Gene’s Hobby Hub Opens – April 1972

Cartoonist Gene Patrick has been featured many times on this blog over the years.

Regular readers know that I’m a huge fan of his Passing Scene comic that ran in the Journal in the 60s and 70s. In fact, the number of blog posts featuring his cartoons (43 at this point) even exceeds those with our pal Reddy Kilowatt!

During his time at the Journal, Gene stepped away from his cartoon creation beginning around July 1969. But since he was also a photographer, his great photos kept on appearing in the paper even though his cartoons didn’t.

So what was Gene doing with all that spare time? Well, fifty years ago this month, he opened his own store: Gene’s Hobby Hub, right next door to Yala’s Pizza. (Note that Gene incorporated his first name into the name of his business, as it was the trend back then that I wrote about in yesterday’s post.)

Here’s the article that tells the whole story, from the Journal of April 9, 1972.

According to the article, he was no longer a Journal employee at that time. It points out that he "was a photographer and cartoonist for the Journal for seven years," which sounds about right since the first Passing Scene cartoons I’ve ever seen were from 1965.

The article also notes, “He will sell all types of hobby equipment, including rockets, radio-controlled airplanes and accessories, model railroad trains and equipment, slot racing cars and the new rage, decoupage and iconage supplies.”

I remember going in there a few times with a friend who was into rockets. Gene was always friendly and kind. I recall that some of his Passing Scene cartoons were either taped to the register or hanging on the wall; that’s how I made the connection who he was.

May 12, 1972 ad from the Journal

Anyway, the business eventually closed and Gene returned to the Journal and The Passing Scene. It was probably a disappointment for him, but at least his fans got to once again enjoy his great cartoons for a few more years.