Beyond the valley of the strollers
Independent toy shops are packed with treats for children of every age.

By Miriam Wolf

THIS YEAR WILL be different, we tell ourselves. We'll simplify. Really. We won't send holiday cards. We'll cut the New Year's Eve invitation list from 100 to 10. And we'll unplug from consumer culture and make all the gifts. – But ... but ... won't somebody think of the children! – Relax. We here at the Bay Guardian already have. We've combed the Bay Area for independent toy stores and come up with places where you can find the goods to fill everyone's stocking. And the best part of shopping at locally owned toy stores? You'll completely avoid the suicidal despair engendered by the sound of Geoffrey the Giraffe singing, "I want to be a Toys 'R' Us kid" over and over as you frantically grab toys off the shelf, desperate to get out of the store before your headache swells into a full-blown migraine.

If you had to name just one neighborhood in San Francisco where you might find a great toy store, it would probably be "Stroller Valley," and indeed, 24th Street and its environs abound with places to buy toys, from the pre-loved toys at Peek-a-Boutique to the hand-crafted fair-trade ones at the Global Exchange store. But the king of the neighborhood, toywise, has to be the Ark (3845 24th St., S.F. 415-821-1257). Tiny Ark is a chaos of great playthings, stacked from floor to ceiling. Lots of dark wood and warm lighting make it an especially cozy place to shop. You'll find lots of crafty kits here, like soap makers ($12.50), several different bead sets, from chunky ones for little fingers to tiny ones for bigger kids ("Hey, turn on the light while you do that or you'll wreck your eyes!"), and even a bunch of supercool charms to collect for your bracelet.

Puzzles abound at the Ark. Huge floor puzzles with big pieces ($10), just great for preschoolers, are here, as are 1,000-piecers for the entire family to drive themselves insane with. The Ark also has a wide selection of Melissa and Doug wooden puzzles for toddlers, including the awesome "Latches Box" ($29), which your kid can use to train her- or himself to circumvent all your childproofing. For more family fun, the Ark has plenty of board and even card games (hey! I thought we'd ditched Old Maid back when we were P.C.-ifying things) including a line of simple, bright German card and dice games for the pre-reading set.

Bins hold impulse-purchase items and tiny figures – flies, babies, pigs, horses, windups – that make great stocking stuffers or goody bag fodder.

Out near the setting sun, West Portal is another good family-friendly neighborhood with a toy store to be proud of. Ambassador Toys (186 West Portal, S.F. 415-759-TOYS) is a San Francisco hot spot for collectibles like Madame Alexander dolls, Steif bears and other stuffed animals, Breyer ponies (it's never too soon to deflect your daughters' interest from boys to horses), and incredibly detailed Carnegie Collection dinosaur replicas.

Ambassador also has a great selection of creativity-sparking animal hand puppets from Folkmanis (including the 48-inch-long Asian-style red dragon, $65) and storybook-character hand puppets from Petra Toys, perfect for putting on shows for the whole neighborhood. The more Home Depot-inclined will love a big-toy tool set, complete with battery-operated power drill, goggles, and toy cell phone (?!) ($22).

A "space" alcove in the back of Ambassador holds a black-lit universe of glow-in-the-dark stuff and cool science toys for older kids, including spy kits for making invisible-to-everyone-but-the-recipient secret notes ($15.99) and a neato spy pen with a flashlight, scope, and motion alarm ($15.99).

A toy hot spot in the Sunset is Tutti Frutti Cards, Gifts, and Fun Stuff (718 Irving, S.F. 415-661-8504), sister store to the Richmond District's Toy Boat ice-cream shop. Both trade heavily on boomer and Gen X nostalgia – not that there's anything wrong with that – making them great places to shop for kids and slackery adults alike. For instance, would both your eight-year-old nephew and your 30-year-old roommate be thrilled with a genuine Magic Eight Ball? Signs point to yes. Sweet tooths who also love handwork will appreciate the make-your-own-candy-necklace kit ($15.95). Will many candy beads be eaten before they have a chance to be strung? As I see it, yes.

Stay flexible with Tutti Frutti's bendable-figure sets. One box set has Popeye, Olive Oyl, Wimpy, Brutus, and even Swee' Pea, while the other houses Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, Maggie, and Santa's Little Helper (both $21.95). In fact, Tutti Frutti has one of the best overall collections of Simpson's gear in town.

