How I became a monster loving kid and the monster toy enthusiast I am today!

[Sean]

Very sad.

The counter and swivel stools looked like this.  Deep in the back were pinball machines.  On the right side wall were many wooden newstand-type magazine racks loaded with comic books and the lastest Famous Monsters issue.  It was a world of wonder. 

[Hepcat]

And pinball machines too! Absolutely perfect!

[Scatter]

I would kill to have a place like that around here!! Beautiful!!

[Sean]

And pinball machines too! Absolutely perfect!

The door was always open.  You just walked in.  The old vintage pin ball machines with the clicking analog score counters and bells.  Burger.  Fries.  Root Beer Float.  Pinball.  Famous Monsters of Filmland Issue.  Bottle Caps Candy.

[Sean]

I would kill to have a place like that around here!! Beautiful!!

Gary, we would have rode our bikes there and made our allowances disappear together!

[bigbud]

Gary, we would have rode our bikes there and made our allowances disappear together!

Hey! Let me in on that fun too! We'd all ride our bikes down there!

[Sean]

Hey! Let me in on that fun too! We'd all ride our bikes down there!

You're definitely in, Bud.  Me, you, Gary and Hep.  The 4 Horseman of the Apocalypse... going for burgers, pinball, Werewolf By Night comics and Marathon Bars.

[bigbud]

Got me a cool 1952 Columbian one-speed bike in the garage with space ship saddlebags on it! Away we go!

[Hepcat]

...Steve's soda shop a few doors down to visit a cousin who worked there as a soda jerk.  We'd sit at the counter and get cheeseburgers and fries and root beer floats.  After eating lunch, I was permitted to peruse the stands that were chock full of comics and magazines and pick one.  I then was allowed to pick one candy.... The candy choices? I'd usually walk out with a pack of Wax Bottles or a Marathon Bar or Sugar Babies.

Did Steve's also sell baseball and other bubble gum trading ards? Did you ever collect any?

You're definitely in, Bud.  Me, you, Gary and Hep.  The 4 Horseman of the Apocalypse... going for burgers, pinball, Werewolf By Night comics and Marathon Bars.

So burgers, hot dogs, fries, milkshakes, ice cream sundaes, potato chips, Dubble Bubble gum, pinball, Creepy and Mad magazines.... Just give me a chance to put some air in the tires of my bike and get a couple of jolly roger flags to attach to the rear fender!

[Scatter]

You're definitely in, Bud.  Me, you, Gary and Hep.  The 4 Horseman of the Apocalypse... going for burgers, pinball, Werewolf By Night comics and Marathon Bars.

Ahhhhhhh......if only, my friends

[Sean]

Did Steve's also sell baseball and other bubble gum trading ards? Did you ever collect any?

So burgers, hot dogs, fries, milkshakes, ice cream sundaes, potato chips, Dubble Bubble gum, pinball, Creepy and Mad magazines.... Just give me a chance to put some air in the tires of my bike and get a couple of jolly roger flags to attach to the rear fender!

Hep, I recall the wax packs of baseball and football cards.  I bought plenty of packs, but I wasn't an organized collector.  I also got Star Wars wax packs there.  I kept them all in a Giant cardboard popcorn bucket that had Universal's big 5 monsters on it.  Cinema 9 was at the end of the strip mall that Steve's was and Terry's barbershop was.  $0.99 Matinees there.  Saw Godzilla VS Megalon there.  Steve had Mad and Cracked magazines as well. 

[Hepcat]

There was a classic New York style candy store on Richmond Street in downtown London, Ontario directly across the street from St. Peter's School where I was obligated by my parents to attend extracurricular Lithuanian language classes between 4:00 and 5:30 Saturday afternoons. Davis Variety was its name. It had the obligatory lunch counter which the fellow worked himself. I was never drawn to get anything at the lunch counter though (not that I would have had the money anyway of course). Unlike the lunch counters at the downtown Metropolitan, Kresge and Woolworths stores, it was pretty spartan and dingy and just didn't appeal to me. Mr. Davis himself was almost a comic book caricature of the old guy working a hot grill and his lunch counter never seemed to have any customers on Saturday afternoons. He probably got the bulk of his business frying up breakfast and lunch for the teachers at St. Peter's. And of course everybody smoked and read newspapers in those days including the teachers and the respective bishops, priests and staff at the adjacent St. Peter's Basilica and St. Paul's Anglican Cathedral. 

The Davis Variety had most everything else to tempt a young boy with a quarter or two in his pocket though. It was one of the very few stores I knew that stocked Black Cat Bubble Gum which was licorice flavoured and was somehow chewier than Bazooka or even Dubble Bubble. I remember happily chewing on Black Cat and blowing black bubbles for hours!





I also very clearly remember buying Topps Civil War News cards at Davis Variety:







Plus of course baseball cards such as these from 1963:







The wooden magazine rack was located on the other side of the store from the lunch counter and was thus well situated to sneak a peak at the titty mags. There would of course have been something wrong with any young boy who wouldn't peruse pictures of bare naked women given a chance. In fact, I'm sure that the priests from St. Peter's and St. Paul's, if not the bishops themselves, would have been taking the occasional peak as well.

It was at the Davis Variety's magazine rack though where I first encountered Green Lantern #26, 28 and 29 and the excitement I felt seeing those issues for the first time is still seared in my mind to this very day. In fact, I'm sure those comics are the reason why I still remember Davis' so vividly.









While St. Peter's and St. Paul's cathedrals are still there, 1979 was the last year for St. Peter's School and the Davis Variety has also been gone for decades. I have a vague recollection of getting a chocolate milkshake that really wasn't very good at Davis' but sadly I never got to sample a cheeseburger. Like I say, you never know what you've got till it's gone.

[Sean]

There was a classic New York style candy store on Richmond Street in downtown London, Ontario directly across the street from St. Peter's School where I was obligated by my parents to attend extracurricular Lithuanian language classes between 4:00 and 5:30 Saturday afternoons. Davis Variety was its name. It had the obligatory lunch counter which the fellow worked himself. I was never drawn to get anything at the lunch counter though (not that I would have had the money anyway of course). Unlike the lunch counters at the downtown Metropolitan, Kresge and Woolworths stores, it was pretty spartan and dingy and just didn't appeal to me. Mr. Davis himself was almost a comic book caricature of the old guy working a hot grill and his lunch counter never seemed to have any customers on Saturday afternoons. He probably got the bulk of his business frying up breakfast and lunch for the teachers at St. Peter's. And of course everybody smoked and read newspapers in those days including the teachers and the respective bishops, priests and staff at the adjacent St. Peter's Basilica and St. Paul's Anglican Cathedral. 

The Davis Variety had most everything else to tempt a young boy with a quarter or two in his pocket though. It was one of the very few stores I knew that stocked Black Cat Bubble Gum which was licorice flavoured and was somehow chewier than Bazooka or even Dubble Bubble. I remember happily chewing on Black Cat and blowing black bubbles for hours!

Great story, Hep.  I felt like I was there.

[jamesh1018]

Whoa!  You just pulled that Marble Maze game from my subconscious!  My big brother must've had it because I now remember being terrified by those silhouettes on Devil's Pass!

[Hepcat]

The Marble Maze was one of those items I could never find prior to the days of the internet. Since the advent of Ebay though I've seen plenty of listings.