I Wonder What Happened to Wonder Burger?

To close out this week (the last few days anyway) of mystery, here's an ad that I found in the 1965 Elyria phone book while researching Dog 'n Suds. The ad is for the Wonder Burger Drive-in.

This ad gets lumped into my 'mystery' theme because I'd never heard of it and can't seem to find out anything about it online. I don't know if it was a regional or national chain, or maybe even a single restaurant.

I did find a website for Wonder Burger, but it's located in Saudi Arabia. (They do deliver, though.) And there are a lot of Wonder Burger photos on flickr if you click here.

But was Elyria's Wonder Burger Drive-in a Mom-and-Pop place? Or a regional chain like Hamburger Station?

I wonder.

A Dog 'n Suds Mystery

It seems to be 'mystery week' at my blog.

Here's an ad that ran in the Lorain Journal on July 1, 1966. It's for a Grand Opening promotion for the Dog 'n Suds on North Ridge Road.

The Grand Opening theme of the 1966 ad is kind of a mystery.  A few years ago, there were several newspaper and online articles that said this particular Dog 'n Suds restaurant opened in 1957 (such as in this Chronicle-Telegram article). Other articles just mentioned that the drive in had been under the current ownership since 1961 or 1962 (such as in this Plain Dealer article).

I did a little research in the Lorain Public Library, and was unable to find any telephone book listing of the Dog 'n Suds on North Ridge Road until 1967, when it appeared in the Elyria phone book for the first time. That seems to coincide with the 1966 Grand Opening ad.

The listing disappeared from the Elyria phone book in the 1971 edition, and then reappeared later. That seems to coincide with one of the two articles that mentioned that the drive-in had gone belly-up under the original owners a few years after it opened, and reopened when Ilene Hampton bought it.

The dates in the articles seem to be ten years off.

It really doesn't matter, I suppose. I'm just glad it's still there. And I plan to visit it as often as I can, (although chili dogs really don't fit in with my new fitness regimen)!

The Oak Point Mystery

Most Lorainites are probably familiar with Oak Point Road west of town. It begins at its intersection with Route 6 (West Erie Avenue) near Lake Erie and heads due south to Amherst where it becomes N. Lake Street. Although its corridor has experienced much growth and development in the last ten years, for a long time it was a lonely road in very poor shape. I still remember its dangerous intersection with Route 2, before the overpass was constructed.

Anyway, I keep running across references to an Oak Point mystery in Lorain history books. No, it is not a scary story like that of Gore Orphanage Road – it's another kind of mystery, a story of what might have been. You can read about it in this interesting article that appeared in the Lorain Journal on June 21, 1955.

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Oak Point 'Mystery' Unsolved


An interesting fact not generally known is that Oak Point, the vacation, boating and fishing resort four miles west of Lorain, once played a role in the rebuilding of Chicago following the Chicago fire.

The story was told by J. J. Meyer, one-time Lorain editor, builder and realtor, in his fine historical summary, "Lorain in Retrospect," prepared originally as an address before the Lorain Real Estate Board.

Clouds of Smoke
The great Chicago fire occurred in the fall of 1871. "Great clouds of smoke," Meyer reported, "hovered over this vicinity, completely obscuring the sun for several days following the fire, a fact fresh in the minds of some now living among us.

"The rehabilitation of the mid-west metropolis stimulated the stone industry at Amherst and created additional demand for Lorain's vessel tonnage.

"The success and volume of this enterprise rested on cheap transportation, which was provided by constructing a railway from the quarries to Oak Point and a stone landing pier, projecting into the lake, from which to transfer stone from tiny cars into vessels Chicago-bound."

Basic Document
In 1926, when Meyer told his story, which was printed in booklet form and remains one of Lorain's basic historical documents, there was still an "iron streak" in the woods north of Amherst as evidence of the railroad.

Meyer recalled that his maternal grandmother used to give vivid descriptions of the fire. She was widowed and resided in the fire-swept district with her youngest son. They were compelled to flee for their lives, losing whatever earthly goods they possessed.

The "Chicago Fire" episode was only one of several in which Oak Point and Beaver Park have figured.

Mystery Center
Shortly after the turn of the century, Oak Point first became the center of a mystery which was the source of prolific rumors and newspaper stories for decades.

