Brady's Bunch of Lorain County Nostalgia

What used to be in that building?

2012-02-01T03:39:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I know. It's no mystery that Forest City Auto Parts used to be in this building at 1803 Broadway. But what was in there before that?

I had a hunch that there would be an interesting variety of businesses located there through the years. But I was wrong. Since the very beginning, the building was associated with the automobile business.

The earliest listing for 1803 Broadway was in the 1926 Lorain City Directory. The Colgan Motor Sales Company was at that address.

The company distributed Studebakers. (You can see in the above photo where the Studebaker logo would have been mounted, right under the brick arch.) By 1929, the Erskine (a brand produced by Studebaker) was added. But by 1933, however, it was Studebakers and Packards.

1933 City Directory Ad

Colgan Motor Sales remained there all through the 1930's, even sharing the address with the Lorain Barbers Union Local No. 268 in the 1937 book.

By 1940, the company was selling Studebakers, Cadillacs and the LaSalle brand.

Strangely, the company disappeared in the 1942 book – and was replaced at that address by Atkinson & Williams automotive dealers. But Colgan was back in the 1945 book when Atkinson & Williams moved to 1735 Broadway.

Colgan Motor Sales remained at the 1803 address until 1959 – when it was replaced by another dealer, Denton Cadillac. But Denton wasn't in there very long; it was gone by 1961, when the building went vacant.

In 1964, however, the city directory listed Hageman Auto Parts at the 1803 Broadway address and they would remain there for a while.

Here's their Lorain phone book ad from 1968, featuring the long-necked, bespectacled cartoon mascot that we usually associate with Forest City Auto Parts.

1968 Lorain Phone Book ad

In the 1973 city directory, the listing did indeed change to Forest City Auto Parts. Here's their phone book ad from 1974.

1974 Lorain Phone Book ad

Forest City Auto parts remained at that address until around 2002, when the listing disappeared from the directory. I don't know much about the Forest City chain of stores, except that there used to be locations in Cleveland. It sure looks like in the beginning, there was a parent company that had all these individual local stores with their own names but using the same mascot and ad layouts; then, at some point, the stores were all rebranded under the Forest City name.

Sheffield Lake's Pizza Hut

2012-01-31T03:39:00.000-08:00

Here's an article that appeared in the Sept. 11, 1968 Lorain Journal. (Click on it so you can read it.) It is the announcement that Sheffield Lake (my current home) was going to be the home of a proposed Pizza Hut.

No less than the president of Pizza Hut himself was to make the pitch to the city planning commission. The article also mentions a new Lawson's store being constructed next door to the proposed Pizza Hut (to apparently replace one that was smaller and a little further east down Lake Road in Sheffield Lake).

1969 Lorain phone book ad

Although I've mentioned countless times how I grew up on Yala's Pizza, I still went to Pizza Hut in my high school days. I liked the Sheffield Lake one, since the drive out there was good for killing a little time on a date (although you had to be careful not to go over the speed limit by Shoreway Shopping Center).

I was still going to the Sheffield Lake restaurant in the mid-1980's, because I really liked the Priazzo, and it was nice to be able to sit down and enjoy it. I was bummed when it disappeared from the menu. A lot of other people were too, judging by the comments on various websites.

Eventually the Sheffield Lake restaurant became a carry-out only store, and finally it was replaced by a new Pizza Hut and Wing Street that opened in February 2010 at the intersection of Root Road and Colorado Avenue. Although it is about 3 minutes from my house, I can't bring myself to go there; the good folks at Selenti's might not forgive me.

Today the Sheffield Lake Pizza Hut is the home of Coconuts Internet Cafe. (Here's a link to its Facebook page.) It seems to be one of the few local internet cafes that always has a nice crowd, judging by the number of cars outside. It's got a nice location.

The former Sheffield Lake Pizza Hut today

Meanwhile, the ex-Pizza Hut over on Oberlin Avenue in Lorain wasn't so lucky in its new career as an internet cafe. Unfortunately, it's already for sale.

The former Oberlin Avenue Pizza Hut today

It sure is strange that the west side of Lorain couldn't support a sit-down Pizza Hut or even the small carry-out only outlet (that is currently home to Happy's Pizza). I hope it's because everyone prefers the local pizza shops like Yala's and Selenti's.

Uncle Ben

2012-01-30T03:30:00.000-08:00

Last week I posted the story of Ed Duskey, whose Duskey Brothers service station sponsored a baseball team in the 1930's. Here's a story about one of the players on that team.

****

My Dad's Uncle Ben

Everybody has boxes of old photos that probably should have been sorted and put into albums. My family is no exception. When I was a kid, we had several boxes of old black and white family photos from my father's side of the family.

Grandpa Esterle – my Dad's grandfather – had owned a camera, and pretty much shot anything and everything. Thus we had lots of old photos of my Dad as a baby in the early 1920's, plus tons of photos of Esterle family get-togethers in Lorain and Cleveland.

The photos are all labeled and sorted now. But back in the 1960's, they were still a big mess. The big box of photos would be brought out from time to time, usually on a rainy day when we were bored and stuck indoors. Then, my siblings and I would pick through them, pointing to unfamiliar faces on tiny, yellowing prints and inevitably repeating the same refrain to my mother: "Who's that?" Most of the time, we weren't particularly interested in the answer.

But there were a few photos of a ballplayer, and these weren't tiny snapshots like the rest. They were formal studio portraits. My brothers and I wondered: did we have a major leaguer in the family?

"That's your father's Uncle Ben," Mom explained. She wasn't sure what team he played on or when, but it wasn't a major league team. Consequently, my brothers and I would lose interest and move on to the next photo.

It wasn't until much later that I learned the story of Uncle Ben.

Uncle Ben (left) and Uncle Fred

Grandpa Esterle had moved his family from Hungary to Lorain in 1905, coming through Ellis Island like so many other families, so he could get a job in the steel mill. While his daughter (my Dad's mother) and his other son (my Dad's Uncle Fred) were born in the old country, Uncle Ben was born right here in Lorain in 1906.

Uncle Ben's story isn't all that different from many others in Lorain. He grew up, and graduated from Lorain High School in 1924. Along the way, he became a pretty good athlete. He was a catcher for several of Lorain's leading amateur baseball teams, including the Duskey Brothers Class A baseball team. (In 1934 the team represented Lorain in the National Baseball Federation tournament in Cleveland.)

More important than Uncle Ben's athletic accomplishments, however, was the close bond he had with my father. Since Dad's father worked on the railroad and was away much of the time, Uncle Ben filled a big void in his life.

Dad had lots of Grandpa Esterle stories, and many of them included Uncle Ben also. Once, Uncle Ben brought home a big turtle he had apparently found. Since Grandpa Esterle liked pets, he drilled a hole in the turtle's shell and they tied him up outside, just like a dog.

Uncle Ben and my father as boy

During Prohibition, Grandpa Esterle made beer and whiskey. Once, someone tipped him off that his house was going to be raided the next day. Naturally, Grandpa Esterle and Uncle Ben did what they had to do: drink as much of the homemade brew as they could the night before.

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) the raid didn't occur.

Like his father, Uncle Ben got a job at the mill as a pipefitter. Later, he married Ruth, his sweetheart. They began their life together in a house that Grandpa Esterle owned on W. 30th Street.

The future looked bright for Uncle Ben. But then tragedy struck at the steel mill.

On February 28, 1937, Uncle Ben and several other workers in the shipping department were draining oil out of a cast iron reservoir. They were using compressed air to force oil out of the reservoir.

The side of the reservoir blew out, and during the explosion one of the many flying pieces of cast iron struck Uncle Ben in the head. He suffered a 14-inch fracture through the top of his skull, and the side of his head was crushed. After lying in a coma for 25 hours, he died in St. Joseph Hospital.

He was thirty years old, and had only been married for six months. More than 400 people attended his funeral. His former teammates were active and honorary pall bearers.

My father took it very hard. His mother later told my Mom that he rode his bike out to Elmwood Cemetery often to visit his Uncle Ben's grave.

****

Uncle Ben's widow remarried four years after his death, and she and her new husband lived in a house on East Erie Avenue.

I saw her outside the house in the 1990's, wearing a house dress and pulling weeds. I briefly considered stopping and introducing myself. But too many years had passed since the tragic accident.

She lived to the ripe old age of 93 and passed away in 2006.

****

After Uncle Ben died, Grandpa Esterle rented out the house on W. 30th Street to other tenants. Later, he gave the house to my parents when they got married.

More than sixty years after the accident that claimed Uncle Ben's life, my Dad still couldn't talk about it. He only wanted to remember the happy times. In the last few years before he died, his face would still light up when he was talking about the good times with Grandpa Esterle and Uncle Ben.

Since I go out to Elmwood Cemetery now to visit my father's grave, I try to swing by and pay my respects to Uncle Ben as well. He's buried in a single plot next to his widow and her second husband.

****

Today, I am constantly reminded of Uncle Ben. There's Uncle Ben® Brand rice that I buy regularly. Even Peter Parker – Spider-Man – had an Uncle Ben that died tragically.

