Hub Hobby Shop

General information

Specialties:

Plastic Model kits of Model Tanks, Planes, Cars, and Ships

HO and N Scale Model Trains and Scenery Material

Books on Military Subjects

Pinewood Derby Supplies - - - Model Rockets
Modeling Tools, Paints, and Glues - - Basswood, balsa, chipboard, plastics sheets, shapes, & strips

History:

Hub Hobby Shop started in a plain commercial block of South Broad Avenue in New Orleans between Washington and Pumping Station #1. (It is called Pumping Station #1 because it was the first pumping station in the city having been installed in approximately 1896. It was built there because it is the lowest part of the city at minus six feet).

The hobby shop’s name comes from its Broadmoor location - near the center of the city's proverbial saucer. Looking at a map, the streets radiate outward like spokes in a wheel.

"We bought the business in 1951, when it was a radio-repair shop and sold small appliances," once remarked Jerry Kelly, co-founder of the Hub. "We started to add hobby supplies. Very soon, they began to eclipse the radio and appliance repair business, so we got out of that quickly."

The stock comprises a virtual candy-box of Lilliputian train accessories, plastic models of airplanes, cars and ships, and a host of oddities.

Elaborate model planes hang from the ceiling. Racks of paint and books on military aircraft line the wall.

Diminutive shrubs and trees are also available for architecture students, model railroaders and school projects.

August, 2005 brought Hurricane Katrina and seven feet of water to the Hub. The roof was completely gone, which allowed Hurricane Rita to dump six inches of rain in through the top three weeks later.

In the spring of 2006, the shop re-opened in its present location on Airline Drive in Metairie about five miles from its old location.