Fedco

Anybody from LA knows that sign... or at least remembers it from the past. What a store it was. It was a membership department store with cheap prices long before Costco (or Price Club). According to Wiki Fedco was started in the 40's by some postal workers who wanted to use their buying power to get cheaper prices. Back then it was just for federal employees (hence the name) and later for all people... like us. What brought Fedco to mind today? Well, actually yesterday I was looking for something under the bathroom sink. I noticed I still had these plastic hold-alls that were purchased at Fedco. I would say in the early 80's by momz and then I think I took them to college... and still have them all these years later. Though I don't like to keep stuff I also don't like clutter so these handy little plastic bins help keep down the clutter.

This post is not about the plastic bins under my sink. Rather I thought I would tell you about a few specific things I remember buying at Fedco but first let's set the stage. We went to the Fedco down on La Cienga. I believe it was near Jefferson. It wasn't too far from Ladera Heights. It was a decent hood. It was worth the drive to my family because of the money savings. Not trying to say my pops was cheap but during the gas crisis he would drive the green on green Ford LTD down to a gas station on Century. It was like World Gas or something. It was the cheapest in all of LA according to him. I am not trying to crack on the neighborhood around Century but it did not have quite the same socio economics of my hood up in Cheviot Hills. Shoot, why pretend... if you are from LA you know that Watts started at 102nd street officially so Century (do the math) was only two blocks from there. It was a long drive from our house... but the gas was cheap! Even as a 10 year old I wondered about the economics of driving a gas guzzler down to the ghetto to fill up the tank. Anyway, back to Fedco....

We shopped there a lot. It was like Target and Costco combined. I would like to think it was nicer than Walmart but maybe not. Anyway, I vividly remember walking around the store carrying a certain record album... which I finally bought with many weeks allowance... the Star Wars soundtrack. I didn't even like the movie so it was sort of an odd purchase but that theme song was (and is) a good one. I think I still have that in the thinned down record collection in the garage. Along with it, I have another Fedco bought record... Star Trackin' 1976. It was a RONCO, "as seen on TV," type record and included the theme from swat, Jackson 5, Barry Manilow, Melissa Manchester, The Who, Allman Brothers Band, Average White Band, and Abba among others. Thanks to the internet (since I am too lazy to pull my copy out... though I believe I still have it) here is a picture of it:


What an album right? So, Star Wars soundtrack, Star Trackin' '76 and what else did I buy at Fedco? Two other "big" purchases come to mind. In the early 80's I went through a spell thinking I was a photographer. I bought... wait, let me re-start that sentence because I am sure I didn't buy anything. Momz bought me a Cannon AE1. One of the first cameras with the auto setting. It was a full SLR and later on I added a sweet Vivitar telephoto lens. Why? It was bought prior to our to Europe in 1984. I wanted to make sure I could get some good photos on the beaches of France... if you know what I mean. It didn't work out though. Darn it. Hey, I was 16 at the time so it seemed like a valid reason to own a telephoto lens. The old Cannon is still alive. I traded it with my homeboy Bruce, during law school, for some Bose speakers that he had. I bet Bruce still has that Cannon because he is old skool.

Lastly, and one of the best purchases of my life... about 1979 or 1980, if memory serves, momz and popz bought me my first Walkman. That's Walkman with a capital W becuase it was a Sony Walkman. What model? FM only! Remember that one? Before they put casette tapes into those things they had the FM only model. I believe it was blue in color. Cost about $90 if memory serves. I traded it to Xen Lang about 1981 for his 1975 Topps baseball card set. Guess what Xen? I still have the baseball card set. You might know that set includes rookie cards of Brett, Rice, Lynn, Carter, Hernandez along with cards of all the hall of the famers of that era. That multi-color 1975 set is a popular one for collectors to this day! Give me a shout Xen, if you read this, haven't seen you since high school.

So, with that my tales of Fedco are done. According to Wiki Fedco went BK about 1999 and later was sold to Target. Good memories....

peace out.