But, like my Dad – with the exception of this post – I don't dwell on the sadness associated with his uncle. I'd much rather chuckle at the silly stories that Dad told me about his mother's family, all filled with warmth and love, all played out against the backdrop of the Lorain of the past.

Lorain's Spudnut Shop

2012-01-27T03:58:00.000-08:00

The much-missed Bob's Donuts wasn't the only donut shop in Lorain. There were a lot of others that came and went.

And here's one of them: The Spudnut Shop.

The ad above appeared in the pages of the Lorain Journal on December 21, 1950. That's Mr. Spudnut decked out in a bow tie and top hat.

What's that – you've never heard of Spudnuts?

Well, it was a very popular national chain of donut shops that used potato flour. The first store opened in 1940, and by 1946 the concept was being franchised. (Here's a link to the Wiki entry that explains the history of the chain.)

The Lorain shop opened in November 1950 and was established by Michael and Jo Moldovan.

The donuts with the potato base had their devoted fans. My mother remembers them as being very good.

The Lorain store lasted until around 1956. Then its address – 120 Eighth Street – disappeared in the 1957 directory.

Although the Spudnuts parent company closed around 1980, there are still individual stores that remain open. There's one in Berea, and one out in Mentor too. Here's the list of stores that are still open. And here's another website with a directory and plenty of interesting tidbits and links about the chain.

You can also buy Original Spudnut™Mix on this blog.

Ed Duskey - Part 2

2012-01-26T03:20:00.000-08:00

Here's the conclusion of the profile of Ed Duskey that appeared in the Lorain Journal in 1969 as part of the Bill Scrivo's People feature.

****

Ed Duskey: A Long Run on Broadway (Part 2)

March 9, 1952 ad from Lorain Sunday Times

Ed Duskey remembers the old days on Broadway and the friends he made. Many of them are gone.

"All of the people that were here when I started are dead or not in business any more," he says. George Llewellyn's son now runs the automobile agency. But Ed remembers going to old George for a couple of hundred dollars when the gas truck was due and there wasn't enough money in the till. And he remembers Sol and Isadore Jacoby and the Delis Brothers too.

"I GOT MYSELF in debt through bad credit and bad management. I went in there in August, 1929 when the bottom dropped out. But I paid back everybody I owed.

"There's nobody in the city can say I owe them a dime. That's the reason I stuck it out."

Along the way, Ed Duskey lost something very precious to him. He can talk about her now, where once he couldn't.

"I had a wonderful wife," he says. "She was such a fine person – and she would always go anywhere with me. She could be washing clothes and I would call up and say I was going to Cleveland and she would drop her washing and say 'I can do these tomorrow.'

"I'm a widower now going on 14 years.

"In my life there have been lots of sorrows, but I found out I had to leave those sorrows behind and I had to live with the people and make them believe everything was rosy.

"I told a lady today who had just lost her husband that the more you grieve the more you are going to be hurt."

AND ED DUSKEY has not spent his time in grieving. He loves life and the people who come into his gas station. He loves the people he grew up with in 40 years on Broadway. He remembers the good times – the baseball teams he sponsored; the teams that took a back seat to nobody in the Cleveland area. He remembers the trips to Notre Dame and Michigan and Cleveland and Northfield.

He remembers the Lorain he came to as a young man and the people he knew and loved. But he is not sad. For Ed Duskey is not thinking of what used to be or of retiring or things like that.

He's looking ahead to the fall, when the Central Business Men's Association will board a bus early in the morning and head for the Pittsburgh Notre Dame football game.

AND THE MAN with the youngest heart and the loudest voice on that bus will be Ed Duskey – going to Pittsburgh and coming back late that night. And he'll be leading his favorite song:

"Love me sweet, love me true, love me as you ought to do,

For I don't have a wooden heart..."

Ed Duskey – Part 1

2012-01-25T03:17:00.000-08:00

I'm sure lots of old-timers in Lorain remember the Duskey Brothers service station that used to be at Broadway and 19th Street. Well, here's a nice profile of one of the brothers – Ed Duskey – that appeared in the Lorain Journal in 1969 as part of the Bill Scrivo's People feature.

Special thanks to the Morning Journal for allowing me to reproduce it here.

****

Ed Duskey: A Long Run on Broadway

In 1929, Ed, Stanley and Walter Duskey opened a gas station at the corner of Broadway and 19th Street in Lorain.

A couple of months later on Oct. 29, the bottom dropped out of the market. It was Black Friday, when millionaires became instant paupers and businesses collapsed like houses of cards.

What about the Duskey brothers? If you drive up Broadway, you'll see their Pure Oil Station, doing business at the same location where they began the business 40 years ago. And if you pull up to the gas pumps, chances are Ed Duskey, the patriarch of the clan at 69, will fill up your tank for you.

Walter is the other remaining Duskey brother. Stanley died in 1958.

"It was hard for three of us to make a living off the gas pumps," Ed recalls. "Stanley decided he'd better get a job in the steel mill; then he went to Bendix.

"I wish he would have stuck it out."

The years of hard work show on Ed Duskey. They show in his tough, gnarled hands, permanently darkened with the grease of the service station. They show in his deeply-lined face.

BUT THE YEARS of hard work and sometimes hard luck have not calloused the happy heart of Ed Duskey.

He loves to sing and dance. When the Central Business Men's Association starts out on one of their bus trips to a baseball or football game, Ed Duskey's the organizer and he's up front leading the singing. His voice is a little gravelly and that goes back to the only time he was sick in his life. How he got "sick" explains a lot about Ed Duskey.

"We went to the Notre Dame football game and at the time I couldn't get anyone with an instrument to play on the bus. So for four hours, I got the people to sing.

"There was no mike. I strained my darn voice and afterwards I couldn't talk. I went to the doc and he gave me an examination and said I had high blood pressure and he told me he couldn't operate on my throat.

"A month later I went back and he told me there was something on my throat and it had to come off.

"I said, 'Doc, do you really have to operate?'

"He said, 'Well, it can be cancer.'

"I asked if I had a 50-50 chance it wasn't cancer.

"He said 'Yes' and I said 'Doc, I'll take that chance.

"That's been five or six years ago and I'm still hoarse, but I'm still living" said Ed Duskey.

Now a few months away from 70, Ed Duskey still works six and seven days a week. In fact, that's something he's done all his life – work hard.

ED WAS BORN in Wheeling, W. Va. back in October of 1899. He lived there until 1918 when he came to Lorain with his family, just after the end of World War I.

His schooling was confined to the first six grades.

"Father was sick and out of a job," he recalls. "I started in the newspaper business – carried newspapers and 54 magazines.

"I loved that game and don't know why I didn't stick with it. I was the oldest in the family and the sole support."

"I DON'T KNOW if you believe me or not, but I used to make more money back there in 1910 than I do now. I had a very good stand and I gave it to a blind man when I left Wheeling."

The family came to Lorain because "they got tired of the floods down there."

"So help me God, they had floods year after year. They simply couldn't take it any more."

Ed's first job was at the shipyards. Then came the layoffs as the nation drifted into the post war period and Ed had no job. But he was able to get on at the American Stove Co. in Lorain and worked there until 1923.

"Then I went to Detroit one day and met my wife. Actually, I knew her in Wheeling, but then she moved.

"SHE ASKED ME to move to Detroit and I did. Got a job with the R and E Shoe Company and stayed with them for four years. I got married in 1925.

"I was the top salesman for R and E," says Ed. "I was up there until 1928 when my brothers in Lorain got into the gas station business. Naturally, I wanted to get in with them and I have been here since 1929."

Broadway was paved with bricks in those days and there were four gas stations in all of Lorain. George Llewelyn Sr. was selling cars across the alley and the late Phillip Lanza had a little store across the street. And that first year the Duskey brothers pumped 7,000 gallons of gas – by hand – into Fords and Pontiacs, Studebakers and Marmon 8's.

"It wasn't exactly a heavily-traved street," says Ed Duskey.

"NOWADAYS, DUSKEY Brothers pump steady 24,000 gallons a year.

"I don't try to get all the business," says Ed."I'm satisfied with the customers I've got. I still know people from when I first went into business and they still know me."

Those first years were tough. Stanley had to go to the steel mill because the station wouldn't support three men and their families.

"Then my brother Walter and I got a house together at 838 W. 18th St. and we raised our first two daughters in the same house. Finally we were able to get enough money so he could get himself a home."

"You see," says Ed, "We went into a business we didn't know much about. We know quite a bit about it now, though."

Walter and his family finally moved into their own home. And Ed and his wife and three daughters moved into a home at 745 Hamilton Ave., Lorain.

THE GIRLS grew up – Delores is a first grade school teacher at Masson School. Mary Anne is a receptionist with American Airlines in Florida. Patty is now Mrs. Paul Bick, living on Reeves Avenue in Lorain – and the cause of great wonder to Ed Duskey.

"She is raising a family and I have three grandchildren," he says. "Imagine having three grandchildren after I was 60!"

