Have you ever stumbled onto something that totally rekindled your love of collecting? A point of vaidation, because let's face it, us vintage collectors aren't exactly revered by the general public. Not that I have ever had a bad experience once someone is in my space, people are stoked to see VHS and a Super Nintendo, but when they ask your hobbies at a new job and you say I cOlLeCt AcTiOn FiGuReS and that's how they hear it.
We took the kids out to Goodsir Nature Park outside of Prince George, BC last spring to go for a nice nature walk, I am not going to get into the details of the park but I promise it is worth reading about and even better if you are ever in the area to check out and support a man's lifelong dream. Besides being a self taught Naturalist and protector of nature, Jim Good is a kooky record and tape collector like all of us!
He started collecting 45s in 1954 I believe and at some point he literally built his own radio station, and broadcasts his own show onto the speakers placed sporadically through the park. It is literally the most incredible passion project I have ever seen. He has zero broadcast training, he's just a dude that wants to do what he loves.
Jim also started collecting tapes at some point, just for his own viewing purposes but now has an entire library that spreads through three different areas. He said there's over 4000 tapes, I spent a long time looking through them, with a little bit of sadness for downsizing my own tape collection many times. I think the most I ever had at one time was 1800 though, nowhere near this volume. Never had the space!
My mind was reeling after the visit, it was such an inspiring space built over time, with no social media, or likes, no youtube, he just did it because it makes him happy.
Of course my wife who always supports all my ideas said she doesn't mind if I display my stuff more. We have four amazing kids though, and my space shrinks as they grow, so I have been brainstorming ways to display and slowly regrow my collection, but in a far more curated way than I have in the past.
I have an entire basement, that is a shared space, my collection was displayed everywhere but I distilled it all into one closet, in my workshop. I am going to build a secret door for it eventually because I think that will be really fun for me. We have zones now, the vintage media zone, the kids playroom, my workshop that leads into my collection room, which I will post eventually, it's a bit of a work in progress, and then storage. If you have small children you know you need as much storage as possible.
The Nostalgic Basement will always be a work in progress, that changes seasonally, but also for the seasons of our lives, and right now, Lego table, indoor tree fort and monkey bars are the priority, and I wouldn't trade anything for the times I get to watch my kids do tricks on the bars and building their own worlds. They even have a cabinet with their own vintage collectibles in it, and I have my stuff in an area big enough for me to sit and reflect. Not everyone is lucky enough to have a space they can change at will, or even have the skills to do so if they did, I will be forever grateful for these things.
Thanks for reading along, I plan to make new posts and share more of my collection, because in this season, this is fun for me.
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