SAN DIEGO — The oldest train set shop in the country is celebrating its 80th Anniversary. In this Zevely Zone, it was 'All Aboard' in North Park where I found one building split down the middle by two operations: the J.A. Cooley Museum on one side and Frank the Train Man on the other.
When you own the nation's oldest train shop named Frank the Train Man people are always walking in the door asking, "Where's Frank?" "Yep. All of the time," said three generations of the Cooley family standing at the front counter.
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80 years ago, Frank Cox opened the shop and happily chugged down the tracks of life until 1982, when he sold the business to his good friends Jim & Carmen Cooley.
"This is the original Frank, this is the second Frank, and that is myself. It's the three Franks," laughed 78-year-old Carmen Cooley. Her husband Jim Cooley passed away in 2019.
Carmen says people are still getting used to her being the new Frank.
"Men are surprised when they see a woman answer the question," said Carmen.
Yet, she hopes her grandson Ben will someday be the future conductor of the family business. I asked Ben about his hopes and dreams for the business.
"For it to stick around for another 30 or 50 years from generation to generation," said Ben.
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In 1997, Ben's grandpa, J.A. Cooley, opened the museum mostly to showcase classic cars. There are 27 beauties that include a 1914 Model T, a 1908 Maxwell and the first gas-produced car from Germany.
Jim Cooley's daughter Carmen says her dad was a collector alright.
"We have piggy banks, lots of clocks, typewriters, license plate collection, Coca-Cola collection," said Carmen. "We have about five thousand cameras. People just go crazy over this stuff."
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During our interview, the museum was empty, something Carmen's father was always fine with.
"He could not care less if he had one person come in or if he had a hundred because it's not about the volume, it's about preservation. It's about the education and the preservation," said Carmen.
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Visitors can see everything from spy cameras to telephones and Edison home phonographs.
"We have a few of those as well, approximately about 70 of those," laughed Carmen.
They even have a Wurlitzer, the world's oldest jukebox. Anyone can walk in the door and hitch their caboose to one of San Diego's oldest family trees and trains.
Both Frank the Train Man and J.A. Cooley Museum are open seven days a week. For more information click here.