Tomorrow: Part 2

Ginger Beer Vs. Ginger Ale

2012-01-24T03:43:00.000-08:00

You might remember that a few weeks ago, I mentioned Seher's Old English Ginger Beer here in a post. It had been bottled in Lorain, but I had never tried it or any other ginger beer.

Fellow blogger Loraine Ritchey (from That Woman's Weblog) recommended I pick up some ginger beer at World Market and give it a try. I did just that, buying a four pack of Bundaberg Ginger Beer.

What did I think? I thought it was pretty good; very different from ginger ale. It had a very deep, very woody taste. It was a totally different drink than Vernors.

Ironically, I had been feeling a little off earlier that night. Just like Vernors used to settle our stomachs when we were kids, the ginger beer did the same thing.

And the bottle caps were pretty cool. No bottle opener needed, and no twisting. You just pull the tab and the cap popped off.

The funny thing is, the spouse saw me sitting in the easy chair and drinking it, and she didn't recognize the bottle. Since I rarely have any reason to drink a beer since both my father and my father-in-law died, she became alarmed that I was suddenly becoming a booze hound.

There's no chance of that. I'd much rather drink pop.

****

Fellow blogger Alan Hopewell mentioned that he couldn't find Vernors down in Texas – and he has my sympathy. Along with Pepsi Throwback, it's my favorite pop.

Vernors used to be headquartered in Detroit, Michigan. It has an interesting origin story and company history, which you can read here on the Vernors website.

Back in 2000, Vernors had a neat promotion. For a limited time, Vernors was available in real glass bottles that were sort of a replica of the old style design we remember as kids. (That's my collectible bottle at left.) As a kid, I thought the gnome on the bottle looked like one of the little men who got Rip Van Winkle drunk.

In the last few years, I wondered if Vernors had changed their recipe, because if I drank it out of a plastic bottle, I never coughed or sneezed – and what fun is that? I discovered that you have to serve it in a glass to get the desired effect – and drink it while it was still popping and fizzing.

****

Here's a phone book ad from the early 1960's showing that the Cotton Club Hires Distributing Company handled Vernors in Lorain County.

1960's ad from Lorain phone book

And look what else they distributed: Smarty Ginger Beer. Check out this can from the National Pop Can Collectors website.

Image courtesy www.canogram.com

Those kids look as happy as if they were drinking chocolate milk! I guess ginger beer was more mainstream than I thought!

Winter Hats – Then and Now

2012-01-23T03:34:00.000-08:00

The Brady boys – January 1965 (that's me in the middle)

As I get older (next month I'll be 53), I find that I'm becoming a bit of a curmudgeon, often thinking that things were better in "the good old days." Or at least that they made more sense.

A good example of this is the comparison of the winter hats that I wore as a kid with the styles worn now.

When I was growing up in the early to mid-1960's, kids' winter hats were functional. The brim style was very popular for a while. That's all my brothers and I seem to be wearing in old black and white family photos.

Later, the wool stocking cap became the winter headgear of choice. In fact, I don't remember wearing anything else all the way through high school.

Nowadays, decades later, the styles have certainly changed.

WKYC Channel 3 does a 'Bus Stop' segment each morning, showing real kids filmed in studio, wearing the winter clothes appropriate for the particular weather forecast that day. Several times, I have looked in disbelief at what the kids are wearing.

The most surprising is the Peruvian-style hat. I would probably be too embarrassed to wear one if I was a kid.

I've also seen the Peruvian style's American cousin, the furry one with flaps that come down (similar to what Cousin Eddie wore in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation).

For years, you would mostly see it on mailmen who had to be out in bad weather eight hours a day. Now, it seems that the style has been adapted for kids – in a time when kids are shuttled everywhere and are hardly out in the cold any more. (That is, unless their busing has been eliminated to save money.)

It's like my hair stylist says. For a long time (she's cut my hair for about 24 years) I would ask her what the latest hair styles were. A few years ago, she finally explained that there really weren't any set styles any more – that it was "anything goes".

I guess that kind of applies to everything now. Which isn't that bad, I suppose. It's more fun for the kids, and good for the economy, too.

As for me, I'll stick with my practical Stormy Kromer with the brim, and the flaps that are tied in front.

My only problem is that when I wear it to work, my co-workers say I look like Elmer Fudd.

The 530 Shop Makes the New York Times

2012-01-20T02:59:00.000-08:00

Here's a link to an article about Lorain that appeared in both the print and online version of the New York Times in early January. The article is entitled, "A Dimly Flickering Light in a Darkened Downtown," and it is a look at The 530 Shop against the backdrop of Lorain's depressed economy. It's extremely well-written (although painful to read) and it includes several quotes by Art Oehlke, owner of the 530 Shop.

Several people have emailed me this link in the past few weeks, so I thought I would share it with those of you who might have missed it.

I hadn't been in the store since last summer, so I stopped in this past weekend to browse and ask Mr. Oehlke how he and his store ended up in the New York Times. After good-naturedly kidding me about not having been there in a while, he explained to me that the writer (Sabrina Tavernise) had been in the area for some event and stopped in at his store. She had asked him why the downtown seemed like a ghost town, and after he told her about Lorain, she must have seen the rich story potential.

One of my recent purchases at The 530 Shop

I learned from the article that Mr. Oehlke's grandfather constructed the building that houses The 530 Shop.

At the library a few days ago, I decided to see how many different businesses had been at the 530 Broadway address. The 1926 city directory listed Horn Brothers Meats as the tenant. From 1929 through about 1937, Henry Oehlke had a clothing store there.

Richman Brothers operated a store there from 1940 through at least 1942. Jumping ahead to the next available book (1947), I found Clear Sylk (a hosiery store) as the tenant until about the mid-1950's. After that, Betty Gay (a women's clothing store) was at that location until the store space went vacant around the early 1960's.

And beginning around the mid-1960's, The 530 Shop has called the storefront home.

It's fun stopping in there every once in a while. I've found some great local maps, as well as some fun knick-knacks. Mr. Oehlke always has some great vintage music blaring to put you in the mood to shop for antiques, as well as to evoke memories of the heyday of Downtown Lorain.

So be sure to stop in and buy something! The 530 Shop is open seven days a week.

That Beaver Looks Familiar!

2012-01-19T03:28:00.000-08:00

While scrolling around in the late June 1964 Journal newspaper microfilm archives at the library, I found this ad announcing the Grand Opening of The Hut restaurant at 3709 West Erie Avenue in Lorain. The ad is interesting for a couple reasons.

Although there is no way of knowing from the ad, The Hut was located in the building attached to and in front of the Lorain Arena. Originally the building was the standalone Baetz Dairy Bar until the Arena was built behind it and it became all one property. A few years before the Hut moved in, the building housed the Arena Restaurant.

The Hut appeared in the City Directories for 1965 and 1966 before disappearing. The Hut and the Lorain Arena were replaced in the 1967 book by Big Moose Canteen and Big Moose Showcase respectively.

(By the way, the former Lorain Arena is still for sale by Bill Latrany).

What really caught my eye about The Hut's ad, however, was the cute beaver cartoon character. I instantly recognized him as the current advertising mascot for Beaver Park Marina, located just a few miles west of the former restaurant.

The beaver first surfaced in a telephone book ad for Beaver Park Marina in 1978, wearing a captain's hat and clutching a pair of water skis (at left).

Today the now hatless beaver holds an oar instead of skis, and looks out onto U.S. Route 6 traffic from atop a sign on the main Beaver Park building. At least it makes a lot more sense for him to be promoting his namesake marina instead of pancakes!

Midview Middie Mascot - 1964

2012-01-18T03:24:00.000-08:00

Anyone who has read this blog for a while knows that I really like advertising mascots of any kind. That's why this mascot for the Midview School District in Grafton caught my eye while I was looking at old Journal newspaper microfilm in the library. (Plus, the Midview sports teams have been doing really well lately.)

The accompanying Journal article from September 10, 1964 explained that the emblem (named "Midview Middie") was chosen by the Build Midview Committee as part of a promotional fundraising campaign. "Middie" was going to be featured on decals that would be sold to raise money to sponsor an essay contest, a poster contest and other programs.

The mascot was selected because he "exemplified the combination of friendship, warmth, and forward look of the Midview district," according to the article.

I like the freckled little guy and his clean cut, wholesome looks right out of a 1950s or 60s comic book. He looks like he should have a slingshot hanging out of his back pocket.

Contrast "Middie" with the design of the current Midview sports mascot (below).

I guess times and tastes have changed! "Cute and wholesome" have given way to a burly, hairy "goon" look, dripping with testosterone. He looks like he doesn't just want to defeat the other team, he wants to pound them into senselessness.

Somewhere along the line in our culture, the concept of a sports mascot seems to have changed from that of a 'lucky charm' to that of a symbol that must project the strongest, manliest attitude – lest the team and its fans stand accused of being utter wimps.

Although the cute "Middie" has long since been retired, apparently his message is still relevant. On the current Midview schools website, the first paragraph leads off with "The Midview Schools are on the move!"

