage of time. Nice to have any apocrypha to pass onto future owners of our little treasures... I certainly wish I knew anything of some of my bikes' past lives.
* I got info from one bike shop owner so far. He said Brown sold Puegeots and Schwinns and that the elderly owner called it quits around 1980. * I grew up in Long Beach, CA, and visited Brown's many times as a teenager. They sold Schwinn, Mondia, and Paul Egli bikes. It was definitely one of the better 'enthusiast' shops in Long Beach at that time. In the early 70's, the shop was sold, and became 'Haley's King of Bikes'. I worked at 'King of Bikes', for a short time- the owner, Charles Haley, was an alcohlic, retired Navy CPO- he knew & cared nothing about bikes, he was just trying to cash in on the 'Bike Boom'. I believe that 'Long Beach Cyclery' is now on the site of the old Brown's store, and it is once again a high-end specialty store. * Haley's must not have lasted long. Long Beach Cyclery was not far away on Broadway but they went away about 6 years ago -may have been good at one time but was a small mountain/cruiser place. Cruisers and fixed gears are really popular here now so they missed it on that boom. Cheers! Bob Hanson, Albuquerque, NM, USA
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