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The Family Business
Posted on May 8th, 2010 No commentsI have geek in my blood. My grandfather, Gus Hahn, opened an electronics store in 1929 with his former high school physics teacher, Ralph Coe, and for some 80 years – passing on to my uncle after my grandfather’s struggle with Parkinson’s disease left him unable to work – it serviced the south suburbs of Chicago. They sold record players and radios, installed PAs and police radios, and showcased fancy new technology like televisions in color.
The story of Hahn & Coe is the story of American ingenuity and entrepreneurship through generations. It tells of burgeoning opportunity, economic and technological changes, and the struggles of a family to make it through on their own despite obstacles I can hardly fathom. But the story has reached its end. Sadly, the continuing poor economy in a long-downtrodden suburban area of Chicago has finally taken too much a toll. The family business has closed its doors.
I keep a few of my grandfather’s things near my desk. His old, wooden level looks almost comical in the bright glow of my dual monitors, and his cracked, yellowing slide-rule is painfully low-tech next to my sleek, black iPhone. But they remind me of how far I am from vacuum tubes and CB radios, and yet how not very far at all. There was geek in his blood, too.
1 responses to “The Family Business”
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Wow, that sucks that the business is closing. That’s a lot of history.
On the geek-history part, I have my grandfather’s pilot logs, maps, and tools. It’s cool to see some of the tools that were common day and important.. now I should learn how to use them. 😉
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Keith Casey May 12th, 2010 at 08:54