Yes, thanks for all the cool memories. I recently visited Tannen's and was extremely disappointed, little did I know that Fantasma existed. But I do remember meeting Henning and Roth and Ballantine and of course Tony Spina and Frank Garcia and even a few balloon men. But I guess we grow older (who me? I hear you all lament) and the memories of old are often not what they are today. Who ever said that change is a good thing?

I see this thread is titles memories and I was wondering if they are still there cause I would like to go and seee the shop

WOW! this is not the Frank Garcia I met when visiting Tannen's in 1978.

Going to Tannen's was really a special treat. In those days someone like Frank Garcia was a real celebrity to me.

When I met him he was friendly and fun ...demonstrated some stuff. I gave him my mailing address and was I surprised/shocked when a few days later I received a big package in the mail with THREE different 8 X 10 photos personally autographed to ME.

I never dreamed a busy pro would follow up in such a way on a meeting with "just a kid"....truly inspiring.

Also met Bob McAllister there...a real dream come true ( I was a HUGE wonderama fan).

I used to carry around the Tannens catalogue 24/7 like a Bible. My Tannens catalogue is autographed by Hank Aaron....why?....I happened to run into him and that is all I was carrying at the time..I know...CRAZY.

Once, late 70's, on my way to Tannens (across the street on Broadway) a limousine pulls up to the curb next to me and out comes Larry Flynt in wheelchair with several secret service type body guards ( he had recently survived a murder attempt which left him paralyzed.)

I visited the 34th st store several years ago...but did not have the real magic of those good ol days......perhaps its just that I'm getting old...but the times I visite Tannens back in the 70's it was true magic.

Stephen Christopher

When I visited Tannens several times in the early seventies it was great. I met Garcia, and Peter Pan - Shari Lewis' dad, and Slydini had just moved out there again from gthe West Coast - as always he was amazing and at Tannens I some veryy skilled teenagers like David Roth and Geof Latta.

These are great stories!

I was traveling from Philly to Massachusetts and visited an old friend (he's 72) who recalled going to Tannen's when he was a boy. He lived in Brooklyn and his father would take him there.

I was passing through Manhattan and hadn't been to Tannens in some time. A few years ago when my son was born we bought him a Charlie McCarthy vent figure from an online dealer. I thought I'd swing by Tannens and see if they had one.

Sadly, as I'm sure many of you know, it's not what it used to be. When I walked in the two sales people there couldn't have cared that I was even there...even though I was the only one in the store. Finally one of them asked if I was looking for something or just browsing. I wanted to browse but did ask directly for the Charlie McCarthy vent figure.

"Nobody even knows who Charlie McCarthy is. Even if they still made it we wouldn't carry it."

A sad state of affairs.

--JD

OMG I don't believe it...this is the same thread where I complained about Tannens four years ago...the last time I was there.....ugh.

--JD

Not sure if these eBay auctions belong to someone here but there are two listings with nice photos of the interior of Tannen's:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Early-LOUIS-TANNEN-M......86425826

http://cgi.ebay.com/Snapshot-Photographs......13636043

What can I say about Tannens.....The one I first visited was at 1540 Bway....But I spent most of my "hanging out days" at the location on 25th street...Tony Spina's place....Watching Magick, and Polaris demonstrate their wares.....Meeting Jeff Sheridan....Bobby Baxter....Earl "Presto" Johnson...Doug Edwards....Herb Zarrow... Great memories....!!

Will be visiting for the first time in December when I go to the US.

It was somewhere around the early '80s, I think...couldn't have been much past ‘82 or '83...but that is sketchy.

I was a really geeky older teen freak. When the fellow manning the shop heard I was from a small town in Quebec, he brought me to see the view from his back office, which looked down on or near Times Square.

I think back now and realize how I actually "missed" the deeper experience.

How could I have known it was all so ephemeral, soon to fade away into the annals of history?

Without advance buzz, Muhammad Ali walked in and the place went dead silent. He was like human electricity. I have been in the presence of a few personalities. No one came close to the charisma of Ali. In the realm of Forteana, we use a term called "The OZ effect." Ali made you glow; you felt both real and unreal, as if you were simultaneously inside a movie and watching that same movie unfold.

Then, he looked at me! The champ looked at me and he smiled!