From the E-Mailbag #8: Manhattan Market

2012-01-17T03:35:00.000-08:00

1955 Food Fair roster including Manhattan market

Back in December of last year, one of the commenters on my post on the Gel-Pak Building asked if I had any information about Manhattan Market.

I was aware that it had been a small grocery store on Broadway, but didn't know much more than that. So I dug around in the city directories a little bit.

It appears that Manhattan Market first appeared in the Lorain City Directory around 1946 or 1947. Its initial location, 1152 Broadway, used to be occupied by a previous grocer, Vincent McHenry.

Manhattan Market was part of the Food Fair chain of grocery stores for a while.

Around 1964, the grocery store moved south to 1820 Broadway. It remained there until about 1975, when Manhattan Market disappeared from the listings and the address went vacant.

Here's a 1960's view of the store, courtesy of the Black River Historical Society. (Click on it for a larger view.)

The store is flanked by the Lorain Fire Department Station No. 2 on one side, and the The Squire Shop, (which featured men's clothing) on the other. A few doors down from that is the Lorain Post 451 Veterans of Foreign Wars, with its distinctive sign jutting out from the building at an angle.

It's interesting that at the time of the photo, Manhattan Market was apparently part of the Sparkle chain.

Here's the 'today' view of the same block, now dominated by Fligner's, another formerly small family grocery store. I believe the building that presently houses El Kefon can be seen in the 1960s photo.

The View from 17th & Broadway - Then & Now

2012-01-16T03:23:00.000-08:00

While scrounging around in the photo files of the Black River Historical Society this past Friday, I found this view of Broadway from about 17th Street looking north. (I think this area was formerly known as the Devil's Elbow because Broadway makes such a harsh dogleg as it heads north)

The photo caught my eye because the Mister S sign was visible in the distance. The photo was labeled as being from the late 1960's.

The SOHIO sign from Sharrock's Sohio Service gas station at 1628 Broadway is visible, although the station itself is hidden from view. Also seen at left is the Journey Bar, which was at 1652 Broadway.

The current shot from yesterday (below) reveals that several buildings are gone. (Click on it for an enlarged view.) The former service station is now visible, and the SOHIO sign post minus sign remains. Mister S is now Gyros & More. A few more buildings on the east side appear to be missing as well, because the Gel-Pak building stands out more prominently.

Mister S Grand Opening – June 26-28, 1964

2012-01-13T03:13:00.000-08:00

You might remember that a week ago I posted some of Sue Slutzker's reminisces about the Mister S Drive-In, the business that her father and some other family members and partners started.

Since she had mentioned that her family's involvement with the restaurant dated back to 1964, I decided to hit the newspaper microfilm at the Library and see what I could find out as to when the place actually opened.

It turns out that the informal opening of Mister S was the weekend of June 6, 1964. The small article above had a nice photo of the distinctive building and its memorable sign with the colorful, rotating S. What's interesting is that it says that it was the pilot store for the chain.

Also in the newspaper that same day was the very first advertisement for the chain. You can tell it's an early one, because the logo isn't quite the final version yet.

Almost three weeks later, the upcoming Grand Opening buzz began to appear in the Journal. An article that appeared on Wednesday, June 24, 1964 revealed that the chain had national aspirations, and that the franchise for the restaurant had been obtained from Commissary Corp in Wooster, Ohio, originators of Dairy Isle ice cream drive-ins.

"Plans are under way for nationwide coverage with over 35 locations already surveyed and approved in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and New York," stated the article. It also noted that negotiations were being completed for several more units to be built in the northern Ohio area.

On Thursday, the following full-page ad appeared, promoting the Grand Opening on Friday, June 26, 1964.

I'm impressive with all of the great promotional gimmicks that were employed, with free large drinks, the chances to receive one of 500 free chicken dinners, free balloons and a live broadcast by Bob Lee of W-WIZ.

Finally, on Friday this ad drummed up even more enthusiasm.

The ad was the first to feature the true corporate branding (can you tell I'm in advertising?) with line art of the sign, as well as the final logo design. It also explains that the S stands for Smiling Speedy Service.

On Saturday, this ad appeared. No wonder Sue remembered those chicken dinners in her reminisces – they were one of the main items on the menu.

All in all, a very impressive promotional campaign to launch the Mister S chain! It's a shame that the chain didn't take off (especially with the pilot store in Lorain), but it's not too surprising. Many other chains went up against the McDonalds and Burger King juggernauts and ultimately couldn't compete.

The Mister S brand disappeared in Lorain around the mid-1980's. Today, the restaurant building is home to Gyros & More.

What used to be where the Lorain Public Library is today?

2012-01-12T02:30:00.000-08:00

Okay, I've spent enough time down around 12th and Reid the last few days on this blog. Let's move up to 6th and Reid, and take a look at yet another gas station!

Here's an interesting photo and caption from the Lorain Sunday News of April 13, 1952. Apparently this Sunoco filling station used to be located where the present Lorain Public Library is today, at the southwest corner of Sixth Street and Reid.

The Lorain Library Board selected that location for the new library (to replace the old Carnegie Library). But when they began to acquire the parcels, they discovered that the Sun Oil Company had a lease on the property – for four more years.

The accompanying newspaper article basically said that the Board was willing to wait, since that location was so good. It stated, "The new library will located within a short walking distance of Lorain High School, St. Mary's Academy, the City Hall Building, local newspapers and radio stations. It will be in just the right spot for downtown shoppers to patronize."

****

Researching this service station didn't produce much information. I looked through the available city directories from 1950 on, and only the 1954 phone book listed Walker's Service Station at 608 Reid Avenue. So apparently the new library construction was delayed for at least a few years.

According to the online chronology of Lorain history compiled by the Lorain Public Library, the construction of the new library was completed in 1957.

The William Seher Company

2012-01-11T02:52:00.000-08:00

After photographing the building at 12th Street and Reid (that I blogged about yesterday), I turned around in this driveway. I couldn't help but think that the 'S' on the pillars looked vaguely familiar. That's when I realized I was looking at part of Lorain's bottling history.

The 'S' stands for Seher, and the gates apparently used to lead to the William Seher Company bottling and distribution facility.

William Seher had been the manager of the Lorain Brewing Company (which was a branch of the Cleveland & Sandusky Brewing Company). From 1924 on, it appears that Seher went into the bottling business for himself with his self-named company.

1956 Phone book ads

A quick look through the city directories showed that Seher's company was originally at 330 W. 12th. By 1926, it was using the 304 12th Street address, which is the location for the two pillars and gate in my photograph.

Seher passed away some time between 1933 and 1937. But his company continued at the 304 12th Street address until around 1957, with his son and widow at the helm. A phone book ad reals that both beers (Genesee, Fort Pitt and Hudepohl) and soft drinks (Vernors, Hires Root Beer and Cotton Club) were distributed by the company.

Beginning in the 1959 book, the bottling facility had new owners and a new name: The T. J. Bottling Company. T. J. apparently stands for the first names of the company's principals: Jason J. Kallis (president) and Tony Palumbo (vice president).

1959 phone book ad

The T. J. Bottling Company continued to bottle and distribute the signature product, Seher's Old English Ginger Beer as well as a variety of other soft drinks and distilled water products.

Old bottles of Seher's Old English Ginger Beer turn up fairly frequently on Ebay.

Today, the gate with the distinctive pillars is the entrance to Geometric Forms .

****

It's interesting that the William Seher Company distributed both Vernors and his own ginger beer product. I wonder which one was the bigger seller? Some Lorain friends of mine mentioned the Seher Old English Ginger Beer to me a few years ago, and I had never heard of it before. (I grew up on Vernors, which was one of the things my siblings and I were given to drink when we were sick along with 7Up. I can still remember the occasional coughing or sneezing jag that resulted if we drank it too soon after it was poured.)

What used to be in that building?

2012-01-10T02:31:00.000-08:00

I've driven by this building at 1206 Reid Avenue for a long time, always wondering how long it had been there and what business it had housed. It's at the southwest corner of 12th Street and Reid Avenue, just south of the railroad tracks.

I kind of assumed it had been a gas station, but with the cute little cottage-like building on the right, I wasn't sure.

Anyway, using the city directories as a guide, it appears to have first shown up in the 1933 book as a Sunoco filling station.

In the 1937 book, the only name associated with the station was Leo S. Bransztet. The 1940 book had a new person associated with it: Walter L. Clites. Both of these listings had no brand name or oil company listed.

By 1942, it was back in the Bransztet family, listed as Paul Bransztet, again with no gasoline brand name.

In 1945 it was listed as vacant. Then in 1947, it was Ken & Phil's Gulf. (Lorain sure used to have a lot of Gulf stations!)

By 1950, it was listed as the Webb & Cavanaugh service station.

The only real surprise or interesting aspect of all this for me is the 1952 listing for this address: Zelek Flower Shop. I had no idea they used to be in there. Actually, without the gas pumps, the building looks like a flower shop!

