CE -- A lifetime of collecting comic related material :: My Origin Story Illustrated

Interior of Collectors Book Store at Hollywood Blvd. Location

3 Comments - 502 Views - 1 Like

Click Image to View Full Size

Previous Item:
Malcolm Willets in front of Collectors Book Store's Second Location, Hollywood Blvd. near Highland, 1967-c. 1985

Next Item:
Brave & the Bold No. 61 (1965) and Adventure Comics No. 61 (1941)

Artwork Details

Title:	Interior of Collectors Book Store at Hollywood Blvd. Location
Artist:	None Specified
Media Type:	Photograph
Art Type:	Other
For Sale Status:	NFS
Views:	502
Likes on CAF:	1 2
Comments:	3
Added to Site:	6/4/2021
Comic Art Archive:

Description

Oh the memories that were made in this space! I was probably the first person who actually bought something at this location -- and even if I weren't, there's probably no one left who could say otherwise! On the Friday evening in 1968 before Collectors was set to re-open at this location the next day, I went in the back door, which was open as part of the move from Wilcox. Hardly anyone was still in the store, but I found a guy (who I never saw again) who let me go up the stairs to the mezzanine to buy a copy of Superman No. 17. But that was just the first of many, many purchases over the course of the next 2 1/2 decades. Leonard was still getting in some new inventory of comics, but I was probably buing faster than he could replace what was sold. Nonetheless, one time I went up the stairs to find nearly every issue of Showcase comics up to issue twenty in the main display case upstairs I bought No. 1 and 4 for $25 each, and ultimately bought almost all. Leonard had a nice copy of Flash Comics No. 1, which my mother bought in three payments. I also bought many issues of All-Star Comics, No. 3 (one of the first comics I ever bought with my own money, $200, which was a lot in 1969). 4, 5,6, 7, and 8 for $50 each, and 14, 20, 21, 23, 24, etc. I bought No. 22 from Terry Stroud and No. 25 from John McLaughlin when his store, The Book Sail, was at its first location in Anaheim. I bought many more important Marvel comics at Collectors: Fantastic Four No. 1 ($30) and 2 ($15) on April 15, 1969 with money I had earned at a jr. high school swap meet, No. 5 a few months earlier, and other comics which I have previously mentioned. Those were the days when Leonard had a stack of Tales of Suspense No. 39 at least 6 inches tall -- one only had to look at the spines to pick out the most perfect issue and then buy it for $10. He had at least as many copies of Amazing Spider-Man No. 1 at the same price, , which I didn't bother buying. Much later, I did buy a No. 2, a No. 5, a 9, and a No. 14. When I consigned the No. 14 for a Sotheby's auction in the 1990s, Jerry Weist said that it was equal in condition to the No. 14 he had sold from the White Mountain collection. By the time I sold the bulk of my best comics to Sotheby's at the end of the 1990s, Jerry told me that my collection was the best Sotheby's had ever received, not only because I always held out until I could find high-grade copies, but also because all of my comics were completely unrestored.

During this period, Leonard bought the famous collection of Batman and Detective comics which Biljo White had bought new off the stand. I ended up with most of the issues in the nos. 70s through the issues in the one-hundred teens. The White copies can be identified by the word "read" that the first owner had written in the upper margin of each story, so he didn't have to read anything twice!

After the move to Hollywood Bouleavd, Leonard initially would allow me to thumb through the comics on his main wall to find new comics to buy. But he put an end to that a few years later, especially after he figured out that Terry Stroud and others were "shopping" his inventory to fill want lists of collectors -- of course they were charging more than what these competitors were paying Leonard for those same issues. It was about then when I heard the worst news I could imagine.

While I was at the first San Diego Comic Book Convention in August 1970, another collector, slightly older than me, Larry Bigman, told me that Leonard was going out of business. I freaked out -- after all he was holding a Flash Comics No.2 for me to eventually buy. I went straight up to my room (no cell phones back then) and called Leonard. He laughed when I told him what I had heard, since he had lied to Larry to get rid of him one day-- Leonard wasn't generally a "people person," nor did he have much use for young, poor collectors.

Leonard was not the sentimental type. I bought a rare Disney book in one of his auctions, The Farmyard Symphony. When I looked through it, on the inside of the front cover was inscribed, "To Leonard from Grandma, Xmas 1940! [When he was 5]

The advent of the Overstreet Price Guide in c. 1971 and of comic book conventions at which amateur comic book collectors could use information from the guide which had been formerly beyond their access to set up and sell their comics, was increasingly making it hard to buy new inventory. Most would have slowly sold out and eventually closed up shop, but Leonard was not just any old comic book seller. He came up with a new way to compete -- auctions of his and Malcolm's personal accumulated collections along with consignments from those hoping to obtain big bucks for their comic and movie related treasures.

Social/Sharing

About the Owner

	C E
Joined:	April 2006
Last Login:	August 2025
Country:	UNITED STATES
On CAF:	C's Want List Artworks Commented On Liked Art Site Activity on CAF

Contact the Owner

Use can use a contact form to send an email to this gallery owner,
but, you must be logged in to use this feature.

Comments on this Artwork

You must be logged in to make comments.

glen gold
Member Since 2004

Posted on 6/5/2021

I visited Cherokee and Collectors in 1973 or so, buying almost-complete runs of Tales to Astonish and The Hulk for about 50 cents each - so I could read the whole Hulk saga. Great to see these photos. I ran into Leonard working in a store in Venice around 2003 or so...

C E
Member Since 2006

Posted on 6/5/2021

glen gold wrote:

I visited Cherokee and Collectors in 1973 or so, buying almost-complete runs of Tales to Astonish and The Hulk for about 50 cents each - so I could read the whole Hulk saga. Great to see these photos.� I ran into Leonard working in a store in Venice around 2003 or so...

Hi Glen,

I suspect that you saw Burt Blum, who had been in charge of the comic book section of Cherokee, not Leonard Brown. Burt worked at or (most likely) owned Santa Monica Trading Company on Main Street in Santa Monica, near Venice. Leonard retired in the early 2000s, and he wasn't the type who could work for someone else. I would have heard from Howard Lowery if Leonard was working somewhere after he retired. I also ran into Leonard twice after he retired, once in the parking lot of the Los Angeles County Superior Court in Torrance and another time in a parking lot in south Orange County -- neither location is very near to Venice. I did see Burt at the Santa Monica store at about the time you mention.

glen gold
Member Since 2004

Posted on 6/5/2021

You are 100% correct - it was burt. I had walked into the store and found an inexplicable stack of Tailspin Tommy dailies. I asked him if he had other original art and he sighed and said, "You should have seen my Ditkos."

All
	Jason Borelli 9/7/2025 2:11:00 AM
	R S 9/7/2025 1:59:00 AM
	Comics Gallery 9/7/2025 1:08:00 AM
	Tony Isaza 9/7/2025 12:42:00 AM
	Neil Hansen 9/7/2025 12:04:00 AM
View All


	Anthony Mauceli 9/6/2025 11:37:00 PM
	Alan E 9/6/2025 10:32:00 PM
	Jason Baccus 9/6/2025 10:23:00 PM
	kelly b 9/6/2025 10:23:00 PM
	Mike Sig Slayer 9/6/2025 9:57:00 PM