TV repair shop photos/advertizing signs

[Kalamazoo-DJ]

Originally Posted by ha1156w

Take it easy, Kalamazoo....the CA efficiency rules apply to newly sold sets and are aimed at future designs, not existing ones.

yeh that's true but trickle legislation seems to be a growing fad, I have an antique fan they could target next.

[bandersen]

Here are some service tags I've found in sets recently. Neither shop is around anyone

If that's 4740 N Broadway, it was right by the Green Mill lounge and Uptown theatre which are still open.

[batterymaker]

Reminds me of the commercials for Boushelle Rug Cleaning in Chicago:

In my best Baritone voice:

"HUdson 3-2700!"

[AUdubon5425]

Back when cable was young here (early 80's) we got WGN and they ran many local Chicago commercials. The ones I remember most were both carpet stores:

Call 588-23-hundred...Em-piiiiiiii-ire
NAtional 2-9000, NAtional 2-9----thousand (Lincoln Carpets?)

[N9ZQA]

Originally Posted by AUdubon5425

Back when cable was young here (early 80's) we got WGN and they ran many local Chicago commercials. The ones I remember most were both carpet stores:

Call 588-23-hundred...Em-piiiiiiii-ire
NAtional 2-9000, NAtional 2-9----thousand (Lincoln Carpets?)

How about "Victory Auto Wreckers in Bensenville, Near O'Hare - 860-2000"? That commercial's been around as long as I can remember; they've updated the graphics slightly but the video is still the same. I don't know if they advertised on WGN much, but the UHF stations (32, etc.) played that one a lot.

-Jim

[Robert Grant]

Construction and home service companies were the last to stop using exchange names in their ads. The use of the old format implied to customers that they had been in business for a long time, and thus (in perception, if not actuality) reliable.

Detroit's last user was a home improvement / construction business with a famous jingle, "TYler 8-****", which they used until about 2003! (I think they went out of business altogether).

I grew up with this phone number format, still find 5 digits easier to remember than 7, and thus still use it.
I've set my cell phone to show my number as DRexel-*-**** when I open it.

[AUdubon5425]

Originally Posted by Robert Grant

Construction and home service companies were the last to stop using exchange names in their ads. The use of the old format implied to customers that they had been in business for a long time, and thus (in perception, if not actuality) reliable.

Detroit's last user was a home improvement / construction business with a famous jingle, "TYler 8-****", which they used until about 2003! (I think they went out of business altogether).

I grew up with this phone number format, still find 5 digits easier to remember than 7, and thus still use it.
I've set my cell phone to show my number as DRexel-*-**** when I open it.

A few cities up north (Chicago & Detroit among others) officially held onto the exchange names much longer than most places. Here in New Orleans any new prefixes opened up from about 1962-on were all digits, even if there was an exchange name in place (i.e. 522 and 529 added to the JAckson switch.) By 1965-66 Southern Bell stopped using names altogether.

Incidentally, "AUdubon5425" was my grandmother's phone number from 1936-59 (when AUdubon became HUnter 8)

[drh4683]

Ah yes, the famous Victory Auto Wreckers commercial. The druggie gets $60 cash for his 1971 Chevy in which the door falls off when he tries to open it.
"710 east green in bensenville, near o'hare". Believe it or not, that commercial was filmed in 1985. Video footage wise, it has never changed. The voice overs are the only thing that changed because of the area code changes that took place over the years. All of chicago and area was area code 312 until 1989, when downtown was the only area to use 312, the suburbs went to 708, then in '96 it changed again and western suburbs got 630 and north suburbs went 847. I remember the day of the switch to 630, it was August 31, 1996 and everyone went crazy. As for Victory, I always liked that '58 caddy thats the main focus of attention when they film what the yard looks like.
Empire is a classic that will never end, and don't forget those LUNA commercials as well. Apparently Chicago is famous for commercials that never change.

[Eric H]

Here in Cali we have Cal Worthington & his Dog Spot, Spot could be anything from an Elephant to an actual Dog.

He's been selling cars on TV since I was small.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGEYC...x=0&playnext=1

[bgadow]

Empire carpet has spread out, as I have seen the ad locally in recent years. It sure sounds old!

The classics I recall from growing up watching Baltimore/DC TV were the Carvel Ice Cream ads and this gem that ran for years, may still be running, and can be hard to get out of your head:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7PEMGuA6tw

[vinljnkie]

In my home town of Keene, NH there's still a TV shop that's doing a great business with both sales and repairs. It's called Gerken's Inc. They have been in business since 1964. They now do flat panel TV's and surround sound systems, Satellite installations for DirecTV, as well as air conditioners and I think microwave ovens. It's been a number of years since I was last in there as I don't live in the Keene area anymore. When I was in college in the late 80's I bought a 15" Philco color tv used from them. It worked up until 2002. I still have it but alas while I have an appreciation for old tv's I have no idea how to fix them. The pic is grabbed from their web site which is www.gerkensinc.com.


My brother bought a bunch of carpet from Empire for his house in Manchester, NH this past summer. They advertise on the Boston TV stations all the time.

[AUdubon5425]

Well, I made it a point to pass by the TV shops I knew about over the past week. Sadly, many are gone - sometimes buildings and all. The few that are still in business didn't have any brand signs on display in the windows. The lone photograph I got was of Tony & Earl TV, 6329 St. Claude Ave., N.O. (Lower 9th Ward.) It has been closed at least since Katrina.

There is an appliance store in Gramercy, La. that has RCA & Zenith signs in the window...I don't get out there much though.

[bgadow]

Those Zenith signs used to be EVERYWHERE. I can think of several that I probably could have gotten for nothing, all gone now. Some used the 60s tri-color logo, later they would say Chromacolor or System 3.

[kx250rider]

Originally Posted by bgadow

Those Zenith signs used to be EVERYWHERE. I can think of several that I probably could have gotten for nothing, all gone now. Some used the 60s tri-color logo, later they would say Chromacolor or System 3.

The main Los Angeles Zenith TV dealer from the 50s to the 90s was Ham the Zenith Man on Venice Blvd between Inglewood Bl. and Grand View Bl. The store used to occupy the whole block-long building, but began to subdivide and shrink in the 80s. When it finally quit in the mid 90s, it was down to 1 small corner of the building. All that remains now is the big rotating ZENITH sign, which I should go take a picture of before they knock it down. I'll try to do that ASAP, but I seldom go down there in the daytime due to traffic problems.

Here's a link to a similar sign; not sure if they had another branch, or maybe this was a billboard and not the actual store location. Doesn't look just right to me.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3104/...197a26.jpg?v=0

Charles

[truetone36]

The only shop still in my area is Evans TV in Caldwell, AR. I know the owner, Bernard Evans. He still stays busy as he's the only repairman in business for miles around. He has a Zenith Space Command 400 b/w set that works in his back room, and some radios as well as a shed full of NOS parts, I've heard there's a bunch of old sets in there, but I haven't got to look in there yet. I'm working on it, though