Zelek Flower Shop was in there until about 1966 or '67, when they moved up the street to 1001 Reid. They are still located there today (here's a link to their website).

The 1206 Reid building went vacant for many years. Today, the building is home to A Clean Ride Car Wash, a car wash and detailing company. Here's a link to their Facebook page.

The Chipmunks Visit Hills Dept. Store – 1968

2012-01-09T02:23:00.000-08:00

With Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked currently in the theaters, it's a good time to post this ad, which ran in the Journal on September 11, 1968. It announces the upcoming appearance at Hills Department Store out in South Lorain of the singing trio and their father figure, David Seville.

I sure would like to know what that event was like! (Does anybody remember?) It looks like it would have been a lot of fun – plus all those free 45's too.

And a frozen Coke or some fresh popcorn on the way out of Hills would have made it a perfect day.

I'll be doing more on Hills here on the blog in the next month or so.

****

Christmas 1959

I've been a Chipmunk fan since, well, I was a baby. They released their first single – The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late) in late Fall 1958, so they were very popular when I was born in early 1959.

One of my "first material possessions" was this windup Alvin doll (at left), which was a Christmas present in 1959. He's holding his trademark harmonica, and when you wound him up, he played Alvin's Harmonica. (It looks like I found it pretty amusing.) It didn't take me long to rip the harmonica out of his hands; it laid in the bottom of the toy box for years, long after the Alvin doll was put out of commission.

We also had one or two Chipmunk 45's when I was a kid, and we watched The Alvin Show too. (You can buy a DVD of the very first show here.)

For a nice history of the whole Chipmunk phenomenon, visit their website.

From the E-Mailbag #7: Mister S

2012-01-06T03:37:00.000-08:00

I recently received a very nice email from one of my old Admiral King High School Band-mates, Sue Slutzker, whose father (along with her uncle and some other relatives and partners) owned the Mister S Drive-In at 15th and Broadway.

(I first blogged about Mister S way back here in 2009.)

Sue filled me in on some of the background of the well-remembered restaurant with the distinctive rotating 'S' on its sign. She said that her father and his partners were involved with Mister S from 1964 through 1974. Her uncle and her cousin ran it.

"Since I was just a little kid when I'd go there, I always thought that Mr. S stood for Slutzker!" she laughs. "The only other one I knew about was on Lorain Rd. in N. Olmsted and the last time I saw it, it was a beverage store, but it was the same style building."

Sue has fond memories of the chicken served at the restaurant.

Growing up in Lorain as the daughter of one of the owners of Mister S had its perks. "My other great memory of Mr. S was that I always had a primo spot from which to watch any parade on Broadway."

But it had its drawbacks too.

"The flip side was that until I was 12, I was never allowed to go to McDonalds!"

Sue also mentioned that Mister S continued to have a presence in the Slutzker household long after her family's involvement with the restaurant ended. "I know for years in our house – even through the '80's – we were still using Mr. S order pads as scrap paper!"

****

Special thanks to Sue for sharing some of her memories of Mister S, a Lorain original.

Century Park Dedication - 1925

2012-01-05T02:49:00.000-08:00

An article in early December (here) about Lorain City Council applying for a state grant to renovate Harbor House in Century Park got me to wondering just how long that building had really been there.

As usual, I accidentally found the answer while I was looking for something else on microfilm last month.

The small article above is from The Lorain Times-Herald of Friday, May 29, 1925. (Give it a click.) It explains that the new bathhouse replaced the old dance hall, which had burned down in the summer of 1923, and that it was going to reopen on Decoration Day (now known as Memorial Day).

The article also explains that the building was being leased by William Heimann, a former life guard at Lakeview Park for three years, and that refreshments would be available at the stand. (Heimann later had a well-known business, Heimann's Barbecue, at 402 E. Erie Avenue.)

And here's the article from The Lorain Times-Herald of Saturday, June 6, 1925 featuring the newly-opened bathhouse.

And here's my shot from September for comparison.

Own one of the houses on the vintage postcard!

2012-01-04T02:30:00.000-08:00

739 West Ninth Street

Although you can't see it very well on this vintage postcard, the house at the far right – at 739 W. Ninth – is currently for sale.

It's a real bargain too. A sign on the front door lists the terms: $300 down and $300 a month!

I did a little online research to try and find out how old it was. The Lorain County Auditor website has the year it was built listed as 1900, which usually means it was built before 1900.

At the library, I dug around in the available city directories. The oldest book that has listings by street is the 1912 edition. William H. Heyer, a foreman, was listed as the owner of 739 W. Ninth Street.

The pre-1912 books have different names for many, if not most, Lorain streets. W. Ninth Street used to be called Second Avenue. After cross-referencing some residents to make sure, I found William H. Heyer in the 1905 and 1903 books at 315 Second Avenue.

Going back even further to the 1891 book (the oldest at the library), I discovered that Lorain had a different house numbering system back then. It appears that someone just counted the houses (or lots) on the street and numbered them numerically from Broadway.

I managed to cross-reference about a dozen families who were in both the 1912 book on W. Ninth Street and the 1891 book on Second Avenue. And there in the 1891 book was William Heyer again, at 52 Second Avenue. (And indeed, his house was about the 52nd listing in the 1912 book!)

Anyway, 739 W. Ninth is a very stately looking home with a nice deep lot.

Sure would be nice if the right handy person bought it and gave it some TLC!

****

Incidentally, while researching the above house in the city directories, I couldn't help but look up the William Seher (or the Slattery Motion Pictures) house at 329 Ninth Street to see how old it was. My research wasn't conclusive, but the earliest listing that I could find showing Seher living there was in the 1905 book – when the address was 223 Second Avenue.

In the 1903 book, Seher was living at 917 Reid.

Since there were no listings of addresses and residents by street, it would be a real scavenger hunt to see if the house was in the book before Seher lived there. However, according to the Black River Historical Society's Images of America Lorain book, it appears that Seher did build the house – for the then-unheard of sum of $15,000.

Click here to read Alan Hopewell's reminisces about the Seher mansion over at his Pointing the Cannon blog.

Ninth Street Then & Now

2012-01-03T02:38:00.000-08:00

Here's a vintage postcard showing the view looking east down Ninth Street from Long Avenue. It's where Ninth makes a dogleg as it heads towards Broadway.

Driving over there this past weekend to photograph it (since there wasn't any snow on the ground), I wondered if the homes would still be there. I was surprised to see that the whole block was still intact.

I was even more surprised when I realized that I go down this very street each week on the way home after picking up my Selenti's Pizza every Friday night, and didn't recognize the homes on the postcard.

Here's the current view, complete with a dismal, colorless winter sky that makes the whole proceedings depressing.

On the same side of the street as these homes, a little further down Ninth Street just before Reid Avenue, is the former mansion owned by William Seher, who owned the Lorain Brewing Company (below).

Photographed January 2, 2012

Lorain Theater Listings for January 2, 1958

2012-01-02T04:38:00.000-08:00

Here's the movie section from the Lorain Journal showing what was playing on the local screens right after New Year's Day 1958. It's kind of an interesting look at a Hollywood in transition from the Golden Age to the modern era. (Give it a click and peruse it.)

It's a real mixed bag with something for everyone, young and old.

At the Ohio Theater, we find the Bowery Boys in Up in Smoke (their next-to-last movie). Jerry Lewis is the star of The Sad Sack (an early solo effort after the split with Dean Martin) at the Palace Theater, and Elvis Presley is featured in Jailhouse Rock (his third movie) at the Avon Lake Theater.

At the Dreamland, perennial box office favorite John Wayne stars in Jet Pilot, and Gary Cooper heads the cast of Friendly Persuasion being shown at the Lorain Theater. At the Grove Theater, Frank Sinatra and Mitzi Gaynor star in The Joker is Wild, and Mitzi was also one of Les Girls, which was showing at the Ohio Theater.

I love the strong typography used in these movie ads. It really makes each theater instantly recognizable.

It's kind of sad knowing that the current Lorain Palace Theatre is now the only place in town to see a movie. I used to patronize the Avon Lake Theater in the 1970s and 80s, and that's gone too.

I'm puzzled by a few things, though. Where was the listing for the Tivoli? And why was the Tower Drive-in open in frigid January? I'm guessing they provided some kind of heaters; does anyone remember?

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T05:32:00.000-08:00

New Year's Greeting for 1910

Here's a few great New Years postcards from the CardCow vintage postcard website. They all feature Father Time and Baby New Year.

I always felt a little bad for the old year character. He has to hit the road, unloved, and unceremoniously replaced by the new kid in town. (Very representative of our society, which doesn't always treat its seniors right!) In the card above, it looks like he is skedaddling for cover while being dive-bombed by the stork!

Here's another one (postmarked December 1909), with a clever modern-for-its-time streetcar theme. Baby New Year looks like he had a growth spurt on the ride in.

And here's one more, celebrating the arrival of 1909.

Why do I get the feeling that the cocksure tyke was flattened a few seconds after being handed the Big Blue Marble?

