Hodge Podge of Memories: The Bait & Tackle Store with a Rich History Closes Its Doors
Editor’s Note: On Sept. 4, Avalon Hodge Podge became a part of the past when its doors closed for the final time. Hodge Podge is one of those little places that was just always there. Through several ownership changes, it served fishers and crabbers on Seven Mile Beach for more than six decades. Recent customers had come to know the last owners, Dave and Tammie Carbohn, who operated the business for the past 25 years. You may be surprised to learn that the Hodge Podge roots go much deeper than that. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, one in two local retail businesses will last only about two years. That being the case, we’re paying homage to the people who had the foresight to first create and lay the foundation for a business that existed for most of our lifetimes.
It was shortly after the great ‘nor’easter of March 1962 when Elizabeth Blythe, known to her friends as Betty, convinced her husband Morris to move back a bit closer to home. The couple’s first child, a boy, was born in Pennsylvania’s Delaware County. Two girls would follow to round out the family, both born while the Blythes were living in Florida. Morris, like their son, was born in Upper Darby. Betty was from South Philadelphia and had her sights set on settling closer to “home.”
“Mom had to convince Dad to move back,” says the couple’s oldest daughter, Mary Blythe Libro.
The family ended up settling in Avalon in a house that was relatively new construction at the corner of 24th Street and Ocean Drive. Morris, remembered by most as a quiet and gentle man, was employed at the time as a machinist at Wheaton Glass in Millville. His job would end up serving as the impetus for the Hodge Podge, but probably not as you might expect. His position at Wheaton gave Morris the opportunity to purchase quantities of the famous Wheaton glassware, plates, and candles.
Given their location in the small but growing resort community, the Blythes decided to open a gift shop in their residence; this was before commercial exclusive zoning.
“We went from having a living room to having a gift shop,” son Pat says with a chuckle from his home in Florida.
“Our living room became a gift shop,” echoes Libro, who says the shop got its name “because it was a mix of all types of gifts.”
The location made perfect sense for the time because Avalon’s main thoroughfare and most dedicated retail district was located just three blocks away on 21st Street. In addition, Virginia Lou’s Restaurant, a well-established Avalon family favorite, was located just across 24th Street and Anne’s Luncheonette was located next Virginia Lou’s. Both establishments would likely drive vacationers and other potential customers past Hodge Podge.
Morris Blythe did his part to make sure the shop lived up to Merriam-Webster’s definition of a “hodge podge” – a heterogenous mixture of different things – by slowly introducing fishing rods, reels, and tackle to the gift and collectibles mix. The introduction of fishing tackle was probably a shrewd business decision given Hodge Podge’s location. A marina, which had closed recently, was located for many years just across the street from the Hodge Podge location.
In addition to renting boats, the marina sold bait and tackle and rented fishing rods and reels. So, although there were more than a dozen shops selling “bait and tackle” on Seven Mile Beach at the time, some visitors were already conditioned to visit the location to patronize the now-closed marina and were probably happy to find Hodge Podge … especially as Morris added more tackle and bait while weening the selection of gifts over time. He eventually molded Hodge Podge into a favored bait and tackle shop that also stocked the regionally favored PENN fishing reels, which he kept in a small, hand-made case on the counter.
“I remember Morris would come down that spiral staircase in the back whenever someone came into the store,” says Jim Moran, owner of Moran’s Dockside – perhaps the island’s last fisher’s oasis located today a bit further down Ocean Drive at 14th Street. Moran remembers as a teen supplying Blythe and Hodge Podge with small bunker that he netted in the back bays. They would be utilized as fresh bait for blue fishing. Other local kids supplied Blythe and other local marinas with minnows – part of the entrepreneurial cycle that created a lifetime of memories as well as a little spending cash for many youngsters growing up on Seven Mile Beach. Whether selling bait or purchasing your first rod and reel, many memories were created for children at Hodge Podge.
The Blythe children still have clear memories of the fresh bait operation at the shop that included, but was not limited to, wrapping bunker in old newspapers. Son Pat oversaw the minnows in their “habitat,” which was an old bathtub located outside of the back door. “Every day, my job was to go over to the bay and to bring back fresh salt water, by the bucket,” he recalls. He wasn’t a big fan of carting the saltwater from the canal to the bathtub. “But it had to be done,” he says with a shrug. “Every day.”
Everyone pitched in to help with the operation. Daughter Mary remembers that one of her responsibilities was handling the blood worms, another fresh bait available to Hodge Podge.
“They were delivered in a box full of seaweed,” she explains. “We might be having dinner – whatever, if a customer came in for worms, it was my job to pick the worms out of the seaweed and put them in a little plastic bag for the customer. … But just so many great memories of growing up there.”
The Blythes’ kitchen was mentioned several times in interviews for this story. People who grew up in Avalon with the Blythe children mentioned the aroma of the breakfasts that Betty would make for her children each morning before school.
Bob Penrose, a noted local builder, construction official and life-long Avalon visitor has memories as well. But his memories have nothing to do with Betty’s bacon and eggs.
“Oh, I can remember Morris melting down lead in the kitchen,” Penrose says. “He had molds for sinkers, and he manufactured his own right there in the kitchen. I can also remember sitting at the kitchen table while Morris made rigs and lures.”
Being a machinist by trade, Morris found ways to manufacture much of what was sold in the store.
“No doubt about it,” says Pat. “Dad made much of what we sold in the store.” The oldest of the Blythe children remembers his dad pouring the lead for bucktail lures. “He’d then hand paint the head and someone came by and sold him the bucktail which he tied to the head. I still have a card of them from back in the day.”
Daughter Mary can still remember storing squid and bunker in the family freezer until acquiring a dedicated freezer for the store. “It drove my mom crazy,” she adds.
Morris Blythe, with the help of his family, guided the tiny gift shop at the corner of 24th and Ocean Drive into a bait and tackle shop that navigated an ever-changing industry. He sold bait. He manufactured fishing tackle. And he sold and rented rods and reels for the day or week.
“I’ll always remember how nice Morris was to me,” says Moran. “After all, I was just a kid, but he couldn’t have been any nicer or more respectful to me.”
Morris Blythe had a vision. That vision, along with a commitment to customer service and the support of his family, laid the foundation for a business that will live on in our memories.