# L.A. Hobby Shop Follow-up



## toyroy (Jul 17, 2005)

I made the rounds yesterday, and am pleased to say that *Prestige Hobbies* in Anaheim at Hobby City(Beach Blvd at Ball Rd.) now carries the whole Moebius line, and I even got to see the Moebius "Monster Scenes" store display! They had assembled versions of Giant Insect, Dr. Deadly, and The Victim with it, just like this:

http://moebiusmodels.com/monsterScenes.php

*Hobby People* in Lakewood(South St. at Bellflower Blvd) are also now carrying Moebius kits. In fact, they recently had a Memorial Day sale on the Seaview for $70. I missed it, and of course, they sold out!

Neither of these places had even _heard_ of Moebius, the last time I visited...


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## derric1968 (Jun 13, 2003)

You put LA in the title and you give me Anaheim? ANAHEIM?!? Why I oughta.... 

Just kidding. But seriously, As a fellow resident of LA, I was hoping you had discovered a great hobby shop that was actually in the city limits of Los Angeles. It's a hobby wasteland here in LA, especially in west LA. Lakewood is closer, but still a bit of a hike. When you factor in traffic and parking, it's only motivates me to stick with mail order.

Man, I really miss The Hobby Place on Pico!


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## MJB (Aug 3, 2001)

Hi Derric, ToyRoy,

I'm down in the OC and thought that Prestige Hobbies was closing, rather that all of Hobby City was closing. Military Hobbies on Taft St. in Tustin also carries some of the most recent Moebius kits as well as some old PL, AMT, and other kits.

I haven't been to Burbank Hobbies in a long while so are they still in business?

At one time the Toy store on Hollywood Blvd carried a lot of model kits, some garage kits too. Haven't been there for about a year so don't know if their stock is still good or not.


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## toyroy (Jul 17, 2005)

MJB said:


> I'm down in the OC and thought that Prestige Hobbies was closing, rather that all of Hobby City was closing. *Military Hobbies* on Taft St. in Tustin also carries some of the most recent Moebius kits as well as some old PL, AMT, and other kits.
> 
> I haven't been to Burbank Hobbies in a long while so are they still in business?...


Prestige Hobbies changed hands recently, but is alive and well, as is Hobby City. Same friendly staff, too.

I've heard that *House of Hobbies* in Burbank carries Moebius, is this the shop you're speaking of?


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## BrianM (Dec 3, 1998)

...Burbank's House of Hobbies is alive and well, lot's of Moebius, PL, AMT,Revell, etc...

The magic and toy shop on Hollywood Blvd. has a much smaller model kit area.


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## Trek Ace (Jul 8, 2001)

I spent a weekend hitting several of the (ahem) "local" hobby shops last month - Burbank, Kit Kraft, Brookhurst and Monsters In Motion, and can attest to them all still doing well. Didn't make it to Prestige or Hobby City, though - even though I was in the area.


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## Mr. Wabac (Nov 9, 2002)

Glad to hear Prestige has a new lease on life - lots of good stuff there; albeit a little pricey. Burbank is a good place to go to as well. Nothing quite like beautiful downtown Burbank. You can always pop by Barris Kustom if you are headed North afterwards.


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## scotpens (Sep 6, 2003)

derric1968 said:


> Man, I really miss The Hobby Place on Pico!


And Allied Hobbies on Sepulveda in Culver City, and Lincoln Hobbies on Washington in Culver City, and Paul Freiler's Historical Models in Torrance -- all just memories now.


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## ChrisCarson (May 24, 2008)

Burbank House of Hobbies is still going strong, check out their website...

Coincidentally I was at Prestige probably the same day as ToyRoy. They had the Moebius' Seaviews (2) and Flying Subs (2) on the shelf, along with the other Moebius models mentioned. Really cool to see them in a store on the shelf, if only these had been around 30 years ago...I hadn't seen the LIS space pod or chariot in person before and was kind of surprised they were a little smaller than I thought.

Only other non-chain place LHS I can think of in OC that might carry these might be Kelly's in Tustin. I drove by the other day and it looked like they were still in business. With the economy being what it is, it's kind of scary to run by small places you haven't been to in a while, you hate to drive up to some place you had good memories of, and find them GONE with the empty storefront and a FOR LEASE sign in the window...

Regarding Prestige/ Hobby City. I did some reading up on them. The whole place (I think including the Adventureland next door, owned by the same people) was up for sale in 2005. From what I read, the original owners (a couple) passed away in the last ten years, and it seems like they were literally the life's blood of Hobby City. Seems like since they passed that some of the energy there has faded a little, but the place is still well-kept. It's kind of one of those islands of niceness, surrounded by a sea of rough area. Fortunately the real estate market tanked, so the plan for building condos in it's place has been canceled or at least stalled. Like we don't have enough condos in OC...

There used to be a really nice restaurant next to the half scale "White House." Good place for an omelet and a cup of coffee if I remember right, but it's been a few years. For anyone reading this from out of the area, Hobby City in Anaheim is located on an enclosed site, probably at least six acres, bordering on a miniature theme park for really young kids called "Adventureland." The two parcels of land bordered on each other but one is in Anaheim while the other is in Stanton.

