Avon Lake Teens Speak Out – June 1966

Did you have a favorite place to hang out with your friends when you were a teenager?

I had to think about this for a minute. Before we were of the drinking age, my high school pals and I seemed to drive around a lot, just to get away from home and out from under the watchful eyes of our parents. Like many young adults, we went down to Lakeview Park and hung out. If we were hungry, we would hit the Burger King on Route 58 (which is still there) or the Hardees on Oberlin Avenue.

It was during one of those visits to Hardees that we were briefly bullied by some older kids that were there; just some minor menacing and implied violence – but nothing really happened. Which reminds me that in Lorain, each of the public schools had their 'own' hangout. The McDonald's on West Erie was under Lorain High's domain; Admiral King had the Burger King. I'm not sure where the Southview kids hung out. But you stayed on your own turf.

When we were old enough to drink (3.2 beer) in our senior year, we usually went to DiSimones in the same shopping strip as Willow Hardware. Sometimes we went to Tommy's Rec in Amherst. One time for laughs we went into Super's Tavern (just a short walk from DiSimones), which was a much older crowd of hard drinkers. We didn't fit in at all and had to skedaddle.

Anyway, this is all leading up to an interesting article about Avon Lake teens which ran in the June 1, 1966 edition of the Journal. Staff Writer Eleanor Gottschalk interviewed a nice group of Avon Lake High School students to find out "what made them tick." It's a great story in which the kids share their thoughts about their teachers, their opinions about their city, and their desire for a place to "hang out."

Castle-on-the-Lake Open House – June 1962

I've written many times about how Lorain could seem like a magical place to a kid growing up there in the 1960s. 

It seems like no matter where I looked from the vantage point of the back seat of the family car, something unusual and exciting was revealed: a giant Easter basket; a huge V in a park; a color-changing fountain; a massive drawbridge; animated neon signs; a steam locomotive in a park (as well as army artillery and a tank)... and a castle, right on the lake only a few miles from our house.

The Castle-on-the-Lake (as it was known for many years) really was a special place, and having a dinner there or an important event was a memorable occasion. I had my rehearsal dinner there. 

The place has had its ups and downs over the decades, and I hope that its current incarnation as Papasitos and Beer Mexican Grill is doing well.

Back in June 1962, the Castle-on-the-Lake had just undergone a remodeling, and was about to unveil its new look with an open house. It's all explained in the article by Jack LaVriha below, which appeared in the Journal on June 13, 1962.

So what was the biggest change? As noted in the article, "A new addition is on the east side of the building, which gives the Castle more of a "castle" look from an architectural standpoint. The addition provides about 3,200 square feet more of space.

"A large replica of a knight in gold armor adorns the front of the new addition. It is illuminated at night."

Lorain Journal Front Page – June 1, 1926

Have you ever heard of W. T. Van Orman?

I hadn't – until I read the front page of the Lorain Journal from one hundred years ago today – June 1, 1926.

Van Orman – who was born in Lorain in 1894 and graduated from Lorain High – had just won the 1926 Gordon Bennett international balloon race. In the headline article below, he is acknowledged as "America's premier balloonist."

You can read more about his life, his work at Goodyear, his achievements and his inventions here.

Elsewhere on the front page, several articles chronicled the accidents and tragedies that had occurred during the Memorial Day holiday, with stories about: multiple crashes of street cars, buses and autos; a young girl who plunged thirty feet to the ground from a roller coaster at Crystal Beach in Vermilion; a young man who was struck by lightning in a church and died; a Lorain six-year-old who had been missing for several days; and nineteen persons arrested for various charges, including intoxication.

Another story told of five surviving Civil War veterans (the war had ended more than sixty years earlier) and how they participated in Memorial Day ceremonies. The article noted, "a bronze tablet cast from the Battleship Maine, was presented to the city by the Spanish War Veterans." The tablet was installed in the City Hall lawn, but was moved to Washington Park in 1929. I wrote about that tablet here and here.

On the lighter side, the captain of the "Walter B." fish tug boat caught a forty-two inch long eel. Yuck! According to the story, "The eel will be cut up and sold, like any other fish."

Lorain Journal Outdoor Recreation Page – May 26, 1956

 

For a while back in the 1950s, Lorain considered itself part of Vacationland – that unique tourist area bordering Lake Erie and stretching from Vermilion to Port Clinton and north to Put-in-Bay. Lorain even hosted the "Miss Vacationland" beauty contest a few times. But despite its claim, the city really wasn't officially part of it.

Why? Because Lorain was mostly known for its industrial heritage: US Steel, Thew Shovel, American Ship Building, Lorain Products, American Crucible, and the Stove Works, among others.

But looking at the outdoor recreation and entertainment page below from the May 26, 1956 Lorain Journal, it's easy to see why the people in charge of marketing Lorain tourism felt it should be grouped with the other vacation spots. Back then, the city embraced its nautical heritage, with plenty of opportunities for boating and fishing, and the businesses to support them.

And once you lured those fishermen and boaters here, they had to eat – and there were plenty of restaurants and nightclubs for that.

Throw in some land entertainment, such as golf, and the Lorain area really was a place where you wouldn't mind spending your vacation.

