Wings Hobby Shop, We Loved Ya!

It is hard to put into words losing something you have known just about your whole life. It is even tougher when you know the people involved that will be lost too. All you can do is suck it up and wish them the best.

This is how I felt as I talked with “Al" Cicerchi, owner of Wings Hobby Shop, a business he took over from his father Ron, and Ron bought it 49 years ago. He was explaining how he and his brother Ron spent a summer moving it from the old location on Mars and Madison to the current location when suddenly I had to ask the question we all wondered. “How DID your dad lose him arm?”

Ron Cicerchi Sr. was a hell of a man. He knew about everything, had done everything, and as we were buying model cars, then Estte Rockets, then HO miniature cars and trains he would interject pearls of “Ron Wisdom” that I still carry today.

It was a family place, a true family place, and great addition to the community. Al and I laughed remembering that back in the 60s there were a couple punk kids around fourteen. They had broken into a neighbor’s house and grabbed some liquor and $3,000 laying on a desk. Well, if you are 14-year-old and just became “rich” through illegal means or legal means like birthdays or confirmation you headed to Wings Hobby Shop.

So the two desperadoes with their new-found booty headed off to kid heaven, and went on a buying spree. Well Ron, who had seen a lot in his life in the armed services, and working at Midland Steel, had never seen two 14-year-olds with a wad of $100 bills. I mean come on, it’s Lakewood in 1966! So not being a complete fool, and often being a second father to some of us, he knew just what to do: cater the them as the oil barons are catered to today. Until the police arrived that he had called. Probably Mike Flynn. If I remember, Ron got them to confess, and helped get them probation, and both went on to lawful and productive lives. Ron as well as Detective Mike Flynn often saw the potential of a person.

Speaking of Mike Flynn, Al brought up that one time they had been part of a “sting operation” in a big glue-sniffing ring back in the early 70s. “A guy in his 20s would come in and buy like 10-12 tubes at a time, telling us, ”Hey I build a lot of models.” Well again, being shepherds in the community, they worked with “Remember Mike Flynn?” to set up a sting operation to break up the glue ring, and they did. I have to admit I was laughing my ass off as I had never heard of a “glue ring, a glue pusher, or a glue pimp.” He said yep.

I then asked him in 49 years who was his most fun neighbor, and he smiled and said, The Electric Candle, which was one of the first headshops in Greater Cleveland. Which is funny, because in Lakewood in the 70s, you would often visit both places-- get a model to build and some rolling papers. Get a pipe, and some HO cars for mindless 24 hour races with friends. Get some incense and sandals and Este rockets. The owner, Jamie Walker, who was best described as a character, had his own hippie era pearls of wisdom to add to Ron Cicerechi's. I would sometimes watch the counter for him when he went across the street to Beef Corral for some root beer.

I reached Jamie Walker in California for a comment and he said, "Yeah and we loved being next to him. Tell him goodbye."

Al is unwilling to talk about what was right, what was wrong, who was best, who was the worst, well not for the public to read, but again, I spent thousands there, while so many other spent tens of thousands there.

While I was there I met Mrs. Moser, age 86, and her son Don. She has been bringing her two sons to Wings for 49 years! “They would take a couple hours. We used to come each week, but now just once a month," she said.

Think about it, hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars. She bought a book and some train pieces, turned to her son and said, “Are you ready?” I swear to god, from the back of the store came the answer, “Come on, just ten more minutes.” She smiled.

“Models were and are still good, Slot Cars were a boost, Estes Rockets a boost, HO Cars a boost. But the big money items were trains and radio control." Al’s dad was an avid radio-controled airplane hobbyist when he bought the business. I mentioned that it was kind of wild-- radio-controlled planes back in the 50s, with a one-armed man. But why should it be a surprise? Ron had an R-Class Sailboat. And Al said, “Oh, he bought the business when he lost his arm.”

Which made me ask, “Ok, what's the funniest story about Wing’s Hobby Shop?” And he told a story about one cold winter night, when a couple moments before closing a van pulled up, and parked. “It’s about 20 degrees out, and these guys roll out the side of the van in t-shirts, and one in shorts. A massive cloud of smoke spills out of the van looking like Jeff Spicolie in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," and they start banging on the window.

He walks over as it had been a slow day, and asks what they want. “We need couplings for our train tracks.” Al points at the sign that says "Closed." They start begging and saying they were told 9 pm. Al lets them in and they go get train clips, and Al is not feeling all that good; these guys are a little out of it. "So I count out the couplings, and put them down, and it was like a 95 cent sale. They empty their pockets and come up with like 45 cents between them. I give them the clips and the guy scoops them up and turns to leave. I lock up." Getting into the van, they dropped them in the snow drift and lost them. “They come back to the window yelling to be let in and banging so hard it could break, I reached under the counter, took out my .358 and shook my head no. They drove away, next day one of them came in and said, 'Excuse sir can I please buy some train track connectors?'” Al said sure.

You know life is funny. People of great importance come and go, and sometimes it makes sense and sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes it hurts, and sometimes it is just right. Had there not been the tragic industrial accident that took Ron’s arm back in the 50s that made him buy Wings Hobby Shop I never would have known any of them: Ron, Al, Ron Jr. Vincentta, and Aunt Betsy. The city of Lakewood would never have been blessed with not just a good store, but a fine member of the community who understood what it meant to be a part of that community, and added oh so much to everyone that walked through that front door.

Al, Vincetta, Betsy thank you for everything you have given me and this wonderful City of Lakewood, Ohio. It has been a damn good run. Relax, enjoy life, God knows you deserve it. Al said to please tell everyone, “We love Lakewood, we have loved being a part of Lakewood for almost 50 years. I want to thank our customers, friends, neighbors and our Lakewood businesses for everything, it has been a good run, and now it is time to move on.”

Just as Al and I were getting all weepy-eyed a customer in the back yelled for help.

Al took a break from the interview to help a customer with a couple items near the back of the store. I spoke with his wife Vincetta about what they had planned when suddenly the man Al was waiting on said loudly, “No man, I feel terrible, I used to steal HO guys from here as a kid, and I just wanted to say I’m sorry, and buy something, and say I was sorry to hear you were closing.” The man had tears in his eyes. Al, like his dad, just smiled and said thank you for stopping.

I turned back to Vincetta and Aunt Betsy Pufnock to pay for a model and she said with a grin, “It’s been like that all month!"

If I may be so bold and speak for all of the people I know who have been shopping here for decades and decades: Thank you, we love you and your family. We always did. Have a great retirement.

Jim O'Bryan

Publisher, Lakewood Observer, Inc.

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Volume 10, Issue 7, Posted 3:06 PM, 04.01.2014