There's Prestige and a few other places still open in Hobby City, but I've noticed as a whole it's not as busy as it once was. I drove through it to take a look after not having been there for years and was sad to see a lot of it closed up, doors locked, signage removed like it was never there.

Prestige models though seems to be going strong and they have a HUGE INVENTORY of all kinds of model kits, particularly cars. I would estimate conservatively they have to have at least $250K worth of merchandise on the shelves between models and they do a lot of business with those really fancy, detailed scale cars (miniatures of NASCAR, period piece vehicles, etc.). Saw I think an AMT or Monogram 1982 Pontiac Firebird kit that'd make a good Knight Rider kit while I was there. Seemed like their prices were decent from what I saw. For anyone that hasn't been, they also do scale trains, planes and have a pretty good selection of a lot of different styles of model kits, including some stuff that hasn't been around for years. I kind of wonder if they do any internet business, because the shelves are PACKED with stuff, yet very little seems to be gathering dust and the place seems like they do a good business...


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## wkma7six (May 13, 2009)

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Pegasus Hobbies in Montclair and Ultimate Hobbies in Orange. These are both out of the way and not in LA county, but they have quite a selection if you're into cars and planes. Pegasus caters to the sci-fi stuff more than Ulitimate and even have their own line of kits.


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## teslabe (Oct 20, 2007)

Or how about Smith Brothers in Northrigde (San Fernando Valley).:thumbsup:


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## Carson Dyle (May 7, 2003)

scotpens said:


> And Allied Hobbies on Sepulveda in Culver City, and Lincoln Hobbies on Washington in Culver City


Actually Allied Model Trains is still around, albeit in a much smaller space. I still get many of my supplies there.


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## falcondesigns (Oct 30, 2002)

derric1968 said:


> Man, I really miss The Hobby Place on Pico!



Thanks,we had a good bunch of people working there,me included.alex


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## toyroy (Jul 17, 2005)

Carson Dyle said:


> Actually Allied Model Trains is still around, albeit in a much smaller space. I still get many of my supplies there.


Haven't been there since they were in the Union Station-like store. Where are they now, and do they sell Moebius kits?


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## derric1968 (Jun 13, 2003)

I stop in at Allied Model Trains from time to time to pick up basic supplies.

toyroy, they moved across the street, and no, they do not carry Moebius kits.


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## toyroy (Jul 17, 2005)

derric1968 said:


> I stop in at Allied Model Trains from time to time to pick up basic supplies.
> 
> ...they moved across the street, and no, they do not carry Moebius kits.


That doesn't surprise me, as they used to specialize in trains exclusively.


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## toyroy (Jul 17, 2005)

Sometimes I think of mentioning Moebius at a local hobby shop, but then I get this feeling that I'm "off-topic", and the owner will tell me to "shut up", or "go to another shop." :wave:


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## Carson Dyle (May 7, 2003)

According to the owners, Moebius kits continue to sell well at both Kit Kraft and Burbank House of Hobbies, the two largest (and last) hobby shops in the LA metro area.


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## Model Man (Oct 1, 2007)

A Mom and Pop shop, Evett's Models has been around for 60+ yrs under the same owner. A selection of all genres and kits from most everybody (no asian connection  ), a few moebius, lotsa PL and the standard big boys; they will order anything they can get for a good price, a slightly better price for regulars. Lots of RC and Rockets, but piles more models at standard prices and most supplies (excepting Aves  ).

Evett's : Ocean Park at ~17th across from the football field. Cheaper than Allied, closer than Burbank and Studio city for this side of the Hills.


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## GKvfx (May 30, 2008)

derric1968 said:


> ........Man, I really miss The Hobby Place on Pico!


And since they took a bunch of my built-ups that were in their display cases with them when the vanished - yeah, I miss them too!

Actually, I miss Ed, the previous owner. When he retired and turned the place over to the new guys, it went downhill fast.......

Gene


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## Trek Ace (Jul 8, 2001)

Model Man said:


> A Mom and Pop shop, Evett's Models has been around for 60+ yrs under the same owner. A selection of all genres and kits from most everybody (no asian connection  ), a few moebius, lotsa PL and the standard big boys; they will order anything they can get for a good price, a slightly better price for regulars. Lots of RC and Rockets, but piles more models at standard prices and most supplies (excepting Aves  ).
> 
> Evett's : Ocean Park at ~17th across from the football field. Cheaper than Allied, closer than Burbank and Studio city for this side of the Hills.


Colby is one of the greatest people in the hobby industry - period. Even when I haven't been in for a while, he still seems to remember the last thing that I was up to wants to chat it up like always. I would encourage anyone who hasn't been to his shop to please do so. There is a lot of history there that will be lost when his time comes - which I sincerely hope won't be for many more years.


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## jxwright (Dec 15, 2008)

There's Gizmo's Hobbies on Burbank Blvd in Burbank, they're mostly RC planes and cars, but have a selection of model kits as well. http://www.gizmoshobby.com/


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