Previous decades have given the nostalgia buff such enduring icons as Fred Astaire, Humphrey Bogart, Marilyn Monroe and the Beatles. What does the
`70s legacy look like? Try ”The Dukes of Hazzard” and the ”The Six Million Dollar Man.”
Judging from the kitsch collectibles flying off the shelf at The Time Machine, 3449 N. Southport Ave., the Baby Boom generation can`t get enough of the television characters they grew up with.
The shop in Lakeview stocks several dozen lunch boxes and Thermos jars with characters from TV shows such as ”Little House on the Prairie,” ”The A Team” and ”Scooby Doo.”
Mike Konstantinovic, who opened the store in June, explains:
”Kids that were about 9 or 10 years old when, say, `Happy Days` was on TV are now old enough to be working, and they have money to spend. What we`re selling is the kind of stuff they threw away when they were growing up, without giving it a second thought. Now they want it again.”
Not that all merchandise is rooted in the `70s. There`s a ”Pink Panther” wastebasket and Barbie`s ”travel pal Midge.”
But the hottest Time Machine items are ”The Brady Bunch” memorabilia
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(no surprise, given the popularity of Chicago-based Absolute Theater`s hit production, now running in Los Angeles, which features verbatim re-enactments of ”Brady” scripts) and a pop culture phenomenon dating back all of two years.
”The biggest fad right now is Pee-wee Herman,” Konstantinovic says.
”They stopped making the doll when he got arrested, so the character is
`dead` now, and he`s the one everybody wants.”
The Time Machine is open from 3 to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Call 312-296-6884.