When you think of a HobbyTown store, The Backrooms may not be the first thing that comes to mind. You might think of Remote Control (RC) cars, Gundam models or Lego. But one particular HobbyTown store has a very special connection to The Backrooms.
It was 2002 and Robert (Bob) Mazza had purchased an old building that had been home to a furniture store in Oshkosh, Wisconsin to move his HobbyTown business to. He had big dreams for it to be a place for RC car enthusiasts in the area to connect and race. The building however needed a lot of work however — there was water damage for one thing, and overall, the layout was not suitable for the racetracks that Bob had wanted to build. But the RC community got behind him, and with their help, Bob’s dream came true with the store and an area for racing called “Revolution Raceway” was opened in 2004.
But before the renovations started, Bob’s friend Bill — an upstanding member of the RC car community, decided to document the renovations, taking photos of before, during and after the project — a memory for Bob to look back on in years to come.
A blog was also posted on the HobbyTown website which documented the process and used some of the photos that Bill had taken.
Amongst these photos was a photo of a large yellow segmented room, the carpet looked damp, the wallpaper old and musty, and fluorescent lights glared overhead.
Sound familiar?
That very photo was the photo that would go on to not only start the Backrooms legend in 2019, but become the most iconic liminal space photo in the world.
End of an Era
Fast forward 21 years and Bob has now made the difficult decision to retire and sell his beloved business to another hobby store owner John, who has a hobby store in Hartford, Wisconsin.
HobbyTown Oshkosh was only discovered to be the location of the original Backrooms photo in May 2024 — when a group of dedicated internet sleuths discovered an old blog about the renovations after years of looking for the photo’s location. But during that short time, the connection has been embraced by both Backrooms fans and Bob himself. Although the location is no longer anything like it was in the photo (there is a large indoor RC track there now), many fans have made the pilgrimage to the location, just to see where it all began. And Bob has welcomed these fans and embraced the unusual history of his building.
A Building Needing Repairs
Towards the end of last year, a Gofundme page was set up to raise funds for much needed repairs to the beautiful old building — in particular the roof which was feared may not last another harsh winter. Bob was hoping that once again a community could come together to help — not just to those in the RC community, but he also reached out to the Backrooms fanbase. He had been quoted $120,000 USD initially for the repairs (later being given a lower quote of $78,000), an amount most small business owners would not be able to afford.
He also put together a limited number of plaques that contained a small sample of wallpaper and/or carpet that he still had remaining from the building before the repairs and sold these at the store and on eBay. The proceeds of these went completely towards the building fund and gave many Backrooms fans a chance to actually own a real piece of Backrooms history (including myself — I never thought I would be able to own such an amazing thing).
Just before announcing his retirement, Bob closed the Gofundme page. A total of $25,402 USD was raised through the page, plus the proceeds of the sale of the plaques and any other donations. Although this unfortunately was less than the required amount needed, Bob had already started on the repairs before he sold the building, with the funds raised going towards these — contracting a roofing company $37,000 to start on the repairs. The remainder of the repairs will be funded by the new owner John, who will also be doing some remodeling of the building as well including the East Room (which is actually the location of the Backrooms photo).
Moving Forward
The great news is that the 100-year-old building at 807 Oregon Street, Oshkosh is not going anywhere, nor will it be at risk of falling down. The repairs will ensure that it endures the cold Wisconsin winters for many years to come. And the new owner John, will continue on the hobby business — just under a new name, “John’s Hobbies”. It will be the same staff, the same products, the same top-notch customer service that customers and the RC community knew and loved. The Revolution Raceway side of the business will also still remain (keeping the same name), allowing a place for the community to continue to race their RC cars. Bob’s legacy in the community will live on in many ways.
And for us Backrooms fans, we can be happy that an important part of Backrooms history will remain for many years to come. We will always have a special place in our hearts for Bob and the role he played with (indirectly) bringing The Backrooms into being.
Thank you Robert Mazza for all you have done, may you enjoy your retirement!
The store is currently closed while the transition from HobbyTown to John’s Hobbies takes place. It will open again shortly.
Special thanks to Robert Mazza for his support with our article.
Leave a Reply