In 1905 a party of strangers invaded the community and quietly obtained options on 3,200 acres for the Knox Syndicate, headed by Francis Stewart Knox. Behind the scenes was H. H. Rogers, a capitalist.

Rogers had a "dream" of some gigantic project which was never clearly defined. It was known that it involved a huge harbor at the mouth of Beaver Creek, and a direct railroad connecting the railroad with Norfolk, Va., thus providing shipping facilities between the lakes and the Atlantic ocean.

More than 20 engineers established headquarters in Lorain and surveys were conducted for more than two years, with expenditures of a million dollars. Then Rogers died and the project fell through.

Site Selected
Periodically there were reports that this or some similar project was being promoted again, but nothing materialized.

More recently, within the past few years, concentrated efforts were made to have the Oak Park location selected as the site for a new lake shore state park. It was proposed to call the spot "King Park" after Lorain's Admiral Ernest J. King. However, the state commission working on the park plan preferred other locations.

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Wow, Admiral King was being snubbed back in the 1950's too! Some things never change.

Anyway, it's certainly interesting to consider what might have been out there. Here's a current aerial map (click on it) showing what the area looks like today. You can see part of Old Lake Road making its way down into the marina area on the south side.

Of Dog 'n Suds & Skating

I hadn't made it over to Dog 'n Suds on North Ridge Road yet this year, so I made sure I stopped by there this past weekend. (Photo above.) According to my friendly carhop, the drive-in hadn't been sold (as was the plan last year).

She also told me that on certain nights, the Dog 'n Suds carhops wear skates while they're working, and that they can wear them all the time if they want. She actually preferred the skates, since she could get out to the cars quicker. I told her that roller skating was something I was never good at.

I tried it once in high school, when I was in marching band in the mid-1970's. A buddy and I had arranged to meet two of our comely band-mates out at Skate World on Route 6. Although I had never roller skated before, I was assured that it was easy and besides, those two girls were going to be there!

The 'skate date' played out like a bad episode of Happy Days. I soon discovered that wearing roller skates was like having two little cars strapped to my feet, each eager to take off in a different direction. Needless to say, I spent most of the afternoon on the floor. I haven't been back to Skate World since.

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Getting back to Dog 'n Suds – here's a link to a great website that is a collection of photographs of roadside architecture, taken by the website's owner. As you can see, she visited a lot of Dog 'n Suds, including the one on North Ridge road.

Heilman's Location Then & Now

It was sunny today (for a little while at least) so I went out and grabbed the "now" shot of where Heilman's used to be. It's strange to think that the City Center has been there so long that a whole generation has grown up who never heard of Heilman's.

The "now" shot is a tough one because the West Erie side of the building seems to be in perpetual shade all day long. I know, because I drove by it three times today, hoping that the sun would cooperate. It didn't.

I've gotta confess, I've never liked this building although it always looks well maintained, and the latest improvements done in the last few years makes it look nice. It's... a brick box, and the fact that the License Bureau is in there doesn't endear it to me either. The building really needs a nice restaurant at ground level, facing Route 6.

Heilman's Restaurant

Just to follow up on my blog of a few days ago regarding Heilman's Ranch House, here are a few postcards of the original Heilman's restaurant, which was located at the corner of West Erie Avenue and Broadway.

According to the article by Jack LaVriha that I posted here, the Heilman family got their start in the restaurant business in 1920 when Ross Heilman and Alton, his brother, opened Heilman's Grill in a small building on Broadway near West Erie. The place had formerly been a popular lunchroom known as the Metropole.

Next, Ross Heilman decided to lease the building shown in the postcard above. He opened Heilman's Marine Dining Room on Memorial Day, 1936. Here are two postcard views.

The Heilman family continued to expand their restaurant empire. Heilman's Beachcomber opened in 1948 in Clearwater, Florida and was run by Bob Heilman, one of Ross Heilman's two sons.  Another restaurant bearing the Heilman's name opened in 1958 in Fort Lauderdale and was managed by Ross Heilman's other son, Hubert.

Below is a 1959 Lorain City Directory ad for all three Heilman's restaurants.

Heilman's Ranch House opened in 1961, eventually outlasting the original Heilman's, which closed in 1968. Then the Ranch House fell victim to urban renewal and closed in 1974.

