Big Lou’s Toys & Collectibles

Shout out to Big Lou’s for Birthday Parties. Have had several parties there for my sons and they are ALWAYS a hit with the kids and parents alike. The kids love the slot car racing and the video games. Big Lou’s sets up the party atmosphere with everything you need, so its nice and easy for the parents. My son said «This place is awesome!!»
and I would have to agree. Big Lou is most personable, very friendly and he and his staff are always ready to help. Looking forward to our next party!
:)

This place is great, my husband and I went there and our kids had a blast on the slot car track and everything is price just right. The employees are so helpful that they made me want to spend money here so places like this can stay in business. We will be going back soon and this time without our kids.

This is a very nice neighborhood institution for anyone interested in games and pop-​culture. They have games, tournaments, a space to hang out. The stuff is very cool and unusual though we have not bought a lot of high end collectors items, as for the ordinary merchandise it’s not too expensive — less than Toys r Us across the street!

One of the best hidden gems in Los Angeles! I’ve been a collector for half of my life and I wish there would be more places like this in the area. For a mom-​and-​pop shop his selection is pretty good and you can even find some bargains at times. Some other stuff can be a little bit on the pricey side but it beats dealing with jerks on eBay and keeping honest businesses like this rolling.
I recommend this place to anyone looking to add to the action figure collection or even some old comic books and training cards. He seems to have a good selection of toy cars but I’m not into that so I don’t really know what to say about that.

this place used to be cool back when they had marvel legends and dcu action figures. Now it’s just a place filled with lame variety of old McDonald’s toys and model cars. They also have a big race track in the back of the store where there used to be glass cases of more toys. Not to mention the store employees look at you funny when you walk in. This place changed for the worst.

I only stopped in here on my lunch break, but there is an incredible collection of model cars, trains, toys, cards, and whatever other gadgets you could imagine. Spent 15 minutes just looking around. Pretty cool little store, if I ever felt like spending ten bucks on something I’d come here.

There aren’t many old antique collectable stores nowadays and Big Lou’s is one of the few. If you want to walk into memory lane for old toys and other collectables this place is worth checking into. This place won’t be much if they don’t carry what your looking for.
When I collected 80’s Transformer figures they had a shelve full of them on inventory but they didn’t have what I was looking for and some of that stuff was very pricey. But hey it was nice to see them carry some G.I. Joe figures that I knew as a kid.
Its nice to checkout old die-​cast toys, sports memorabilia, and other collectables in display cases but this store is crammed with stuff!
I remember discovering this place through a flyer I picked up in Anaheim at a collectable shop. It’s worth a browse in here but for me a quick zip fly by like Superman.

Doesn’t seem like Big Lou gives a crap about business anymore. Waited a long time pass opening time and still no where to be seen. Really…

This place is SOOOO cool !!! lots of vintage toys, that seemed kind of pricy, but maybe that’s the going rate for old Star Wars (and the like) toys. But they did have a big selecting of old vintage toys, from all areas, sci-​fi, hot wheels, dolls, comics, kind of massive but needs to be set up better. Some areas are all over the place and not organized. But to be honest, I kind of liked having to hunt around. The set up was almost daring me to hunt and find something cool hidden on a shelf or under another toy.
Now they have this slot car track, and its massive. The first time i went here it was all toys, never had a slot car track that I knew of. Now they’ve put in this big slot car track, so cool. My boy loved it ! they only charged $ 5 to race and loaned him a car. He had a blast. will go back for slot car fun. The people working there were nice and helpful.

I love this store.
Great selection on Comic book goodies.
Great selection of kids collectibles too.
Don’t let the narrow shop exterior fool you it is densely packed with great collectibles.

slot car racing two nights a week!!! Only place in los angeles that I have been able to find. ¹⁄₃₂ scale, fast. People friendly and helpful. Friday night and Wed night racing.

Since I was a boy I wanted to race slot cars but my father had no idea and still doesn t… anyhow I was able to treat my son for his birthday and it was the best bonding time we have ever had… I recommend this for any father

The store is full of glass cabinets with second hand toys in. I presume the cabinets are to protect against theft. I am not sure how a store like this can stay in business.
The saving grace for this place is the giant slot car track at the back of the store. It is huge, got to be 100ft long.

Very nice and helpful owner.
Just bought the ¹⁄₄₃ Scale Elite Series 1960 Ferrari 250gt Berlinetta SWB #22 race car in silver. A gift for a friend that has the full scale version. Yes, that Ferrari.