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The ad listing on the page are like a Who's Who of businesses profiled on this blog: The Pueblo; Kathe Kreuzer's; Yeager's Acres; Vian's; Lezber Floors; Holiday Inn Restaurant; Airport Tavern; Antlers Hotel; Crystal Beach.

Jaycees Road-E-O – May 1956

Driving in a safe, courteous manner with respect for other drivers often seems to be a lost art these days.

We've all seen it – young drivers driving at excessive speeds, recklessly passing against the yellow line and risking a head-on collision; senior drivers driving way too slowly, ten or fifteen miles per hour below the speed limit, totally oblivious to other cars on the road; and most common these days, distracted drivers paying more attention to their phones than other cars.

Of course it's always the other drivers who do this. Not us.

Anyway, it's important to teach young drivers good habits as well as the ability to safely operate their vehicle. And back in the 1950s, the Lorain Jaycees helped to reinforce those principles by sponsoring the annual Teen-Age Road-E-O.

Here's the ad with the announcement from the May 15, 1956 Lorain Journal.

It's all explained in this article that ran in the same edition of the paper.

As the article notes,"All licensed teen-aged drivers who have never been found guilty on a driving offense are eligible to enter.

"Contests, both written and driving, will be given.

"The driving test will consist of maneuvering a car through a course set up on the parking lot."

The actual Road-E-O would be held at the Homewood Shopping Center. It was sponsored by the Lorain Jaycees, Sohio gas stations and cooperating Lorain automobile dealers, who would supply the cars.

Some nice cash prizes were to be given to the winners, along with the opportunity to compete in the Ohio Road-E-O finals.

Who were the Lorain Road-E-O winners? This article from May 28, 1956 revealed their names.

Harold Donerkeil and Ina Sorenson were the winners entitled to continue to the state finals, as "regulations dictate that one boy and one girl can qualify for further competition." But Jess A. Vargo was the actual second place winner behind Donerkeil.

So what was the driving portion of the competition like?

"The test consisted of driving a straight line course, a serpentine course, a curved course and parking. Cars had to be driven through two of the courses both forward and backward."

A nifty idea from 1956 that deserves to be revived today.

All City Instrumental Music Festival – May 1956

I couldn't help feeling a little nostalgic when I saw this full page of photos of young Lorain musicians rehearsing for the upcoming annual all-city instrumental music festival. The program included the all-city junior high school orchestra, the all-city junior high school band, and the all-city elementary orchestra. Also on the program was the Lorain High School Symphony Orchestra. The page of photos ran in the May 19, 1956 Lorain Journal.

Fourteen years later, the Instrumental Music Festival was still going strong and still held in May. I remember it well, as I was in fifth grade at Masson Elementary and consequently a trumpeter in the all-city elementary orchestra. It was quite a sound with all those young musicians sawing away on their violins, violas, etc. 

Here's the full program (which I saved all these years) for the performance on May 6, 1970.

It's hard to believe that Lorain had 17 elementary schools and 5 junior highs at that time. (Insert Alan Hopewell's comments about the superiority of Hawthorne here.)

Looking at the program now, the one that leaps out at me is "I Can't Do the Sum" from Victor Herbert's Babes in Toyland. I had been wondering when and where I played it for the last fifty years and now I know.

For you Annette Funicello fans, here's her version of it.

And here are the music programs for the 1971 festival (when I was in sixth grade) and the 1972 festival (when I was in seventh grade at Masson Junior High).

I don't remember much about the 1971 program, except for "Arapahoe Warriors." I recall the selections on the 1972 bill much better, including "Great Gate of Kiev," "El Condor Pasa" and "For All We Know." You have to admit that the music selections were ambitious, with a nice mix of classical music and pop tunes.

What was interesting about being in the all-city elementary and junior high orchestras was that we ran into many of our fellow young musicians at Admiral King a few years later.

From what I can tell, the curtain came down for good on the annual all-city instrumental festival after 1975.

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I've had this in my files for a while so it's a good time to post it. It's a great "Bill Scrivo's People" featuring Maxine Price, one of the conductors of the all-city elementary orchestra. I remember thinking she was pretty and Bill Scrivo agreed. The interview ran in the Journal on August 22, 1971.

The House at Cooper Foster and South Broadway

Looking south on South Broadway;
Cooper Foster Park is left to right in the foreground

The intersection of Cooper Foster Park Road and South Broadway will look a little different to you on your next visit, if you haven't been through there recently.

Oh, Broadway Assembly is still there; and so is Flowerama (in the former gas station) on the southwest corner. But the tiny white house on the northwest corner has been demolished, as the large property it sat on for decades is finally being redeveloped. That's it in the photo above.

Here's a closer look at what it looked like. If you were sitting at the traffic light, it was easy to overlook with the monstrous spruce (?) trees crowding it.

I've tried to find out about the house with no success. The Lorain County Auditor website – which used to be so user-friendly and useful to researchers  – is pretty worthless, at least to me. (I defy anyone to use its mapping feature with any success.) But my 1964 Lorain City Directory has the house's address as 5490 Broadway with John and Sara Galter retired and living there.  I'm guessing it didn't take long to mow the front lawn.

Here are a couple 'then and now' treatments.

Anyway, seeing that the house has finally succumbed to progress made me feel a little wistful. But least apparently something is going to be built on that corner, unlike countless other properties in Lorain where a building is torn down and replaced with: nothing.