The second episode of the documentary series highlighting the unique stories of vintage toy stores is now live.
This time the guys at Vintage Toys PDX take a close look at Dr. Tongue’s I had that Shoppe in Portland, Oregon USA. The timing for this episode could not be better, Mark Pedersen (Dr. Tongue) has a store filled with spooky, strange and unusual items which makes this episode great viewing for Halloween.
Dr. Tongue’s I Had That Shoppe carries Character Toys and Collectibles from the 1950s to 1990s, strictly vintage with small exceptions made here and there. Located in the art filled suburb area of Portland, the store specializes in the things your mother threw away! They also concentrate on classic kitsch, but what is kitsch?
“That’s the best way to describe Klitch, it’s just goofy.”
– Mark Pedersen, Owner, Dr. Tongues I had that Shoppe
Vintage Toy Stories showcases Dr. Tongues as the shop that is like a museum where everything is for sale. What a name for a toy store… Dr. Tongues I had that Shoppe. It is so common when visiting a toy store, or watching a cool video of one, to hear someone say, “I had that!”. It is wildy meta for a store to add it to its persona. As for the “Dr. Tongues” part, watch the episode to get a better understanding of where that’s from…
Vintage Toy Stories is produced by Wabi Sabi Visuals. Wabi Sabi is a Creative Content Studio based in Portland. They offer the full range of professional video production services. From the creative development of pre-production, through the production, into video & sound editing, Wabi Sabi can produce your concept with the same high quality they used to create the Dr. Tongue video.
Mark Pedersen, Owner, Dr. Tongues I had that Shoppe.
Animation by Wabi Sabi for the intro to Vintage Toy Stories Episode 2.
For the guys at Wabi Sabi, Vintage Toy Stories is a passion project. Their work has brought them around the country and the world. Like all of us (toy collectors), whenever they travel they try to locate and visit any cool toy store they can find. During a trip to Cherry Bomb Toys they decided to take some footage. Well while filming, they really enjoyed learning the story of the family run toy store that is also home to the National Toy Museum of Canada. They decided to continue shooting and to make a video profiling the store and the family that runs it.
While producing the Cherry Bomb Toys video, Tyler and Eric reached out to some other Toy Shops to see if they would be interested in participating. With a huge positive reception from the shops, they decided to create more toy store shows, thus “Vintage Toy Stories” was born.
“We want to share the story of these places and the people behind them. A lot of these places are hidden and the community doesn’t know about them. These shops are a very important part of the community, they are what collecting is all about. We want to support them in any way possible.
– Tyler from Wabi Sabi Visuals
Wabi Sabi creates the show under the brand Vintage Toys PDX. You can find them on Instagram where they showcase their collection and trade/sell vintage toys. Battle Beasts are the major toyline they collect with other retro lines like ExoSquad and Barnyard Commandos filling in the ranks.
Head over to vintagetoystories.com to watch the first episode Vintage Toy Stories featuring Cherry Bomb Collectibles in Victoria, BC, Canada. You can also subscribe to them on YouTube so that you don’t miss the next episode.
Tyler and Eric hope that the series can help the stores. Help the stores generate sales, thus keeping the stores around for us. Tyler said to me recently, “These places are not just for collectors… they are interesting places that anyone can go to and geek out.”
Interior of Dr. Tongue’s I Had That Shoppe
I believe that in the toy store world that a rising tide can raise all ships, maybe while watching the latest episode you say “I had that!”, and you want it again so you call Dr. Tongue’s and pick it up or have it shipped. Maybe just watching the video makes you decide to run out to your local collectors spot. Maybe the show gets you riled up for a road trip to visit Dr. Tongue’s or another store. This is why we started ToyStoreGuide and why they started Vintage Toy Stories.
Article by: @toydelorean on Instagram