Someone else (Nino Helman? Michael Allison?) will have to fill in the dates but as far as I know... Tommy moved from Spanish Harlem to a second Manhattan location at some point. He later moved the shop to the town of Haverstraw in Rockland County, north of Manhattan on the western side of the Hudson. Tommy was sick +/- 10 years ago when his son and daughter moved the shop to it's final location, a bit farther north in the town of Stony Point. His daughter Alice kept a bike shop open called "Thomas Avenia Bicycles" until about two years ago, though from what I hear it was hardly a shell of what her dad had operated. There were still a number of Frejus bikes in the shop, mostly family bikes that she was either not keen on selling or wanted WAY more than market rate for. I visted her a number of times at this location, mostly to hear the stories and see some the old photos and things that she kept around out of view. We became quite friendly and she ultimately let me scour throughevery nook and cranny I could find in the shop...I most certainly came across some neat stuff, though the shop had been thoroughly picked over many times before I had ever discovered it. About 4 or 5 years ago, I brought a trunk load of stuff from the shop and sold it at the T-Town swap for her. Rumor has it that while Tommy was sick (just before he passed), the shop was left in the care of his youngest son, who was selling off parts by the box load. "Collector types" where filling milk crates with old Campy gruppos and the kid was taking $50 for the contents of each box. Accidentally stumbling upon her shop lead to my discovery and subsequent fascination with the Frejus marque...launching my own obsessive research into the brand and attempts to understand the mistique that it still has in NYC among certain cycling communities. In many ways, it was a great fuel for my interest in the world of classic bikes. So even though I never got to meet him, I have to thank Tommy for showing me Frejus, for inspiring me to look a little more carefully and for understanding New York's long love of the Italian track bike on city streets. Which reminds me: anybody have a beat-up 56cm Frejus track bike they'd like to see returned to it's (sort of) natural habitat?
Matthew Bowne Brooklyn, New York
> Date: Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:32:09 -0700
> From: andy@strawberrybicycle.com
> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> Subject: [CR] Thomas Avenia Bicycles
>
> Howdy,
> Anybody know what happened to the Frejus importer in NYC Thomas Avenia?
> I visited his shop in 1965 when I was on holiday with my parents after
> high school graduation as I purchased a Frejus bike from Frans Pauwels
> Kisslers Bike Shop in Portland. Very impressive little hole in the wall
> shop with literally hundreds of beautiful Frejus frames hanging from the
> ceiling.
> Cheers,
> Andy Newlands
> Strawberry Bicycle
> Portland, Oregon USA
> http://www.strawberrybicycle.com