Amsterdam native Hewson grew up across the street from the Gordons on Hayes Place,  “It was right after the war and children didn't have many toys as a lot of them were imported from Japan and Germany and of course, the imports stopped when the war started.  They also converted American toy factories into war product factories.  There wasn't a lot to choose from and we never missed them.

Toy Tent evokes warm memories

By Bob Cudmore   

            A recent obituary prompted Linda Hewson of San Diego and her friend, Norma Jean Qualls of Amsterdam, to remember the Toy Tent. 

 Toy Tent founder Hymen Gordon, 94, died in Florida on May 3.  Gordon came to Amsterdam from his native Rochester in 1941 as a manager for Schine Theatres.  He was a sign painter and started a sign business.  In 1946, Gordon and his wife Vera founded the Toy Tent.

            Amsterdam native Hewson grew up across the street from the Gordons on Hayes Place,  “It was right after the war and children didn't have many toys as a lot of them were imported from Japan and Germany and of course, the imports stopped when the war started.  They also converted American toy factories into war product factories.  There wasn't a lot to choose from and we never missed them. 

“We kids thought it was very exotic to have a real toy store owner across the street, a person who got to see and handle all this strange new stuff.  I remember that Hy Gordon donated very nice toys and games for our neighborhood Easter egg hunt.” 

Qualls said, “I remember going to the store each year a couple weeks before Christmas in order to select a doll.  Mom felt it better that I make the selection than have her try and read my mind as to what I wanted.  I recall the ‘doll room’ was magical!  Trying to find the perfect doll was a challenge, but I managed to do it until I was about eleven years old.

 “The dolls I viewed were in their boxes, propped up in a horseshoe pattern around a room that contained nothing else.” 

David Gordon, son of Hymen and Vera, started working at the Toy Tent when he was very young.  Gordon recalled the name of the store might have derived from a product that they sold, a tent made to go over a card table that children could use as a playhouse.  The Gordons had the toy tents made by Nelson Taylor and Company of Gloversville, an awning maker.  Today, Taylor makes marine products.

THE LOLLIPOP TREE

Gordon said the store had two locations.  First, it was on the north side of East Main Street between Slezak’s Men’s Store and Pakenas Cleaners.  When the store first opened, the Gordons also sold flowers for Memorial Day and other occasions.  After a few years, the store relocated to the south side of East Main between Frankel’s Jewelry and the Mohican Market.  The new store had a lollipop tree in the window and black and green tiles on the floor. 

The Toy Tent slogan was Amsterdam’s Happy Birthday Store but its big season was always Christmas.  Gordon recalls working to nine every night at Christmas time, then driving to toy wholesalers in Albany to replenish stock for the next day.  On weekends, a trip would be made to a Pittsfield, Massachusetts, toy wholesaler, the predecessor of Kay Bee Toys.

Like the cobbler’s children who had no shoes, David Gordon doesn’t remember having toys himself!  He does remember a late 1940s craze for a toy called Colorforms, pieces of plastic with which you made pictures.

His parents closed the store in the early 1960s, faced with increasing competition from chain retailers who began stocking toys at Christmas.   

After the Toy Tent closed, Hymen Gordon became property manager for the Amsterdam Urban Renewal Agency.  Vera Gordon died in 1981 and Hymen Gordon relocated to Florida in 1982. 

David Gordon went on to own Collette Manufacturing Company, formerly on Clizbe Avenue in Amsterdam.  Today, he lives in Jensen Beach, Florida and Lake George, New York.

The Wednesday conversation dates to "the early days of The Historians "2015"

Wednesday, December 21, 2022

Steven Engelhart of Adirondack Architectural Heritage has fascinating comments on Adirondack structures--bridges, fire towers, great camps and even prisons.

Main Street, Malone (credit: Christine Bush)

The National Park Service has awarded Adirondack Architectural Heritage a Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization Grant for the Adirondack Rural Revitalization Program.

This $750,000 grant will fund capital rehabilitation grants for historic main street and agricultural buildings in and around the hamlets and villages of the Adirondack region.

Thursday, December 22, 2022- Christmas memories

Margaret Cook

She has mothered them all and the boys look to her for smiles and other necessities as well as for their meals...

Friday, December 23, 2022

Episode 454

Stephen Blauweiss is co-author of the book “The Story of Historic Kingston: Featuring 950 Images and Connections to the Catskills and New York City.”

With a background in filmmaking, graphic design, historical research, and writing, the creative team of Stephen Blauweiss and Karen Berelowitz bring you their second book that uniquely combines a stunning visual presentation with concise and informative text about the vibrant 400-year history of the mid-Hudson Valley region. 

Mohawk Valley Weather, Tuesday, December 20, 2022

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