Anyway, here's hoping YOU have a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

A New Year's Eve Message – 1951

2011-12-31T05:32:00.000-08:00

This illustration appeared on the front page of the Lorain Sunday News on Sunday, December 30, 1951 – 60 years ago. It appeared with the following message, which is just as timely and relevant now as it was in 1951.

"If 1952 is to be a happy year for the people of this community, it would be well for us all to study the past so that we can profit by our experience. Each of us should analyze his life, compare his life with others, and evaluate his understanding of right and wrong.

Most of the great religious leaders of our day tell us that happiness usually comes from hard work, sharing what we have with others, forgetting ourselves in working for some great cause, and by building character.

In wishing everyone in this community a happy new year, we do so in all sincerity, realizing that a happy citizen is generally one who has contributed greatly to the well-being of the community in which he lives."

****

Here's hoping that all of you enjoy a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

A Grim Reminder from New Year's Eve 1969

2011-12-30T02:33:00.000-08:00

It seems like for many years, every time a holiday rolled around – specifically those during which people celebrated boisterously – the Journal readers were treated to a creepy full-page ad starring the Grim Reaper (such as this one).

And here's another one (above). It's from Wednesday, December 31, 1969. I was fairly shocked to see that even in the late 1960's, these old-fashioned ads were still being produced. This one has particularly hair-raising ad copy: That "one for the road" may well take you all the way into eternity.

Yikes! I think I'll remember that on New Year's Eve. I guess that was the ad's intent!

Have a safe New Year's Eve!

First Lorain Baby of 1951 Contest

2011-12-29T02:36:00.000-08:00

Gee, this blog is slowly turning into an extended commercial for our local electric power utility! (And this ad doesn't even feature Reddy Kilowatt!)

Detail from Modern Troy Laundry ad

The Ohio Edison ad above was part of a group of ads that ran right before New Year's Eve – December 30, 1950 – as part of a "First Lorain Baby of 1951" contest. The rules were that both Mother and Father had to be residents of The City of Lorain; the baby had to be born within Lorain City Limits; the hour, minute and date of birth had to be confirmed by the attending physician.

That lucky first baby was the recipient of a lot of goodies and prizes.

Besides the electric bottle warmer, the lucky tyke could look forward to a wool filled satin quilted comforter from Smith and Gerhart Inc. (see ad below), $10 in merchandise from Sylvester Drugs, a lovely baby blanket from Penney's, a baby scale from Kline's, two weeks of laundry service from Modern Troy Laundry, one can of baby food and one case of emergency milk from Steve Polansky, 100% wood bunting from Lad and Lasssie Shop, a pair of Baby's First Shoes from Art & Kiddie Shop and Invalid Carriage Service from Reidy Scanlan.

The proud Dad could look forward to a box of Student Prince Cigars from Geo. Canalos Inc.

I wonder if new dads still hand out cigars? Or has some new politically correct item replaced them?

****

Speaking of First Babies of Lorain, my older brother Ken was Lorain's First Baby of 1958. Unfortunately by then, there was no big newspaper contest that year – so no freebies. In fact, while reading the account on microfilm recently, I noticed that the Lorain Journal managed to make it sound like a bad thing being the first baby – because my parents couldn't claim a $600 income tax deduction! The baby born before midnight was actually mentioned first in the article!

Oh well. Happy Birthday in advance, Ken!!

****

After all that, I forgot to mention the name of Lorain's first baby of 1951. It was a nine-pound, one-half ounce baby boy born to Mr. and Mrs. Pabon Julio Rentos.

Where to go in Lorain on New Year's Eve 1951

2011-12-28T01:58:00.000-08:00

Here's an ad from the Sunday, December 30, 1951 Lorain Sunday News that provides some suggestions for where to spend New Year' Eve. (Give it a click so you can read it.) It's a nice snapshot of the neighborhood taverns in the Lorain area at that time – exactly 60 years ago – especially those in South Lorain.

I see the Airport Tavern on there, the present home of my favorite restaurant, Mutt & Jeff's. I've heard of some of the other ones, such as Miraldi's Cafe.

I wonder if Urban's was the only bar in Lorain to ever have the words 'rumpus room' as part of its name?

The History of New Year's Celebrations Part 2

2011-12-27T02:48:00.000-08:00

Here is Part 2 of the article that appeared in the Lorain Journal around the end of December, 1969. It's an interesting look at the history of the New Year's holiday.

****

New Year's Eve: It's Mankind's Oldest Holiday - Part 2

By M. J. Wilson

(Newsweek Feature Service)

One of the first customs to be observed in the young United States was the New Year's tradition of calling on friends. George and Martha Washington held an open house every year that the capital was in Philadelphia, and one of the first social affairs in the White House was John and Abigail Adams's New Year reception in 1800.

Almost the only traditions still observed are noise-making and drinking, but the Danes have added a curious fillip to the celebrations. They "blow" the new year in, or, more appropriately, smash it in.

The cool thing to do is save up all of your old broken pottery and dishware. Then, on the stroke of 12, you run around to all your friends' houses and pelt the front doors with crockery.

Except for highway accidents and occasional eye injuries caused by popping corks, New Year's has never been particularly dangerous. The most common affliction is the hangover, for which – though mankind has been tippling for thousands of years – no one has yet devised a remedy.

There are nearly as many putative cures, however, as there are people who drink. The Japanese walk around wearing gauze surgical masks soaked in sake. Haitians take revenge on demon rum itself, by sticking 12 black-headed pins into the cork in the bottle.

THE ONLY PROVEN method is that old favorite, the "hair of the dog" – another drink. Or two. Or three, possibly leading to another good toot and even worse hangover.

But it's all part of the New Year's game, as is another – peculiarly American – custom devised by the capitalistic economy to mesmerize the bleary-eyed on the morning and afternoon after.

Future social historians will record that on New Year's Day in 20th-century America, no one visited anyone. No one felt compelled even to speak. They rolled out of bed, turned on their television sets and paid silent obeisance to a ritual of 22 armored giants chasing each other around a football field.

The History of New Year's Celebrations Part 1

2011-12-26T06:07:00.000-08:00

The following article (and cartoon at left) appeared in the Lorain Journal around the end of December, 1969. It's an interesting look at the history of the New Year's holiday and a good way to buy me some time while I enjoy this week with family!

****

New Year's Eve: It's Mankind's Oldest Holiday
By M. J. Wilson
(Newsweek Feature Service)

FIFTY YEARS AGO this December 31, American cities exploded in a series of drunken orgies unparalleled before or since. People guzzled as if each drink would be their last, because they believed it would be: the onset of Prohibition was but a few weeks away.

With Repeal, normalcy returned – at least theoretically. But normalcy on New Year's Eve seems to be excess. Urged on by atavistic impulses we don't understand, we will once again this year be observing a series of mad traditions that may end in tragedy on the highway and are guaranteed to cause, at the very least, pangs of headaches, dyspepsia and remorse.

New Year's is the oldest continually observed holiday on record – anybody's record. Babylonians observed it as early as 2600 B. C., with the quaint custom of humiliating their king before the temple of a god named Marduk. If the king wept, the upcoming year would be good. If not, watch out. (Babylonians cried easily.)

UNTIL THE MIDDLE of the 18th century, the new year fell on any date determined by potentates, priests or oracles. The Egyptians started afresh whenever the Nile overflowed. The Greeks chose the first moon after June 21 – a date which itself was none too secure.

In the Middle Ages, some countries started from the vernal equinox, some from Christmas, some from Easter. Finally, in 1752, the Protestant countries (including the American colonies) accepted the calendar devised by Pope Gregory in 1582, and January 1 was agreed upon. (The Chinese and the Jews, however, still observe a free-floating new year.)

Throughout history, the advent of the new year has symbolized death and rebirth. The old year was to be driven out, and the best way to exorcise its tired and testy spirits was with noise – explosions, fireworks, bells, gongs and guns.

And of course, the best way to get into a frame of mind for making a din that would drive away evil spirits was to get yourself good and lit.

Twenty-five centuries ago, a Hindu medical writer described the after-effects of such a blast: vomiting, loss of appetite, heartburn, lassitude, continued thirst, tremors of head and limbs, a palpitation, weakness of joints, respiratory difficulty, giddiness and a feeling as if one were wrapped in a sheet.

Once the demons were driven away, there were all sorts of omens and portents for the celebrant to heed. It was widely believed that the first day of the year determined what the other 364 would be like. So people dressed neatly, did a little work, paid their debts, returned borrowed goods and filled their cupboards with food.

****

In Part 2 of this article tomorrow, we look at early New Year's customs in a young United States, as well as some cures for hangovers!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T04:48:00.000-08:00

Here's wishing all of my readers, followers and friends a Joyous Christmas and Happy New Year!

Christmas Tree Musings

2011-12-24T04:30:00.000-08:00

Here's another Ohio Edison ad featuring our old pal Reddy Kilowatt, from the pages of the Lorain Journal around Christmas 1969. It's a public service message touting how cheap it is to light your Christmas tree with electric lights as compared with candles.

