“Billy Galaxy” & a Very Vintage Trip to Portland

Work brought me to Portland Oregon this week to shoot a video about a local graphic designer of note.

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The brief I received listed a pile of accolades and high-end clients. I expected a polished, business-dress design firm, the kind of place I often end up in when shooting at home. After meeting the designer, and realizing that no one else worked in the office, this was the first thing I saw after walking in:

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And shortly after, this and this:

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His design philosophy revolved around prioritizing legibility, avoiding trends, digging up old designs, and re-visiting techniques they got right. His beautiful book even has a bit of Kenner in it:

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After the shoot, I searched if there were any vintage toy shops that looked any good in the area. There were maybe 3, after my shoot, I made time to visit “Billy Galaxy”.

I walked into “old town” Portland, here’s a couple things I saw on the way:

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This is a broken CRT with a fleshlight box inside:
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I eventually walked up to "Billy Galaxy", even the outside of the store was magnificent.

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This shop had everything; tons of complete figures, mocs, 12”, vehicles, animation cells, coins, and plenty of “gimcrack” (and that’s just the Star Wars stuff). There was also MOTU, Joes, and vintage video games of all kinds.

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I didn’t buy too much, the prices were a bit on the high side (I can understand why, you gotta start somewhere) but considering that and the current US/CAD exchange rate, I kept it pretty minimal.

I got a couple coins and this folder with a remarkable photo of some cloud city denizens that I’ve never seen before:

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I knew there was an alien Bespin guard that was cut, but I’ve never seen these guys. That little blue snaggletooth has a bit of a Lando cape going on!  

I hope you guys found that as interesting as I did, just left the designer’s name out for the slightest bit of client confidentially, it wouldn’t be hard to figure out if one was so inclined. Unfortunately these are all phone shots as my real camera was full of city time lapse shots for the video.

It's great that you could get a vintage SW fix while on a business trip Chris. Life is full of surprises!

Your right about that, certainly it’s the first time I’ve had stuff like that at a client’s location.

wow bro that's awesome , very cool that your collecting intertwined with your work . that store looks great! I wish there was stores like that around here .
coins? potf coins? share some pics when you get the time !!

Yeah there were others but they were pretty far above market value. The only one that was cheap was the dog I got, only 9 USD, the Han Carbonite was quite a bit more, as were the rest of them. No one likes the Dig lol those were two where I’ve got the figure but no coin.

As you know i have around 20 but im getting into them for sure . Too bad its 2018 and i shoulda paid more attn years ago

Yeah man, I had your post in mind while I was looking but I didn’t want to commit you to anything, especially as it all looked at or above what I’ve seen on eBay, except the dignitary lol

No worries dude , but thanks for keeping me in mind

Thanks for stopping in!

billygalaxy wrote:Thanks for stopping in!

on board. You have a fantastic shop with lots of vintage goodies. Maybe you could introduce yourself and give a brief description of your shop?

Commander Clint wrote:

billygalaxy wrote:Thanks for stopping in!

 on board.  You have a fantastic shop with lots of vintage goodies.  Maybe you could introduce yourself and give a brief description of your shop?

Thanks, I have actually been on here for a while. I usually just like to watch though...

What would be the appropriate area on here to make such an introduction?

Welcome  

billygalaxy wrote:What would be the appropriate area on here to make such an introduction?

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billygalaxy wrote:

Commander Clint wrote:

billygalaxy wrote:Thanks for stopping in!

 on board.  You have a fantastic shop with lots of vintage goodies.  Maybe you could introduce yourself and give a brief description of your shop?

Thanks, I have actually been on here for a while.  I usually just like to watch though...

What would be the appropriate area on here to make such an introduction?

Great to see that you have been a member for a couple years! It was great talking to you and seeing the store. There were quite a few items I'd not seen in person before.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] participated in “The Toys That Made Us” panel at Celebration Chicago, check it out here :