[Milsurplus] Oakland CA 1970s surplus

[Mark M]

Mike Morrow wrote:

Do you remember a military radio surplus store near downtown Oakland that was in business at least to the mid-1970s?  They carried all the good classic surplus stuff, mostly new condition, from R-390s to PRC-6s, but no "command set" gear that I recall.  I made several visits to it in 1974 while I was stationed at Mare Island.  I still have the TBY-2 and AN/PRC-9 that I purchased there, 44 years ago.  But I have no recall of the business name.

My reply 

George Belling (sp?)had a small store like that. Not cheap but very select inventory. He moved within Oakland a few times. Last place I visited in 1974 was downtown Oakland. He had some pristine, perhaps new,  giant VLF receivers that he said were for subs. Can’t imagine who would want them. He wanted $3500 each. He also had complete CRT 3 Gibson Girls with everything including box kite for $75. Yellow tags indicated they had been on C 130 aircraft. Bought a yellow tagged LP 21 LM ADF loop for $35 from George. He told me a story about two surplus dealer colleagues who went to jail for selling the Navy supposedly overhauled landing gear components that were just cleaned up and repainted. 

I haunted radio row in SF more than Oakland. My law school (UC Hastings) was only a couple of blocks away so guess where I spent my lunch hours. Got to know Marty of Martys Surplus Mart well. He had a Navy radar antenna rotating on top of the store front with a neon store sign on the face. Used slip rings to power the sign. Also knew “Crazy Abe” of Standard Surplus. Beneath the gruff exterior and truly explosive temper was a nice man who had endless tales about great surplus deals he had made. His basement had about a dozen various huge WW2 Navy xmtrs that never seemed to sell. I saw them there for years. 

Mark
AF6IM