Contrary to the ad, I don't think too many people in 2011 remember when candles were used to light the tree (unless they traveled to the present in a time machine).

****

Speaking of Christmas trees, the spouse and I have different opinions about when to put them up.

Her tradition while growing up was for her family to do it the day after Thanksgiving.

Now if I remember correctly, my family waited until it was closer to Christmas – maybe 4 or 5 days – before putting it up. We didn't like to rush it. After all, it was something special that you only did once a year. We didn't want to get tired of looking at it.

We would decorate the tree while listening to holiday music as part of the ritual (possibly Herb Albert's Christmas Album, which was a favorite in our house). And we did it very reverently and carefully – making sure certain special ornaments got a prime location and were positioned close to a light. Tinsel (the old-fashioned kind that you saw in the 1960's) had to be carefully and evenly draped – not merely slung – over a branch.

Nowadays, as a compromise with the spouse, I put up and decorate our tree around the second week of December.... and then we pretty much ignore it until Christmas! I have to really make an effort to remember to plug it in, despite Reddy's advice.

Now, our cats don't ignore the tree, and make shambles of it daily. Both Louie and Boo Boo could hardly contain their excitement watching me put it up! And I was just asking for trouble when I decorated it with small bird ornaments.

As of last week, amazingly, only one ornament had been destroyed. Louie filched a lightweight cardinal ornament (made out of some kind of styrofoam) from the display, roughed him up and dumped him – Mafia style – in his water dish.

We found the poor bird floating appropriately in a pool of bright red water.

This week it's been a whole nother story. I came home Monday night and the tree was toppled! All of the little bird ornaments – the cardinals and bluejays – had been stripped and were AWOL. The garland was half torn-off and the lights were a mess. So I grumpily took everything off the tree.

And today, Christmas Eve – I'm going to start all over again and redecorate it. Hopefully this isn't the start of a new tradition.

Merry Christmas!

1969 EST Christmas Ad

2011-12-23T02:18:00.000-08:00

Here's a neat ad that ran December 24, 1969 in the Journal for Elyria Savings & Trust (now FirstMerit Bank). It features the actual signatures of the employees as the branches of the Christmas tree – a great, original gimmick.

I showed this to the other artist at my work so we could figure out how this was done. We decided that there was probably an oversized template that all of the employees had to sign, probably with small lines to help guide them printed in non-photo blue (so they wouldn't be picked up by the graphic arts camera).

We also reasoned that there must have been different versions of the tree, with a different branch arrangement depending on the number of employees.

But no matter how it was accomplished, it was pretty clever.

Ted Jacobs Christmas Ad 1950

2011-12-22T03:28:00.000-08:00

Here's another 1950 Christmas-themed newspaper ad. It's a handsome ad for the much-remembered Ted Jacobs store that ran in The Lorain Journal on Saturday, December 23, 1950.

It has a particularly heartfelt sentiment (click on it so you can read it), reminding us that the local businesses – and the people who owned and ran them – were really the heart of Lorain in days gone by. It is the memory of those stores and businesses that we frequented for decades that seems to stir some of the strongest sentimental feelings among people who grew up in the area.

Merely mention Ted Jacobs, Smith and Gerhart, Kline's, etc. to a group of older Lorainites and you discover that everyone has a pleasant personal memory of shopping at those Downtown establishments, as well as of the people who worked there for years.

Here's hoping that the present local businessmen continue to enjoy success and loyalty from the community, and that a new generation will rise out of these awful economic times to continue to carry the torch for our beloved Lorain – and create new memories as well.

First Federal Savings Christmas Ad - 1950

2011-12-21T02:53:00.000-08:00

Here's an ad for my favorite local bank that ran on December 13, 1950 in The Lorain Journal. It's for First Federal Savings & Loan promoting their 1951 Christmas Club.

I still have my Christmas Club there; got my genuine First Federal measuring spoons and gravy shaker as my freebie gift for keeping it open this year.

But as usual, when I went to go Christmas shopping this past Saturday, I looked for this year's club loot which I had stashed in an envelope so it wouldn't get spent on groceries or something else. But as usual, it had been spent for something else!

Wish I could remember what it was.

Lorain's Nativity Scene

2011-12-20T02:38:00.000-08:00

Did you know that Lorain's official Nativity display used to be set up in Lakeview Park?

The article (above), from the December 1950 pages of the Lorain Sunday News weekly tells the story. I found it in the newspaper clippings file of the Lorain Public Library. (Give it a click so you can read it.)

The Lorain Moose Lodge and the Lorain Junior Chamber (Jaycees) co-sponsored the original Nativity project.

And since my blog is affiliated with the Lorain Morning Journal, here is its version of the story. It appeared in that newspaper on December 21, 1950 against the backdrop of the Korean War. (Sorry for the poor quality of the microfilm material.)

Anyway, the Nativity scene was moved to Washington Park (now Veterans Memorial Park) across from Lorain City Hall the following year. The story from the Lorain Sunday News is below; at the time, the newspaper took credit for convincing the city that the park directly across from city hall should be decorated for the holidays, instead of being "dark and dismal."

I don't think the 1951 figurines are the same ones in the present cramped nativity scene (below).

Lorain's Nativity Scene 2011

Isn't it sad that they have to be stuffed into a hut and then surrounded by chicken-wire in 2011?

Sandy Claus - 1969

2011-12-19T02:36:00.000-08:00

The gone but not fogotten Sandy's hamburger chain (which I first profiled back here in a multi-part series) did a nice marketing campaign during Christmas 1969. The ad above ran in the Journal on December 4, 1969 and introduced the promotion: 3 sleds that were going to be given away at both the west side (Oberlin Avenue and Meister) and the south side (E. 42nd Street) locations.

The cartoon carolers in the ad are a bit unusual: all male, and the one in the middle looks strangely like a Russian czar.

As you can see, by this time Sandy's had replaced the original full-body dancing blonde lassie logo with the brunette 'head only' version. I never understood why they did that, especially since the blonde was on the twirling signs.

Anyway, this ad was followed by another ad on Thursday, December 11, with a nice touch: a Scottish 'Sandy Claus'.

An article in the business section on Monday, December 15 (below) gave some more information on the promotion and listed the first winner.

****

Sandy's Has Santa, Sleds and Sandwiches

Lyle Olson, manager of Sandy's Restaurant on E. 42nd Street across from Southview High School, and all his fine staff of lads and lassies wish one and all a Merry Christmas and best wishes for the New Year.

To help keep the holiday spirit in the minds of customers this Christmas season, Olson has been giving away sleds to the luckiest of his sandwich munchers. The first of Olson's hamburger and milk shake fans to win a sled was Robert Gou, of 4225 Camden Ave., Lorain. To be a lucky winner no purchase is necessary – just stop in at Sandy's and register. Another sled will be given away next Saturday, Olson said, adding that Santa Claus made his stop at Sandy's recently with candy for the kids.

But there's another reason to make Sandy's your stop during the holiday season and that's for a rest and refreshment break during those long shopping trips. Wash down a tasty hamburger, cheeseburger or even a Great Scot with a thick fresh milkshake or other beverage and you'll be ready to hit the trail again with renewed zip.

Sandy's has a secret about the way they prepare their foods for the best in freshness and taste. But the raw materials – the ingredients – are so important to good flavor that they don't keep it secret about where they buy their stuff. "It's high quality ingredients," Olson said, "that give us the best possible start on flavor. We buy Oberlin Farms Shake Mix and milk products and get quality ground beef and pork from C. H. Gundlach & Sons Packing Co., Sandusky. They are also the suppliers for the Meister Road restaurant.

Olson and his Sandy's Southview staff keep the restaurant dining area and kitchen spotless so you can eat the best food in a bright, clean place. Eat either at a table in the restaurant or carry out an order for eating in your car or at home. And keep watching for Sandy's chicken. As soon as equipment is delivered and installed, it will be here, Olson said.

Remember the Miles Kimball Catalogs of the 1960's?

2011-12-16T02:49:00.000-08:00

1967 Miles Kimball catalog

One of the surest signs that Christmas was on the way in our household was the arrival of the Miles Kimball catalog from Oshkosh, Wisconsin. I don't know about you, but I always enjoyed thumbing through it as a kid. (Now as an adult male, I pretty much hate shopping.)

That's why when I saw this 1967 edition (at left) on Ebay, I had to get it. It was only a few bucks, but well worth it – just for the memories it brought back.

As soon as I saw the cover, I vaguely remembered that paintings like the one shown often appeared on them. This one is signed by John McClelland. A quick search on the internet reveals that he did quite a few of them for Miles Kimball, right into the 1980's. (Here's a link to some prints that are for sale.) He appears to still be painting, too – here's a link to his online portfolio.

Anyway, when you opened the catalog, you always saw a letter from Alberta herself. They were memorable because the letter included a cartoon illustration onto which a black and white photograph of her head was plopped. It gave her a whimsical personality, and that, along with the whole "Oshkosh, Wisconsin" thing, made the catalog kind of memorable.

