West Coast Parkers

[Researcher]

Back in the day, many of the Hollywood luminaries were buying fine doubles to go with their Duesenbergs -- Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, Carol Lombard, Joan Bennett, Leland Hayward, Andy Devine, Robert Stack, etc. Edwin Hedderly the editor of Western Field, and later a member of the California Game Commisssion had a number of long barrel Parker Bros. smallbores. Then there were all those long barrel 20-gauge Parker Bros. going to members of those Central Valley duck clubs, most famous being the Widgeon Duck Club. In the A.H. Fox records we see a lot of guns going to Wm. H. Hoegee Co., Inc. Los Angles and B.H. Dyas, in Hollywood. C.T. "Buck" Buckman the great California Quail hunter used a number of Parkers including the legendary 28-gauge A1-Special two barrel set. There were some very nice doubles at Kerr's Sport Shop in Beverly Hills when I checked it out as a young Navy E3 in 1969, including a long barrel Ithaca NID No. 7E 20-gauge. A few years later, when I was shooting NSSA registered skeet at Winchester West at Long Beach, a gentleman parked next to me and in the trunk of his Buick Electra 225, were four leg-of-mutton cases with his 12-, 20-, 28-gauge and .410-bore Winchester Model 21 Skeet Guns.

I think California got its share of doubles. The California Side-by-Side Society is very active and hosts some great events. I attended one in 2014 --