Sorry if this has already gone around, but I only saw
it yesterday
after a friend sent me the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/02/05/technology/personaltech/20090…
It reminded me of ELI in Cambridge Massachusetts, which was a similar
type of place back when I lived in the Boston area, but which is now
gone. I can only imagine that Halted will not be around too much longer
and I definitely want to stop there the next time I'm in the area...
This place looks like a dream. I wish they were on the East coast. I
didn't know ELI was gone. I loved ELI when I lived in MA.
My ELI story:
I used to work for Terminal Data Corp and we made exotic robotic cameras
for microform imaging (microfiche, aperture cards, microfilm). The camera
alone sold for $40,000 in the early 1990's. I found a complete pristine
camera at ELI's with the film magazines and lenses and bought it for
$75.00. I parted it out to my customers for a huge profit. The first parts
I sold were the film magazines for $60.00 each.
TDC only sold a few cameras per year, so the odds against finding one were
huge.