My dad took the vacuum tubes to be tested in one of those at Graham Electronics in the basement of Glendale Shopping Center. Behind the counter at Graham were racks containing bins with every type of vacuum tube.
That memory was the inspiration for my post.
My older brother lived at Graham Electronics, buying whatever he needed that could not be cannibalized from dad’s old electronic junk in the basement. He built radios from scratch at age 14, and built a music synthesizer from component parts when he was 21.
That was back in the day TV repairmen made house calls. A do-it-yourselfer could save a few bucks by testing his own tubes and replacing the culprit himself.
Edward R. Murrow reports Stalin’s speech to the Red Army - April 27, 1945
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxXiHUoKwUg#t=21