Nevertheless, decades later the mention of both Heilman's restaurants still brings a smile to the face of nostalgic Lorainites, hungry for Lorain's glory days as well as a good meal from one of the Heilman's kitchens.

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Bob Heilman passed away in 2007; here is a link to his obituary in which he is well-remembered for his still-popular Bob Heilman's Beachcomber (shown below in a vintage postcard found on Ebay).  And here is a link to the restaurant's website.

Admiral King Elementary School

I almost forgot to mention to my out-of-town blog readers that an article appeared in the Morning Journal last week announcing that the new elementary school that will replace Irving will be named for Admiral Ernest J. King. You can read the short article online here.

How do I feel about it? Actually, I think it's a good idea, but only if it is handled properly. Otherwise it is just lip service to pacify the people (like me) who were unhappy that the name was abandoned in the first place.

I'm sure the Admiral King historical marker currently at the high school will be relocated to the new school, and maybe even the anchor, but that is not enough. The school system needs to make it a point to properly educate the young students as to who Admiral Ernest J. King was, what he accomplished, and why their school is named after him. There needs to be a well thought out permanent display in the lobby, and maybe even an annual day where he is officially remembered.

The elementary school is to be built on the site of the former Lorain High School, the high school that King attended, and it is only a short walk to his birthplace on Hamilton. So there is ample opportunity to creatively make Ernest J. King a real person that the students can relate to and look up to.

By doing all of this, a sense of pride would be instilled in the young students, and they would learn that it is possible to set a goal and reach it through tenacity and hard work.

The Admiral Ernest J. King Elementary School principal, whoever it is, needs to buy into this line of thinking; no anti-war types need apply! You can't teach kids why Admiral King was important unless you accept the fact that we were at war, and fighting to save the world.

Now, the only problem that remains is: what about the unhappy Irving alumni? Here we go again! (Don't laugh; my mother is a self-proclaimed "Irving snot!")

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To read an interesting history of how the Lorain schools were named, written by Lorain School Board member James Smith, click here. (By the way, this article also contains the original 2004 plan for the upgrading of Lorain's schools, in which Admiral King High School and Masson Elementary were to be only renovated.)

Get your copy of the Black Swamp Trader & Firelands Gazette!

Don't forget to drop by the Vermilion Farm Market on US Route 6 outside Vermilion and pick up your free copy of the spring issue of the Black Swamp Trader & Firelands Gazette. I have an article in there on the history of the Cedar Point Chausee, and how the original 1914 entrance road (shown above) is part of the Sheldon Marsh State Nature Preserve, also on US Route 6 about 2 miles west of Huron.

And if you aren't able to pick up a free copy at the Farm Market or a local antique shop, you can always subscribe! Here's a link to the website.

Last Days of Heilman's Ranch House

Here's a nice article about Heilman's Ranch House that ran in the Lorain Journal on Thursday, March 28, 1974 ( just a few days before the photo that I posted in my last blog entry was published). It's by well-known Journal Staff Writer Jack LaVriha. It gives a nice history of the Ranch House, as well as the original Heilman's that was located at the corner of West Erie Avenue and Broadway (where the City Center is now).

The article is a wistful look at the closing of Heilman's Ranch House due to urban renewal. (Click on it for a readable version.)

Remember the Golden Crescent?

Here's that Golden Cresent logo artwork that I referenced earlier today. It ran every day on the Journal's "Page of Opinion" for years. I'm not sure when the whole concept of an Ohio "Golden Crescent" petered out. Maybe it was dropped in the recession of the early 1980's, when things weren't all that golden anymore in Lorain.

The artwork is kind of interesting, because Lorain is identified with a star, as well as being the only city whose name is in all caps. (If I was in one of the other cities, I'd have been annoyed!) What's nice is that the Journal was proud of its Lorain roots back then and was a cheerleader for the city. Now, it tries to be the morning newspaper for not only Lorain County, but parts of Cuyahoga, Erie and beyond. As a result, it's lost its 'Lorain' flavor, in my opinion.

