News column - 1
February 2014:
The latest model railroad products, news & events
by Richard Bale and Jeff Shultz
Franciscan Hobbies 1946-2014
For nearly 70 years Franciscan Hobbies, located on Ocean
Avenue in San Francisco’s Ingleside district, was a welcome
hangout for modelers both young and old. Citing tight margins
and reduced sales volume, the company issued a statement late
last year that said it would close its doors for good at the end of
January. A hobby store quietly calling it quits is hardly front page
news, but the San Francisco
Chronicle
saw it differently and pub-
lished a feature article about the demise of what it considers a
local institution. According to the
Chronicle,
“The Franciscan was
a kind of clubhouse, a bit like a neighborhood bar, without the
liquor. The customers, mostly men, would come to buy a model
kit, or a part for some tricky model project, and stay to talk –
hobbies, politics, city gossip, troubles.”
John Gunther, the son of founder Bill Gunther, said, “Franciscan
had thousands of old customers, and many of them first came
in as children to buy model ship kits, model airplanes, trains and
MRH-Feb 2014
