Franciscan Hobbies

Franciscan Hobbies began with a gleam in the eye of Bill Gunther in 1946. At the suggestion of this father after his tour in the Infantry during World War II, Bill took his savings and scouted the San Francisco area for a place to open his hobby shop. It is hard to believe that there were over twenty five such shops in the San Francisco area at that time and that stores were at a premium. But finally, he found what he felt was a nice location and opened his 1st store at 1805 Ocean Ave in the Ingleside district near two colleges, a junior high school and an affluent domestic area.