The old hardware at the New Hippodrome

This photo of the Hippodrome Theater hangs above the register of my favorite hardware store, New Hippodrome Hardware. The greatest thing about the New Hippodrome--and the reason it always has exactly what I need--is that so much of their merchandise is incredibly old.

The store opened in 1955, and there are items on the shelves that I'm convinced have been in stock since day one. I go in there looking for a valve to use in our "how to replace an old valve" photo, and what do I find sitting right there on the shelf? An angle stop from the Eisenhower administration. Perfect.

Now, they have plenty of new stuff too (they just moved to a fancy new location, in fact). But the store is named after a theater in which Harry Houdini once headlined, and it still calls itself "new" after half a century in business. The place has tradition, nostalgia, and a healthy mix of reverence for the past and stubborn refusal to let go.

Little wonder so much of the New Hippodrome's hardware ends up in the pages of This Old House.

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