Fred Hill, owner of the Original Whistle Stop, holds a model locomotive.
By Brittany Wong
Photo by Walt Mancini
2490 E. Colorado Blvd.
The Original Whistle Stop
Near the front of The Original Whistle Stop, under locomotive headlights and salvaged train signs, sits a model mining-town with a railway that stops kids and grown-ups alike dead in their tracks.
“What would it take to build this?” the kids ask of the built-from-scratch scene, as they watch the train wiggle around a figure-eight track.
For more than 60 years, The Original Whistle Stop has sparked that kind of curiosity in its customers, which at one point included the current proprietor, Frank Hill. As a boy in the 1950s, Hill biked into the hobby store, then owned by Ed and Irene Hakkinen.
“It’s funny, though, because now I’ve watched generations come through here,” Hill said, above the small talk of diehard hobbyists on a recent Saturday afternoon.
The small-scale enthusiasts come in to buy an HO-scale double-arm windshield wiper, or a fire ant-sized hobo for a station scene and to gawk at the gleaming brass models behind glass that go for thousands of dollars. For the younger crowd, there’s Thomas the Train sets, t-shirts and conductor hats.
Railroad reads include hobby magazines and books organized by railway (New York Central, Pennsylvania, Southern Pacific, etc.).
It’s the shop’s sprawling selection that brings in everyone from JPL scientists, moms with toddlers on their hips and the occasional ‘70s rockstar hobbyist — Rod Stewart and Phil Collins among them.
“Hey, even rock stars are into trains,” Hill laughed.
2490 E. Colorado Blvd.
626-796-7791
10 a.m-6 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays; 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Fridays; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturdays; 11 a.m.-4 p.m Sundays
thewhistlestop.com
