Subject: PEACE ACTIVIST'S LANDMARK BUSINESS "THE BLACK HOLE" IS CLOSING
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE --SEPTEMBER 5, 2012LANDMARK BUSINESS “THE BLACK HOLE” IS CLOSING
Los Alamos, NM --Barbara Grothus, President of Los Alamos Sales Company, a unique salvage store affectionately dubbed “The Black Hole,” has announced that the business will close. The business, established in 1953, has operated at 4015 Arkansas Avenue in Los Alamos since the 1970s. Edward Grothus, the company’s founder and internationally known anti-nuclear activist, died in 2009. His wife Margaret Grothus died in March of this year.
A public liquidation sale of the contents of the buildings, parking lot, and adjoining property will be held on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, September 21-23, from 10 AM to 5 PM each day. Items for sale include Cold War relics, equipment and supplies from the Manhattan Project and the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, now known as the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The company web site at www.blackholesurplus.com has an extensive list of items for sale. The family intends to sell the property in the near future and hopes to see it redeveloped for local needs.
“The end of the Black Hole is noteworthy, not just for the family, but for the community. It has been a popular attraction for tourists, tinkerers, artists, film crews and scavengers for all these years, but it is time for us to focus on our own lives and families,” said Barbara Grothus, who has been the company president since her father’s death. “We are sad of course, but we look forward to the change this will bring.”
Before his death, Ed Grothus conceived and orchestrated the production of two 40-ton granite obelisks to memorialize the world-changing development of the atomic bomb at Los Alamos. The family will continue to work towards their installation at some future time. “My father recognized that the use of the bomb changed the course of human history, and we are dedicated to finding a proper site for their display,” Barbara Grothus said.