An alright old style collectible shop where people actually believe their stuff would pay for that mortgage and retirement… which I guess isn’t always the best thing as you probably won’t find something old here that isn’t attached to a kings ransom of a price tag.
The glass displays seem to make up the entire place, which doesn’t help you in that field of them thinking their stuff is far worth more than it actually is. Hint, it’s not that valuable, homies.
The comic book selection here is a hot mess. I mean, it’s all over the place. They assume that their other collectibles are all sorts of valued. Just come in here if you’re killing time and want to see a relic of the old days of collecting nerdy shit.
Let’s just face it. This place has a ton of stuff that isn’t worth nearly anything near the amount they ask for and I wonder how long Big Lou will stay big. You know, I’m expecting a lack of income to slim him down a little, catch my drift?
Bump to 3 stars simply because they have a lot of old star wars stuff that I won’t nearly ever think of buying, but hey, looking isn’t a crime. At least not as much of a crime as their prices are.

cool little spot with tons of vintage and other toy collectible figures. sometimes you can find a steal on some rare stuff, but for the newer stuff… it’s usually overpriced.

Eh, it’s all right.
It looks like an antique mall where each section is rented out to a collector selling his specialty item, although I’m not sure if each display case belongs to other people or if this «Big Lou» owns it all.
Everything is in these glass display cases or in boxes piled on top of them. It’s fairly tight in there as it is and we had to side-​step around kids sitting in aisles organizing their playing cards.
The majority of the cases were Hot Wheels and other kinds of model cars (which were scattered in multiple cases around the shop, leading me to believe these do belong to different people), paint-​chipped action figures, Star Wars, Star Trek and Disney merch, a small selection of Todd McFarlane toys, and other odds and ends.
The one case that had comics inside was a disaster with them just haphazardly thrown in there, bent without bags or boards. Since they were behind glass, you couldn’t touch them, go through them, or try to neatly stack them like I was itching to do (I’m only OCD about comics and it was REALLY painful to look at that pile).
A good quarter of the shop is a dedicated tournament area for kids playing Magic the Gathering and Yu-​Gi-​Oh! with another chunk taken up by a slot car track (good god, I haven’t seen one of those in like 15 or 16 years).
The big guy working there was fairly cool, at least. He came by to ask if we had any questions, while all the screaming kids were arguing over their games.

I am a huge toy collector. (specifically 80s and back wrestling memorabilia). I have been to this place twice. It is a treat for me because I live in northern California. When I visit so-​cal I go here. Lou the proprietor is a great guy. I made a small $ 40.00 purchase the first time I was there. The next time I saw some very rare figures in great condition. It was out of my budget. However I asked him if he would be willing to hang onto them and let me make payments. Surprisingly he said YES! I was ecstatic. I have been making payments and my figures are waiting on me. The selection and atmosphere are amazing!

I tried to sell some of my old toys and collectibles there. They had me leave my stuff there so they could go through it and make me an offer and gave me the runaround for a few days…“We’ll have an offer for you by 5 today” then «Call us back tomorrow» then «Call me in an hour» then «Call me in 3 hours» then «Call me tomorrow.» By the time they made me an offer, which was low, I’d already decided I didn’t want to deal with them anyway. They just gave me a bad vibe.
At least it’s a fun store to go and look at.

When I lived in L.A., this was a regular haunt. The last time I attempted to visit in the Spring, they were closed, as some idiot had driven their car into the front of the store, and the store was in the midst of repair. I was bummed, but what can one say?
They were open on my last outing, and once again, I was swept off to nostalgia.
Essentially, it’s an antique store for toys (and sad to think that the items of my youth are considered «antiques»), but they have plenty of new toys too. It’s always wise to aisle hunt before deciding to purchase something as different vendors will price the same thing differently, and what may be overpriced in one cabinet, may be a total bargain in another.
There’s also a ton of variety here. Don’t like what you see? Give it a week or two and come back. I always saw something that caught my eye, and that’s a problem in itself: I always saw something that caught my eye. «The good old days» can cause you to unholster your wallet like an old west gunslinger, but it’s incredibly fun. Even just to window shop and see what they have available that outing.
From video games to action figures, to comics, book, collectibles, you can find a little bit of everything,
One of my favorite stores in Los Angeles.