Anyone Remember Potomac Arms aka Ye Old Hunter, Hunters Haven Gun Store?

When I was a kid in the mid 50s I used to hang around this WWII surplus and gun store on the waterfront in Alexandria, Virginia. Of course I had almost no money, but the deals were fantastic at that time: Surplus Thompson SMGs with the breach welded for $75.00, Model 1917 Smiths and Colts for 17.50, Model 1911s for 25.00, M-1 Garands for $45. I used to lust after that stuff, and did buy maybe a half dozen handguns from them over the next decade or so.

The building occupied by the store started out in 1947 as "Beachcombers Restaurant" and was situated on pilings over the water of the Potomac River. This was desirable, since its off-shore status exempted it from rather stringent Virginia alcohol laws. In the early 50s the restaurant folded and the building was occupied by Interarmco, and set up shop as a retail store for new and surplus weapons. Interarmco sold the building in 2006, and today it houses a boat club. Note that the outdoor balcony still remains.

mrplasma -

As a kid at the same time I remember reading/hearing about that operation. But as I grew up in the middle of nowhere upstate NY never made it to the place.

But your comment on the VA liquor laws gave me a chuckle. In grad school I worked at a restaurant in Charlottesville right after the laws changed (1970?). I remember having to use a sharpening steel to knock the bottom out of any liquor bottle as soon as it was empty - big fines for having the empties around. Also had to keep a log book for the place that listed, by day, the sales of food, liquor, beer and wine as I recall it. Manager said there was a guy employed to come around and check that log book. He was well known to tell everyone how every other place was doing sales wise.

The other weird thing about VA law then related to tips. Waiting on table I had to kick back to the restaurant for every person I waited on; $.50 per person or 10% of my gross sales, my choice, whichever was less. In the year I worked there only one night did I have to cough up all my tips. That restaurant chain was owned by a family that also owned a large life insurance company in Richmond. My one boss was a good guy but hated doing the weekly reports. He knew I could keep my mouth shut so he paid me to work as the cook (steak joint with an open kitchen and limited menu) while he cooked for me on Sunday afternoon. I sat in the closed part of the dining room and did the weekly reports for him. They ran that place with no labor cost due to the kickbacks - it was a very profitable operation. But I could make more there than most anywhere else - and as my wife was having a very difficult pregnancy at the time and could not work I had to support us somehow.

That is where I learned how different and 'stratified' Va was.

Dale

Our family stopped there many time in the early 60's. Used to look forward to scanning the Potomac with the "battleship" bino's that were mounted on the balcony.

The "yard art" was very intriguing to the adolescent male mind. Want to remember a mountain howitzer and a multi tube rocket launcher among other items.

Anyone interested in surplus arms and the business in Alexandria would find the following book very interesting......

"Deadly Business: Sam Cummings, Interarms, and the Arms Trade"
Patrick Brogan
ISBN 10: 0393017664 ISBN 13: 9780393017663

I have been interested in Sam Cummings and his business dealings for some years. His firm first got my attention with a monthly full-page ad in "Field & Stream". It offered Webley MkVI .455 revolvers surplus from England for the sum of US $12.50. No matter how I begged and campaigned, my Dad refused the purchase. I would enjoy reading Pat Brogan's book, but the only one I have located is over $330. As an aside, that Webley now trades for $800-$1000.

I can list a lot of things bought in the mid sixties for around $10 that now fetch over $1000,way over.......Some years ago one of Cummmings long time executives put a potted history of the early post war years of surplus ,including the first big buy of Argentine arms for scrap price....and how the Argies quickly found out their error,and were demanding around $10 per gun within a few years.

sealark37 said:

I have been interested in Sam Cummings and his business dealings for some years. His firm first got my attention with a monthly full-page ad in "Field & Stream". It offered Webley MkVI .455 revolvers surplus from England for the sum of US $12.50. No matter how I begged and campaigned, my Dad refused the purchase. I would enjoy reading Pat Brogan's book, but the only one I have located is over $330. As an aside, that Webley now trades for $800-$1000.

Click to expand...

Do a search for the book with 'PDF' in the tirle--might be an online download available. Copies up to a few years ago were all over the place for under $10. Guess I should have bought a bunch.

I worked part time at Ye Old Hunter in Alexandria VA , when I was at Geo Washington High.in 1959 . John Richards was manager and store was full of surplus arms from many countries. Sold rifles for $20 up. I came back and worked there part time when I got out the Navy in 1963, as I prepared to take the real estate exam. At work at Potomac Arms warehouse in November, I heard on radio as nation learned President Kennedy had been assassinated. I had been putting together Italian Carcano rifles for sale at store, and learned it was type of weapon Oswald used. He purchased it from Klein's in Chicago, so I was somewhat relieved as we were other source of a mail order purchase.