Looking for holiday dinner supplies? Tutti Frutti can help there, too, with authentic whoopee cushions for Aunt Mabel's chair ($4.95) and a telescoping extendable fork for stealing bites of your sister's pumpkin pie from all the way across the table ($8.95).

And then there are serious toys. At Clement Street's Heroes Club (840 Clement, S.F. 415-387-4552), they aren't fooling around. The action figures at this monument to movie culture are detailed, precise, gorgeous – and definitely not cheap. But who wouldn't pony up $160 to $200 for one of Heroes Club's amazing Bruce Lee figures? These 12-inch-high models of the ultimate martial artist are dressed in perfect copies of clothes Lee actually wore, including supermod patchwork plaid jackets, lime green shirts, bright red track suits, and other groovy '70s wear.

Heroes Club is also the place for Godzilla figures of every size and price range and era, from the old-school 1954 terrorizer to the rubbery-looking 1974 Godzilla to the scary robo-Godzilla from Mecha Godzilla. There are so many toys jammed into this tiny store, you'll hardly know where to look. Anime characters, Hollywood celebrities – everyone is here, from vintage Mickey Mouse ($68) to thoroughly modern Neo ($238). For stocking stuffers, check out the trays of tiny food or miniature chests of green tea ($5 to $8) or the tiny figures that start as low as $2.

If you're looking for gifts that will delight kids who love to create things, check out the toys at Market Street's Flax Art and Design (1699 Market, S.F. 415-552-2355). Arts and crafts materials abound here. There are kits for kids to design their own soccer balls ($21), make their own soap (complete with rubbery, gooey eyeballs imbedded in it) ($17.95), make their own chocolate with a melt-and-mold candy machine ($23.50), or make their own Colorforms ($13.75).

Of course, art supplies are plentiful here, including crayons, marker sets, watercolors, and lots of different types of modeling compound. Kids who are seriously into clay will appreciate the pedal-driven children's pottery wheel ($32).

This holiday season don't forget about reduce, reuse, and recycle. One of our favorite places to buy toys is the Mission District's Thrift Town (2101 Mission, S.F. 415-861-1132). We've found tons of great kids books there, as well as games (with all their pieces!), action figures whose movies have moved along but still make fine play fodder, and other tchotchkes, most for lots less than $5. Over in Bernal Heights, the newish Chloe's Closet (451A Cortland, S.F. 415-642-3300) features gently used clothes, toys, videos, and baby gear. It's choosy about its selections, meaning that toys you buy there will be in great condition – though a bit more expensive than stuff at Thrift Town or your local Goodwill.

But if you're truly passionate about toys, you'll want to take a little trip to San Mateo. There you'll find Talbot's Toyland (445 South B Street, San Mateo. 650-342-0126), a Peninsula institution since 1953. It's special because instead of just one toy store, Talbot's is really four stores under one roof.

The first section is a super-well-rounded toy store. It features classic-nostalgia toys like jacks sets (from 79¢), Visible Man and Visible Woman models ($17.98), Gumby and Pokey bendies ($4.95), a great collection of oversize stuffed animals, and hundreds of puzzles (including minipuzzles for only a buck). If you're a collector of sets like Lego, Playmobil, or Brio trains, get thee to Talbot's, which has huge selections of all these, as well as Brio-compatible single track pieces (almost impossible to find elsewhere) for less than $2.

Talbot's also carries up-to-the minute toys, like My Little Sandbox, a kind of Zen garden for kids. The Dinoland set comes with sand, dinosaurs and dino bones to bury, a tiny rake and shovel, and a volcano. The construction set features a die-cast dump truck and bulldozer, plus blocks, cones, and workers (both $24.98). Even more modern is the Play-Doh George Foreman Grill with which kids can mold steaks and burgers, then grill them accompanied by realistic sizzling sounds ($12.99).

Step next door and you'll find Talbot's hobby department, with a deep, deep selection of model trains (Lionel, Bachman, Kittworks, and more), slot cars, radio-controlled cars, model kits and accessories, and other collectibles.

The baby department has tons of toys for the very youngest folks, as well as car seats, baby furniture, layettes, and more. The icing on the cake? Talbot's also has an award-winning bicycle shop.

Miriam Wolf writes the Bay Guardian's Meatless column and is a freelance writer who lives in San Francisco.