The artwork is also interesting to me, because it dates back to the days of old-fashioned paste-up, when the various art elements for a newspaper page were literally assembled and glued down onto white art board, ready to be shot with a graphics art camera. Logos that were used a lot, such as the one shown above, might start to get a little bedraggled after a while, and a new copy might be made from second-generation artwork. As a result, the type would start to plug up on the copy of a copy. That's why "Sheffield Lake" looks like it says "Sheffield Lobe."

Incidentally... do you get the impression that the addition of North Ridgeville to the map was an afterthought?

Long-gone West Erie Avenue Businesses

Since I've been blogging about the Washington Park area, I might as well post this photo. It's a little dark (it's from microfilm) but interesting nevertheless to old-time Lorainites, since it shows the long-gone line of buildings and businesses that were immediately east of the park. Click on it so you can get a closer look.

The park seems to have had several names... Washington, Memorial, and now Veteran's Memorial. I've even seen it referred to as Gilmore Park in an online edition of the 1910 History of the Western Reserve.

The photo appeared in the Lorain Journal on April 3, 1974, with the article below. (I added the labels to the photo in Photoshop.)

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One Last Look: These Old Buildings Soon to Fall.

A commanding view of the Crescent Center downtown Lorain urban renewal area is available from the roof of the new, seven-story City Hall, as this photograph shows. In the foreground is West Erie Avenue while Broadway is at the far left of the picture and Memorial Park at the right. The project is bounded on the south by Fourth Street. Most of the buildings on W. Erie Avenue visible here have already been purchased by the city. The Heilman's Ranch House restaurant in the center closed its doors Monday. Other buildings either have already done so or soon will as the city prepares to level the block for sale to developers for rebuilding. Demolition of structures downtown should begin within the next three months. The entire project will take up to four years to complete. (Journal Photo by Chief Photographer Tom Whittington.)

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I've gotta admit, this photo depresses me. I sure wish that Heilman's Ranch House was still there – a western-themed restaurant in downtown Lorain, right on Route 6 sounds like a great idea.

I guess the "Crescent Center" name didn't pan out. I'm not sure if anyone besides me even remembers the old "Golden Crescent" nickname that the Lorain Journal used to identify Lorain and the surrounding communities.

Washington Park Then and Now – from Above!

Here's an interesting way to do a "then and now" – from the air!

The "then" photo is from the Images of America book. (Click on it so you can get a good look.) It shows Lorain circa 1937. Washington Park (now Veteran's Memorial Park) is pretty sparse; the trees are few and thin.

Walter A. Frey Funeral Home (which I blogged about last week) is pretty easy to find in the 1937 photo. It's opposite the park to the north and the Parkside Chapel is immediately to the right of the funeral home. The old Lorain City Hall is to the right of the chapel. If you really know your old-time Lorain, you probably recognize some long-gone buildings.

Is that a miniature golf course on the south side of Fourth Street, a half-block from Broadway? I'm going to have to find out!

I have two "now" photos. The upper photo is a recent screen grab from Google Earth, with my captions added so you can get your bearing. The second "now" photo is a screen grab from MapQuest. (You can tell the MapQuest map is more recent, because the demolished building on West Erie to the west of the City Center is still in the Google Earth photo.)

It's pretty fascinating to see how much the area has changed in more than 70 years. Lorain really changed the street configuration in that area by closing off Reid Avenue at Fifth Street (at that point Reid becomes part of the Meridian Plaza parking lot).

There sure used to be a lot of homes downtown!

Washington Park Then and Now

After blogging a few days ago about the old Civil War statue that used to grace the former Washington Park (now known as Veteran's Park), I decided to grab my camera and head over there this weekend to see what it looks like today.

I still remember riding my bike through here in the early 1970's. I don't remember the Civil War statue still being there (I'm sure it was long gone), but I remember that it was a nice, quaint park with Victorian-style light posts. Since the park was Lorain's original town square, it was a nice slice of history in a town robbed of much of it, thanks to urban renewal.

Flash forward to the early 1980's. 'Improvements' were made to the renamed park so as to accommodate various veterans' ceremonies. Unfortunately, the improvements resulted in paving over much of the park with the addition of a huge fountain and pavilion.

Today, the park has lost a lot of its ambiance. It appears that at least one of the trees in front of the Antlers Hotel are the same. 

