I spent an hour and a half with this gentleman and what I discovered ABSOLUTELY AMAZED ME! The seller and I hit it off right away, and he offered to show me the home himself.  Read on below to experience the most amazing showing I have ever been a part of….

Tom, the seller is a tall, lanky gentleman in his late 60s, early 70s. A true talker, loved to chat and had a story for everything, just like me. He had previously worked as an engineer at Boeing, then as an installer for printing presses, but his true love was audio/radio.  With my background in DJing and my love for music, I was noticing some his audio equipment he had in the living room.  He loved old audio equipment and spoke at long lengths about reverse flow capacitors and high end wave channeling which was completely over my head, but I truly appreciated his love for it. He had just been through a divorce, and had lived at the property for 23 years, hence the need to sell.  Bought it from the original owner.  He invited me in the house and we sat in the living room as he lit a cigarette, which is not great for my buyers, but the house was beautiful and expansive as bungalows usually are.  Before he sat, he turned on this old Philco radio from the 1930s.  It started playing music and it sounded amazing.  Notice the lights are on….  See picture below.

As we chatted, the radio was playing everything from Dead Kennedys to Led Zep, The Ramones and even Fela Kuti.  I complimented him on his choice of station.  He mentioned he was an amateur Disc Jockey, but didn’t really go into more detail.  What followed was a complete and utter showing of every part of the house, and what I saw there was not only a picker’s dream, but a musician’s nirvana.  The house had amazing original finishes and he had made some of his own unique “upgrades” Including replacing all the light switches with these old time push button lights…  They were EVERYWHERE AND THEY ALL WORKED!

The house had so much character and detail.  Check out the crown moldings!

One of the bedrooms upstairs was dedicated to all of his old music and assorted memorabilia.  Such an eclectic and unique taste in music and artifacts.  He had a little bit of everything in there.  Some of the posters were original from the 70s etc…

The house needed some work, but nothing major.  I never got a picture, because it was so intricate, but this gentleman had installed his very own central air system using spaces and openings all throughout the house.  Basically retrofitted a Freon system all by himself.  I was blown away.  Instead of filters you would see on a conventional HVAC system, he used the doorway to a back storage space as a place for the filters.  Notice the door in this picture.  He removed the slats and put in the filters. He said it cost him about 10$ a month to cool his house which was powered by drips of water and the occasional tank of Freon.  Don’t ask me to explain it, but the house was a cool 68 degrees on a hot day.

From then on it just got better and better.  As we entered the other part of the basement which was partially finished, I stood still and took it all in.  He had so many collectibles I couldn’t even conceive it all.  Below are pictures of some of the amazing things he had.collected.

GE Fan

A very old Predicta TV that ACTUALLY WORKED!  These are almost priceless if they work!

The very first portable home radio, notice the wheels.  And it was portable because…

It was powered by a car battery!

a 1930s Zenith radio in beautiful condition.  STILL WORKS!

All of the lighting in the finished part of his basement were old Subway lights from the 30s he had collected and installed.  Gave a very warm and cozy low light effect.

THIS IS WHEN THINGS GOT INTERESTING!

Tom is an AM RADIO PIRATE DJ and the music we were listening to earlier in his living room was HIS STATION! AM 1620 call sign WNUTHINNUTHINNUTHIN!  If you are ever near Albany Park, you can pick up his station! 

Below is his radio booth!   He even jumped on the air to give me a shout out!  This was all original equipment…We are talking glass tube amplifiers, receivers and projectors. He was unhappy about the laptop, but said he didn’t have the time nowadays to actually play records.  See below for pictures!  This guy was not only a genius, quite nice, but also one of the types of people you meet maybe once a decade. An interesting one of a kind character!

Here is Tom at the booth just after giving me a shout-out!

Look at all the antique technology!  All of this is being used to broadcast through the antenna on top of his house!

After the showing was done, he exited the house with me and followed me to my car.  Mentioned he was interested in hearing the station from the radio in my car.  We chatted for a little while longer and he sauntered back to his house.  All in all, it was one of the most interesting showings I have ever been on and wanted to share it with you!