I was born in '64, the year Ali won the Heavyweight Championship of the World. In the '70s, that strange decade of eclectic Superstars (Bruce Lee, the new/ "old" Elvis, Evel Knievel, Farrah Fawcett-Majors, etc., etc.), Ali transcended them all. He was a God.

I practically floated down to the street after he left...I was in the presence of a Supernova.

Ali...magical charisma.

My Tannen’s memory...thanks for the self-indulgence.

Fast forward to 2010.

My wife fulfills her promise to take her 16 year old son to “Da Big Apple.”

I take him to Tannen’s. The new location, of course. He does not do any magic but loves to watch. He boldly asks the fellow behind the counter if he does “New York” Three Card Monte. “But no gimmicks,” is the challenge.

The demo guy takes a deck of Bees out, casually flips out the Beehive Ace of Spades (“Money gets you honey”) and the two red Queens, all the while mumbling, “I dunno…it’s been a while since I even thought about this…you really don’t see it on the streets anymore…”

Ok, I probably telegraphed this one: he goes into a flawless exhibition of the swindle. Every move was smooth and invisible. It was just plain, terrific handling. The small group that gathered close to watch gave Mr. Demo guy a sincere round of applause.

My Wife’s son had a grin from ear to ear. He had a classic New York City experience that he still talks about when we relive the trip.

I was at Tannen's last summer. David Roth, who probably makes minimum wage working there, insulted me to no end. While I had a good amount of money in my pocket that I was willing to spend, I walked out with NOTHING. I'll be hard pressed to go back. On an aside, my IBM Ring President had previously tried to get Roth to lecture at my club for our standard fee. He would have had to travel less than 25 miles. He refused, basically stating that he wouldn't do anything for that kind of money. And let's get something straight- I have to work 3 full 8 hour days to make that money on my real job! When I went to Tannen's and told Roth that I was a member of that Ring, he asked me to tell our President that he would do the lecture. My President laughed and basically said "screw him!".

I went to Tannen's on Broadway every Saturday during the 70s. I met Frank Garcia and thought he was a sales clerk. (Yes, I asked him to ring me up! )

I haven't been to the new location yet. (When I've been in NYC, it's been trips to Comic-con) But I'm really not feeling good about it.

I also remember seeing "The Amazing Randi" there. Ironically, I had just watched his "Happy Days" performance about an hour earlier. When I mentioned this he said; "Oh good. I should get a royalty check for about 47 cents in the mail any day now."

He also pointed out where Houdini's name was on his poster and told the story of the one man who MIGHT have claimed the Randi prize if he hadn't been so honest. (There was a music teacher who had played classical records so often, he could tell what they were by the patterns in the surface of the record! Randi said if he'd claimed to be channeling the spirits of the composers who were giving him the titles, Randi would have had no way to dispute it!)

I thought David Roth worked at Fantasma.

Too bad they don't have that secret-telling room anymore. I still go through the pages of my #17 catalog every once-in-a-while.

Tannen's has moved a few times over the past 40+ or so years…But it was my first magic shop experience as a kid growing up in NYC…Me and my good buddy "Doc" (A top card shark now, to those that know) used to save our money all month just to go downtown there early on a Saturday morning to buy some cheap tricks back in the '70s. Couldn't buy much, but remember getting things like, Lou Tannen's "Gamble Amble" card trick, the old Copper-Silver coin effect, Wild Card, Spooky Spots, and Cubio. Best part was coming up out of the little elevator right down the hall, or I seem to remember right up into the shop even. Man, it was so exciting and magical each and every time we went down there, (mid 40s Broadway area, back then).

Can still remember old man, Tannen and Tony Spina then demonstrating tricks from behind the counter of the glass showcases. The tricks looked like jewels in those brightly lit cases, especially the coin stuff. And all the many magicians that used to drop by regularly, like Frank Garcia, David Roth, Jonathan Townsend, Dr. Mike Rubinstein, Geoff Latta and so many others…Man, it was like heaven!

Tannen's website has been down for days.
Makes me nervous.

Mb, excuse me but I would like to answer if you remember Mike Tannen and died around 75 or 76 and he used to run the magic store at 51 st at 7th or Broadway, forget which main street. But his store was in the game like Playland and he had a pool room under his store. Just remembering if anyone remembering what year he died and he was a nice guy.
I used to go to Mikes store and the store at 1540 Broadway, and the store on 34th street and met Al Flosso a few times, got lucky to know him then.