I wish that the whole fountain area was torn up and replaced by green space again, with a brand new Civil War statue in the center. As we progress into the 2000's, I am afraid that much of this nation's history, specifically the Civil War, is going to be forgotten and probably rewritten. (My great-great-grandfather fought in the Civil War, so this is a subject about which I'm a little sensitive.)

But that's just my opinion. What do you think?

An Act of Pizza Treason

This weekend we did the unthinkable. We tried another pizza instead of Yala's.

I know it sounds insane. There's an awful lot of transplanted Lorainites in other parts of the country that still pine for a pizza pie from the ovens at 3352 Oberlin Avenue.

So why did we commit this act of pizza treason? No special reason. It's just that every once in a while, it's nice to try something different. 

In this case, the something different was a Selenti's Pizza. (That's their mascot at the left.) They're still at 808 Oberlin Avenue, like they've always been.

Back here, I had mentioned that back in the 1970's, my family would get a Selenti's Pizza instead of Yala's every once in a while. Maybe because my Dad drove right by Selenti's on the way home from work.

We enjoyed our Selenti's pizza this weekend. It's a totally different pizza than Yala's. It still had the same kind of puffy, bready (is that a word?) crust that I remembered from the 1970's. And their cheese was kind of tangy.

The store inside was impressive in that you could tell the owners truly cared about the appearance. And their 'pizza by the slice' gimmick seems like a great idea. Here's a link to the Selenti's Facebook page.

Lorain is truly fortunate to have so many family-owned pizza parlors. While Yala's may still be the pizza king in my book, there's plenty of room for everybody, even the pizza place down at the other end of Oberlin Avenue.

(Gee – now I feel like I've cheated on Rosie's Pizza!)

Civil War Statue in Washington Park Part 2

Here's a small article about Lorain's Civil War statue that appeared in the Lorain Journal dated May 5, 1952. It's a pretty amusing little prank – tame by today's standards!

I was excited just to see the photo of the statue in the newspaper. The statue looks like it was painted to make it more lifelike, and seems to match the appearance in the more recent postcard.

There isn't much information about the Civil War statue online or anywhere for that matter. The Images of America book on Lorain says that the statue was eventually taken down and given to the 103rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry out on Route 6 in Sheffield Lake.

Last summer I paid a visit to the 103rd OVI since I was writing an article about it for the Black Swamp Trader & Firelands Gazette. I asked them about the statue and whether it was on display somewhere on the grounds. Unfortunately, they told me that the statue had been in such poor shape that it was literally falling apart and was eventually scrapped.

Anyway, here's a link to a website on Ohio Civil War monuments that briefly mentions the statue near the bottom. And here's a link to an interesting discussion as to whether there is any significance as to what direction a Civil War statue faces.

Civil War Statue in Washington Park Part 1

Did you know that Lorain used to have a Civil War statue in the park across from Lorain City Hall?

There are a few vintage postcards that show it through the years. A reproduction of a postcard (top) dating from around 1908 appeared in the Images of America book, showing the statue atop an ornate fountain. A more recent postcard (from the 50's or 60's?) shows the same statue atop a simple pedestal (below).

Walter A. Frey Funeral Home Then and Now

I ran across this ad for Walter A. Frey Funeral Home in a 1945 Lorain telephone book. The photo caught my attention, since I drive by the building at 700 West Erie Avenue near Lorain City Hall almost every day. So I figured it was a good candidate for the 'then and now' photo treatment.

Walter A. Frey Funeral Home has been a Lorain business since the early to mid-1940's. A 1942 city directory still included its predecessor, Royce Funeral Home, but by 1945 it had acquired its present well-known and respected name.

Walter A. Frey Sr. passed away on January 27, 2002.

The 1945 phone book indicated that there was a church at 600 West Erie Avenue, between the funeral home and City Hall. But the church, along with the original City Hall, are long gone.

The Lorain County Auditor's website indicates that the building dates back to 1870, making it a true survivor in a downtown that doesn't have a lot of really old buildings, thanks to the 1924 tornado and urban renewal.

I photographed the building a few weeks ago on a sunny Saturday morning. As you can see, there have been a few architectural and landscaping changes, including enclosing the porch. The addition to the west end of the building has brought it literally up against Pete's Repair next door.

Dog 'n Suds is now open, you lucky dog!

