It was 1917 when Hyman Baskin opened up an auto wrecking shop at 729 Broadway in downtown Fresno. At the time, Highway 99 was the north-south route through Fresno and Broadway was this two-lane route. So, having a wrecking yard along this commercial road was quite successful for the first of four Baskin generations to own the property. What was very different in the early 1900’s was that wrecking yards did not keep the entire car for its parts, as they do today, but would strip the parts off and the frame would be taken away. Because of this process, the one story building with a full basement was easily used as a wrecking yard…….. without a yard.
In 1947, Hyman died and Samuel Baskin, his son, and two of Samuel’s brothers took over the business, which, by this time, had ventured off into tire sales, also. At the tender age of nine, Dick (class of 1958) began spending time at the store. Dick’s father, Samuel, allowed him to spend as much time as he wanted in the store hoping the business would rub off on him. By 1951, Samuel owned the business outright and, by 1952, his hope of having Dick part of the business came true. Dick was on the payroll at the tender age of eleven.
It was during the 1950s that the business evolved once more and became an auto parts store, a tire store, and it also ventured into upholstery. This first venture into upholstery was something called “ready-made slip-on” covers which came in boxes from the manufacturer. It was Dick’s responsibility, at the age of 15, to ride a three-wheel motorcycle with a tow-bar on it to the different car businesses and connect with a car that needed new seat covers and tow the motorcycle behind the car through town and back to the shop. It would take about two hours to completely finish the job. Dick would then tow the motorcycle back to the customer and ride the motorcycle back to the shop.
In 1957, custom upholstery became the main purpose of the shop and, by 1959, Dick began running the place, although his father Samuel was around to keep his eye on the business until he retired in 1974. Although the business had become primarily an upholstery shop, the basement and main floor are still filled with car parts that date back to the 1920’s. And filled with parts they are! One would think that car parts could not be organized, but, if a part was needed, it wouldn’t take Dick more than a few minutes to put his finger right on the specific need. Lined up on shelf after shelf and row after row are headlights, radiators, wheels….any part imaginable. Even old “ready made slip-on” seat cover boxes can be seen on shelves along a wall. Dick said they get inquiries about parts from all over the world and often ship to Sweden, Japan, Canada, and Australia.
Of Dick’s four children, only one, Bruce, has been interested in carrying on the business. As the oldest of his children, Bruce also started hanging around the shop when he was eleven or twelve and is very interested in the upholstery part of the business. Bruce stated, “It was an easy fit for me. I learned the business by being here.” The apple does not fall far from the tree.
Do the four generations in this business stop with Bruce? There is a mad dash to revitalize this downtown area to the south of Grizzlie Stadium on Broadway and with it may go this long standing business. When asked what is the best thing about owning the shop, Bruce said, “It’s having control of your business.” Dick said, “It’s meeting the best people in customers and friends, some of whom were customers of my father.” When asked what is the worst thing about owning your own business, both of them replied, “Not having time off.”