Mego Warehouse Mystery Solved… Or Is It?

[MegoGeek]

This was a fantastic read. Thank you guys for doing this.

[starsky]

thanks for the great "field trip!" i think it's cool you guys brought megos along! bill, what ever did you tell them to let you in and give you guys freedom to take pics?

[UnderdogDJLSW]

It does make one wish that there was a forgotten hidden room still stacked high with WGSH goodies.

[miguet]

Thanks Bill and Dan for the nice story and wonderful pictures.

[Marvelmania]

That is so cool! Who cares what people thought of you. If you hadn't taken those megos back home for a visit it surely wouldn't have been as much fun! Now, tell the truth. You both went hoping to find undiscovered boxes of Megos, right? Thanks so much to the both of you for posting this!

[ScottA]

Scott...basically the same thing...this is a bare bones distribution facility. Stuff comes in bulk...gets organized into smaller deliveries...and goes out to stores. Not much to see but it was still cool to close my eyes and imagine I was surrounded by boxes of toys instead of potato chips or whatever is in the boxes today.

Too bad someone at Mego didn't take some photos of the warehouse stuffed during the heyday. Imagine what we'd see. Still cool you guys got to "walk in the footsteps".

[SUP-Ronin]

That is a great story. Expecially with two grown guys in suits, with a sack full of megos. Outstanding work. Interesting fieldtrip and recon. Thanks for sharing your info.

[txteach]

Very cool story! Being a history teacher I'd love to have been with you guys.

[SUPERUNDERDOGGIE]

What is done there now?

Scott...basically the same thing...this is a bare bones distribution facility. Stuff comes in bulk...gets organized into smaller deliveries...and goes out to stores. Not much to see but it was still cool to close my eyes and imagine I was surrounded by boxes of toys instead of potato chips or whatever is in the boxes today.

[SUPERUNDERDOGGIE]

Bill has pretty much covered the background of our visit. The only thing I will add is that when I found out we were going I did some research and found some info on the facility in a legal brief and I want to share that with you. (I have edited the following to make it easier to read)

"Mego is a toy manufacturer headquartered in Manhattan, with centralized payroll processing and purchasing. Prior to 1979, its manufacturing plants were located solely in Bohemia, N. Y., where about 160 warehousemen and production and maintenance workers were employed. In April, 1979, Mego opened a new plant in Brentwood, N. Y., approximately ten miles from the Bohemia site.The court found that all the employees began as new hires at Brentwood and that none were transferred from the Bohemia plants; that the jobs at both locations involved unskilled labor; there was little interchange or contact between Brentwood and Bohemia employees; that sixty percent of the Brentwood operation concerned the production of rubber-skinned dolls; that the other forty percent of the work done at Brentwood consisted of "pack out" or the assembling and packaging of component parts; that only five percent of the dolls packed out at Brentwood were produced at the Bohemia facilities; that eighty percent of the Brentwood operation was never performed at Bohemia; that prior to July 1, 1979, the Brentwood plant manager hired all the Brentwood employees, and shared responsibility with the plant foreman over job training, transfers, discipline, and overtime pay; and that Mego's vice president in Manhatten (probably Neal Kublan) was responsible for production at all of the company's plants."

So...it seems fairly obvious that during the heyday of Megodom up until 1979 the Bohemia facility was the only domestic manufacturing location and dominant distribution center in the US. Seeing the actual site....NO WONDER! The place is really, really huge. In Mego's day it would have spanned 3 buildings and more than 350,000 sq ft. That's a lot of space folks. (Think of 175 2,000 sq. ft. houses!)


Now here's some more pics of our visit today!!

Here's a photo of me inside with Superman. To get a little feel for the size of the place....look at the ceiling lights and follow them all the way back...this is going side to side and its about 10x this long!!





Here is Bill in front of the "famous" Mural...or should I say the Imposter Mural!





Ah...Superman and Batman back on the shelf after almost 30 years.





This photo was intentionally taken to give props to Mr. Benjamin Holcolmb and his book...World's Greatest Toys...Mego lives at the Bohemia Warehouse!





Here's Bill in the rather fashionable 1970's styled wood panel foyer. He brought his Batman...what a nerd!! (joke)

[AAAAA]

mural Itself could have been painted over, thats not uncommon.

[Blue Meanie]

HAHA, Supes and Hulk have come home!!

What is done there now?

It was an Eckards District Office or something to that affect. The business next door I think is a Natures Bounty Vitamin Warehouse...I think. Used to do deliveries to Natures Bounty when I was in the Printing Industry.

[ScottA]

HAHA, Supes and Hulk have come home!!

What is done there now?

[fallensaviour]

Very cool.
That must have been a very powerful feeling to actually be standing there.

[toys2cool]

yup the whole building has that 70's vibe thing going on just look at the chairs,definitely late 70's early 80's