While the collection  has garnered much discussion by all those who have stopped at Dave’s Place over the years, the local chatter was magnified last week when “On the Road” host Jason Davis stopped by Dave’s Place to get a first-hand look at the collection.

To help bring his extensive collection to life, Nichtern enlisted the help of a friend, Bobby Vee, to share stories with both Davis, and all those who stopped by the coffee shop Friday morning.

“He thought it would be fun,” said Nichtern of Vee coming to Starbuck. However, this wasn’t the first time the rock legend was in Starbuck. In 1989 Vee performed a concert in Starbuck as part of Heritage Days, a concert which both Vee and Nichtern said began a friendship between the two fully entrenched in the 1950’- 1960’s Rock N’ Roll life.

Over the years the two have exchanged cards, phone calls, photos, and when Vee has performed in the area, he has taken time to stop by the store to catch up on lost time. Nichtern said the two share the common bond of Rock ‘N Roll, one by living the life of a rockstar and the other by collecting and commemorating the rock legends he idolizes.

“This is his life,” said Vee of Nichtern’s extensive and growing collection.

“It combines a couple of hobbies for me, one is photography and the biggest is collecting ‘50s and ‘60s memorabilia,” said Nichtern.

As the collection continues to grow, Vee said he is thankful Nichtern is sharing his collection with the public. Pointing to a number of the rare items on display, Vee said the collection is much more than just a collection of memorabilia.

“It really does qualify itself as a museum,” said Vee. “It’s the real deal. It’s not just a retro facade.”

Though most of the items were either Nichtern’s from his youth or items he located on one of the many collector Web sites, a portion of the collection was donated by people in the community who knew of Nichtern’s love of collecting the memorabilia, and their desire to clean up wall space at home.
“People say I don’t want this and you collect it so you can have it,” he said.

With so many items and a limited amount of wall space, some items have been put away and stored in the back of the store. Since learning of the show coming to Starbuck, Nichtern said he spent many sleep deprived nights preparing the store for the “On the Road” show. He said on average he spent two or three days over the past three weeks preparing the store and condensing his movie collection to get more wall space available for his collection.

“I was planning on getting more of my collection out here, this is just my excuse to do it,” he said.

In addition to Vee and his son’s, Nichtern invited a few Minnewaska Area High School students who joined in the celebration last Friday. The group performed a dance dressed in late 1950’s attire to one of Vee’s hit songs “Rubber Ball.”

Though no air date has been scheduled for the “On the Road” episode featuring Dave’s Place, Nichtern said he was told the episode is tentatively scheduled to air sometime in March.

On Friday morning Jason Davis interviewed Bobby Vee and his sons, Jeff (at left), and Tommy (second from the right) at Dave’s Doo Wop Coffee Shop for an episode of Davis’ show, “On the Road With Jason Davis.” Currently the episode is being planned for a March airdate.
Photo by Chad Koenen