By Elaine Van Develde
A little slice of area toy store history went tumbling down on Tuesday.
The building that used to house the iconic Mike’s Toy Store in Little Silver is no more. And as it was toppled, childhood memories arose.
Mike’s was that kind of place for which many a kid in the Rumson-Fair Haven area saved his or her pennies, clutched in their tiny fists, for a jaunt to the wonderland to purchase a token toy dream come true.
And, some might say, the irony was uncanny that the place that many saw as their own fantasy Santa’s workshop came down at Christmas time. The jolt of the toy graveyard scene crushed old-timers’ nostalgia-riddled souls while igniting that child-like light from within.
Native Fair Havenite Evie Connor Kelly seized the opportunity to snap quick photo while stopped in traffic.
She shared her own memories of Mike’s; and, others joined in.
“Everyone of ‘our years’ this is where you got your gifts before all these malls & big stores,” said Karen Allas, also raised in Fair Haven. “Mike was a close friend of my dad and worked there every year during the season for Mike to afford all the gifts for myself & three siblings that we received from Santa under the tree.”
Former Fair Havenites Suzanne (Robertson) Tranfaglia and Judy (Russell) Goddard never forgot saving up to buy “those plastic horses” at the store.
And there were popular treks to Mike’s for another native Fair Havenite, Robin Drake Fitch, and many others to get little goodies like Little Kiddles, those teeny tiny dolls that came in necklace lockets ad all sorts of other strange casings, and Hot Wheels, those tiny cars that kids collected in carrying cases back in the day.
It was just the place to go with, in those days, a buck or two and a kid dream or your Christmas Club savings and some sort of trendy treasure of a lifetime.
But, the kiddie patronage wasn’t the only R-FH area connection. The store was part-owned by former Fair Havenite Elmer Waltz, who, according to his obituary. Waltz was an owner of Mike’s until 1977. He died at 97 in April of 2004.
The demolition of the vacant, beleaguered site that used to house the ever-iconic Mike’s was no surprise. It had been in the works for some time now, from the time it was intertwined with the well-publicized Solomon Dweck bankruptcy estate sale.
The site was bought by Ray Smith a couple of years ago, under the umbrella of Smith’s 1 Sycamore, LLC.
Plans for its future have not yet been revealed, but the beginning of the long-awaited development of that area started with the demolition.
What toys did you buy at Mike’s?