They say that every dog has his day. And for Rover, the Dog 'n Suds mascot, that day is today. Because today, the Dog 'n Suds on North Ridge Road opens for the season! I'm not sure what ever happened with the plan to sell the drive-in to one of the employees, but if I find out anything I'll be sure to post it here. I'm just glad that the Lorain County favorite has opened for another season.

Dog 'n Suds was one of my favorite blog subjects last year. I first mentioned it here, and then went on about it for several days, before eating there and posting this. (If you want to read them all, you can always type in Dog 'n Suds in the Search box at the top of this page and then click on the small magnifying glass icon. Then, any and all blog entries from the archives that include those words will be collected on one page for you to read. Of course, that works with any topic you're interested in on this blog, such as Yala's Pizza, Willow Hardware, etc. Try it!)

Anyway, the picture above is of a promotional record album that Dog 'n Suds issued around 1969. As you can see, the company was tinkering with the design of Rover, making him sort of a wacky clown chef instead of a uniformed car hop. (See closeup at left.) 

That sort of makeover shouldn't happen to a dog!

Happy Easter!

Here's wishing all of you a Happy Easter! And don't forget to head down to Lakeview Park with your camera later on!

Here's a 1960 Brady photo; don't know why I didn't look at the camera!

Lakeview Park Easter Basket or Floral Basket?

Here's something I haven't seen before: a vintage linen postcard of the Floral Basket in Lakeview Park. But don't true Lorainites usually refer to it as the Easter basket?

You might be surprised to learn that when the concrete icon was first unveiled in early April, 1941 (not 1937, as is commonly believed) it was referred to as a flower basket.

Here is the article from the Lorain Journal of Thursday, April 3, 1941.

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Flowers to Bloom in Concrete 'Basket' Latest Addition to Lakeview Park

Flowers that bloom in the spring, (tra-la), will bloom in a three and a half ton concrete flower basket in Lakeview park this year.

The huge flower basket, looking for all the world like the concrete bands had been hand-woven, was put into place recently by the city park department at the extreme end of Lakeview park between the lawn bowling rink and West Erie av.

It is the handiwork of National Youth administration workers who spent many weeks completing the basket in the park department garage during the winter, according to Park Superintendent George Crehore.

The basket is 10 feet long, four feet wide and four feet high and has been placed on a pedestal approximately four feet high.

Flowers will be planted in the top and in openings in the sides of the basket, Crehore said. The basket is, or will be surrounded by a pool of water, or "moat," about two feet wide.

Another unusual piece of work which will grace the park drive this year is an ornamental wrought-iron decoration, painted silver, with a light in it which transforms it into something like an old-fashioned lantern.

Actually, the "lantern" is a made-over corner post decoration off the old Erie-av bridge. Three others will be placed in Lorain parks this summer, according to Crehore.

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Strangely enough, the newspaper account did not mention the name of the man who designed the basket and received a patent for his creation: David Shukait.

Rona Proudfoot wrote the hands-down best article about the history of the Easter basket for the Chronicle-Telegram last Easter. It even featured a photo of my mother and sister in front of the basket as part of a montage.

And here is the Easter basket as it looks today, all set for the pilgrimage of people eager for their family photo this Sunday. The new bunny cutout is great!

Easter's Coming and that means it's Faroh's Candies time!

Here's a vintage 1970's Faroh's Candies newspaper ad (click on it for a closer look) that should put you in the Easter mood! If you grew up in Lorain, then you know that it just wasn't Easter without Faroh's candy in your Easter basket.

I stopped in at the downtown Lorain mini-store to get some dark chocolate mallo eggs a few days ago. (Of course my wife and I already taste-tested them to make sure they're okay – and they were great.)

The store wasn't egg-zactly busy when I stopped in, so I hope that things pick up for them as the holiday is only a few days away. The store's future depends upon community support.

I remember when there seemed to be a Faroh's outlet everywhere. Besides the main store on Henderson Drive (see photo at left, courtesy of the Black River Historical Society website), at various times there were stores in the Avon Lake Landings, the Amherst Plaza Shopping Center, and one right below Alex Visci's music studio on Broadway in downtown Lorain. There were outlets in other cities as well.

Here is a link to the current website.

So stop in at the Faroh's store at 657 Broadway for a taste of old time Lorain.