Memories of Maplewood's Park Schwinn Bike Shop

I reached out to my friend Mark Brauer about the photos I posted the other day, showing old pics of Saint Paul and Minneapolis bicycling from the 60s and 70s. He remembered vividly the shop in the first Star Tribune photo, posted above.

Here's what he had to say

I don't think, I know where this bike shop is. It's Park Schwinn when it was located at 2242 White Bear Ave in Maplewood, right near Hwy 36. The building is now a U-Haul location. 

That is Art Engstrom in the picture. 

Art and Howard "Howie" Hawkins started in the bike business at Hazel Park Bike on White Bear Ave just south of 7th St. I bought my first "racing" bike, a Schwinn Continental, there in 1963. It was only about a mile from my house and became my bike shop. I got everything there. One of my fondest memories is of the "all night bike ride" they led each summer. It started at midnight, wandered the streets of St Paul, and ended at dawn at at breakfast cafe. You would have loved it. And it was real excitement for a young teen. 

It was in that era that the seeds of Park Tool were forming with the invention by Art, Howie, and their mechanic Jim Johnson of a clamp for bike work stands. Howie's son Eric continues to lead Park Tool's success. That story is well documented in the links below. 

Anyway, at some point they outgrew the small storefront in Hazel Park and built a new building farther north on White Bear Ave. That's where the picture you sent was taken. And that was where I bought my first "real" racing bike, a Peugeot PX10 just like Eddie Merckx rode in the Tour de France.  

Art and Howie also expanded, opening other Park Schwinn shops, one of which became Mendota Bike on Hwy 110, where Mike and Dan got their starts in the bike industry.  John also worked there for a time. I carried on the tradition and bought my next racing bike, a Trek OCLV Carbon, a couple of years before Lance Armstrong made that model famous by winning the Tour de France on one. 

The original Hazel Park bike shop actually lives on today as Gateway Cycle. Park Schwinn was sold to an employee who first moved it to a location on White Bear Ave across from Maplewood Mall, and then with a new name to it's current spot near Century Ave and Hwy 36.* 

This video has numerous pics of the shop at 2242 White Bear, both inside and out. There are also shots of the original Hazel park store. [video appended at end of this post] 

http://www.startribune.com/park-tool-ceo-and-chief-mechanic-would-rather-fix-bikes-than-ride-them/406865546/

* I must point out that Gateway Cycle, having inherited all the bike shop stuff going way back to Hazel Park Bike, still has a wealth of old small parts that other shops can just dream about. I have gone there a few times knowing they are likely to have some odd part that hasn't been made for decades. And if you talk to the owner, he knows just what you are asking for, and even lets you help look through the parts drawers. The only other local shop that had the same kind of parts depth was the original Penn Cycle. I don't know the status of Penn's old parts stash since Freewheel took over.

Wild to think about what the bike scene was like back then. In some ways things haven't changed at all. Bicyclists are still marginalized and infrastructure neglected. In other ways, things are a lot different.

Thanks Mark!