In search of Hot Wheels and other treasures

Barbara Tannenbaum

For a child of the ’60s, like I am, it takes a lot more than Proust’s madeleine to trigger a fond remembrance of things past. To be precise, it takes Snoopy wristwatches, rooster-shaped cookie jars, Schlitz beer steins, “Nixon’s the One” buttons, Hot Wheels, Chesterfield cigarette lighters, R&B soul (not disco!) albums, and trans­istor radios. But, it turns out, there’s no need to lament days gone by: The glories of yesteryear are in fine shape and on dazzling display in the antiques stores along a four-block, brick-lined stretch of Niles Boulevard at the base of Fremont’s hills.

Niles is locally famous as the place where Charlie Chaplin and his cohorts, Ben Turpin and Wallace Berry, filmed one-reel comedies and cow­boy dramas before they moved south to Hollywood. And every Saturday night, the Edison Theater inside the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum screens classics from the teens and ’20s.

But there are also the stores. Record shop Needle to the Groove is where MC Hammer recorded his first rap albums in the ’80s, in the little backroom studio. There’s food-oriented nostalgia at the Bite & Browse (like lunch pails from the ’50s and ’60s). Still can’t find a perfect set of carved chimpanzees playing poker, “Aloha, Hawaii” salt-and-pepper shakers to complete your collection, or that missing Diana Ross album? They’re all waiting for you in Niles. But don’t just go to town on any ordinary weekend: Hold out for the Niles Merchant Spring Sidewalk Sale on April 27.

Bite & Browse: 37565 Niles Blvd., Fremont, 510-796-4537, biteandbrowse.com; Needle to the Groove: 150 H St., Fremont, 510-870-0439, myspace.com/needle2thegroove, open Fri.–Sun. only; Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum: 37417 Niles Blvd., Fremont, 510-494-1411, nilesfilmmuseum.org; Niles shops and events: niles.org.

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