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You won’t find boxes of Pogs, Koosh balls or Magic-brand anything in Leon “Lonny” Drexler’s old childhood bedroom in Melville.
“The most I ever collected was baseball cards,” says Drexler, who’s now 40 and living in Babylon.
It wasn’t until a trip to Boca in 2009 that Drexler caught the collector bug.
There, at his wife’s uncle’s Floridian compound, Drexler first laid eyes on the vintage, 1930s-1940s era wooden phone booth in the living room.
“You can go in and close the door and the lights come on and everything,” Drexler said.
It was on.
“For over the last seven or eight years I’ve just been researching and hunting and buying these old soda machines and soda coolers,” he said. “I branched out into old advertising signs, like porcelain signs, gas station signs, gas pumps. I’ve been traveling all over the East Coast.”
He’s now taking select items from his extensive (and valuable) collection to help decorate his old general store-style retail shop that’s in the works at 1 Fire Island Avenue in Babylon Village.
F&M Goods opens next month.
F&M will be selling retro signs, penny candies, all-natural snacks, mid-century toys, farmhouse-style decor, candles and linens and more.
Dreamer is especially excited about the vintage cooler that will be stocked daily with ice and soft drink brands from yesteryear, such as Nichol Kola and Lemmy Lemonade (we’re going way back).
“It’s going to have the real feel of an old general store,” he said.
Visitors and passersby will be greeted with a Flying A gas pump and Quikold Pepsi-Cola cooler in the window. Both are real, vintage items from the 1930s and 1940s, respectively.
You can count Drexler’s landlord and new neighbor in the business district, Aaron Stein of Norton & Siegel Inc. insurance, among those in Babylon Village excited about the new addition.
“I’m excited to see something unique come into the village,” said Stein, who had turned down offers from other prospective tenants before Drexler’s wife spotted the “For Rent” post on Stein’s AroundBabylon Facebook page and the couple reached out.
“This is something that will add to the village, will enhance the village,” Stein said.
And the timing couldn’t be better — pop culture-wise — with the rise in popularity of antique and collector shows like the History Channel’s American Pickers or Discover’s Dirt Money.
“More and more people are buying and selling and there’s more competition for the items, but it’s definitely a small community,” said Drexler.
Having noted that, none of the his vintage collectibles will be on sale — which is also the deal at the Jamesport Country Store on the North Fork, which inspired Drexler’s F&M Goods. Those items are just for decor.
Drexler doesn’t like to part with his favorites. “You get the money, you spend the money, but you don’t have your stuff anymore,” he said.
He even has those old baseball cards.
“None of them are worth anything though,” he said. “They made too many in the 1980s.”