Here's the 1967 letter. (Click on it and all of the items on this post for a larger, readable version.)

The part about the catalog that I liked best were the short little stories with cartoon illustrations that were sprinkled throughout the catalog. In this catalog the theme was the 'history of the origin of toys" (as mentioned in the letter.)

Here are a few samples. They were actually quite creative and you could see someone spent a lot of time making the rhymes clever.

Of course, the catalog itself was very interesting to a kid, filled with all sorts of little toys along with the things for grownups. None of it was very expensive.

Here are a few of the pages featuring toys. On this page I recognize the "tunnel of fun" as something we had in our house, as well as that little rocking horse.

Here's a couple more toy pages. On the first page, I recognize the 'nest of wooden clowns' as something we had; I have no doubt Mom ordered it from Miles Kimball! (I wonder whatever happened to those clowns?)

This page is unusual because there's actually some licensed toys on it (Batman, Bozo the Clown and Laurel & Hardy).

Here's a page with some Peanuts items. I still think the 1960's were the heyday for Charlie Brown and Snoopy and the gang, since that was the era of the best TV specials. (By the way, I still have the Snoopy doll with the aviator outfit shown below.)

Believe it or not, there were also things for men in the catalog too. Here's a sample of some manly-type stuff.

And we can't forget good ol' Fido either. I like the rawhide pipe and the plastic vinyl reindeer head for him to chew on and mutilate. Also– that ScooPup was ahead of its time! Dig the sunglass-wearing femme fatale smoking (with cigarette holder) while she scoops up her pampered poodle's poop. Beats using a couple leaky plastic grocery bags!

I almost forgot a sample page of women's products! Check out some of the zany beauty gadgets. I'm not sure what I'd do if the spouse wore the Glamour Garde to bed! Probably sleep in the other room!

But what about the catalog now, in 2011? What's it look like? Ah, it's in full color as to be expected. But no more painted covers, no letter from Alberta, no little cartoon stories.

Oh well. At least it's still from Oshkosh.

Visit the Miles Kimball website here.

Ohio Edison Christmas Ads, 1959 & 1969

2011-12-15T03:25:00.000-08:00

1959 Ohio Edison ad appearing in the Lorain Journal

It's been a while since I posted any ads featuring my favorite advertising mascot, Reddy Kilowatt. He's all over the place in Ohio Edison ads in the old Lorain Journals on microfilm at the library – almost every day in the 1950's and 60's it seems. (That's probably why I'm such a big fan of his – I was indoctrinated as a kid.)

Here are a pair of Christmas-themed ads, one from 1959 and one from 1969.

The 1959 ad (above) suggest electronic Christmas gifts of electric ranges, refrigerators, dishwashers and washer and dryers. (I'm not sure that would be such a good idea; it wouldn't fly in my house, that's for sure.) The ad has a lot going on in it; Reddy is almost an afterthought.

The ad from ten years later is smaller and a little more subdued. At least Reddy gets to play Santa.

1969 Ohio Edison ad from the Lorain Journal

In 2011, you can still buy some products from Ohio Edison. On the FirstEnergy website online store, you can buy a variety of things, including ceiling fans, lighting, portable heaters, thermostats and even water heaters.

But the Ohio Edison appliance store in downtown Lorain, selling refrigerators, electric blankets, mixers and lamps, remains a quaint memory.

Lakeside 10 Apartments, Then and Now

2011-12-14T03:23:00.000-08:00

Keeping the lakefront apartment theme going...

Here's a vintage postcard of the former Lakeside 10 Apartments located right in my town, Sheffield Lake. (The postcard currently is listed on Ebay by Hogan's Postcards and Collectibles.)

The apartment building looks quite nice here and really evokes a feeling of the California lifestyle. But that battered Plain Dealer box in the lower left hand corner kind of wrecks the mood. (I wonder if that qualifies as product placement?)

The advertising slogan back then was "Elegant Living on Lake Erie Shores." Some of the amenities listed on the vintage postcard include a heated outdoor swimming pool, tennis court, putting green, indoor parking, a party house, saunas, whirlpool and exercise room, central air-conditioning and dishwashers.

Anyway, many people may not know that the Lakeside 10 Apartments were built on the site of the old Sheffield Lake City Hall, which was sold to a developer in 1967 for $20,000.

Lakeside 10 Apartments first showed up in the city directory in 1970 as being under construction, and in the 1971 book as its first real listing.

Today the name of the apartment complex is Erie Shore Landing. Here's a link to their website.

And here's the current view. The apartments still look quite impressive and modern.

At least the old Plain Dealer box is gone – but the tree on the right seems to have gone through a rough time since the days of the vintage postcard. The fence isn't looking so great either.

Big Town and Big Lots

2011-12-13T03:34:00.000-08:00

I'm sure a lot of Lorain Baby Boomers have pleasant memories of shopping at the Big Town store at the corner of Oberlin Avenue and Tower Boulevard. It was conveniently located nearby, and seemed to have just about everything you needed – similar to Walmart today.

I know my family was in there a lot when I was a kid. It was only a few minutes from our house, so it was a great place to pick up small stuff that we needed.

The Big Town out at the Ridgeville Shopping Center opened first. Then the Lorain outlet opened on Thursday, November 17, 1966 with the ad below appearing in the Journal the day before.

Big Town lasted into the early 1980's, but sadly the building was vacant by 1985. Fortunately, another business with 'Big' as part of its name recognized the location as a good one: Big-N-Small Lots. It first showed up in the 1989 book.

By 2003, the more familiarly-named Big Lots was listed at that location.

The Big Lots store on Oberlin Avenue in Lorain, located in the former Big Town store

Big Lots is a weekly stop for the spouse and me, part of the Saturday night routine after dinner at Mutt & Jeff's a few blocks away. It's a great store, a real necessity if you want to save money during these bad economic times.

But I'll probably always think of Big Town when I walk into that building.

****

It's pretty hard to find any trace of the Big Town department stores on the internet. The words 'Big Town' seem to have been attached to several malls or shopping centers across the country that had nothing to do with the two Lorain County stores. I'm guessing it was purely a regional chain.

If anyone has any information about the Big Town stores, please leave a comment.

Lorain Overlook Apartments Open – March 1928

2011-12-12T05:15:00.000-08:00

After posting the "Then & Now" pix of the Lorain Overlook Apartments last week, it bugged me that I didn't know when the apartments first opened. I had mentioned in the post that the apartment house had first appeared in the 1926 City Directory, so naturally I assumed they opened in 1925. So I hit the 1925 microfilm, looking for a grand opening ad or article and hoping I would get lucky.

Late March 1928 Classified Listing

After fruitlessly searching for an hour and a half through various months of 1925 and 1926, I finally used my noggin. Why not check the "For Rent" classified ads?

I jumped ahead to 1927 – and found no listings for the Overlook. Skipping ahead to a 1928 roll, I finally found an Overlook listing. From there, it was fairly easy to backtrack and find the Grand Opening article.

The result of my search is above, from the Lorain Journal of Tuesday, March 6, 1928. (Give it a click so you can read it.)

The article reveals some of the features of the Overlook. The locked main entrance doors could be electronically unlocked from each unit, Seinfeld-style. Each suite had an in-a-door bed in the living room. (My apartment still had the door but no bed.) A private bathing beach was provided for the tenants as well.

When I lived there in the mid-1980's, being able to sit behind the apartment house and enjoy the lake up close was the best part of living there. I still miss it.

1959 Deluca Bakery Christmas Ad

2011-12-09T04:01:00.000-08:00

1959 newspaper ad

Here's another Lorain Journal ad from Christmastime 1959 (the year I was born), promoting holiday goodies prepared by well-known Lorain icon DeLuca Bakery. As I've mentioned before in this blog, we went to the branch on Oberlin Avenue in our neck of the woods, as opposed to the one on Reid.

It's too bad that it is so difficult for the family bakeries to survive in these times. The in-store bakeries in the locally-owned Apples grocery store are really good, with a lot of great, tasty items – but somehow it isn't the same as going into DeLuca's, Bob's Donuts, or Bill's Bakery.

There's something about going into a real bakery that can't be duplicated by a self-serve grocery store bakery. It's not only the aroma of fresh-baked items, but it's also the interaction with the people who actually baked the goods.

Every once in a while I do head up to Amherst to get something good from Kiedrowski's, or a fantastic pie from Mama Jo's. The stuff isn't cheap either, but both places are always busy.

Here's hoping that someday, Lorain can produce and support another full-service family-owned local bakery.

1959 Welch's Sports Christmas Ad

2011-12-08T03:25:00.000-08:00

Here's something you don't see anymore: an ad showing Santa Claus recommending guns as ideal Christmas gifts! (Give it a click so you can read it.) As a card-carrying NRA member, I don't have any problem with it. But I can understand how it would be rather politically incorrect in these violent times.

The ad, for Welch's Sports at 1330 Broadway in Lorain, dates from the November 25, 1959 Journal. It's also interesting to me (since I started out as a paste-up artist) that the ad seems to have been cobbled together from different sources (clip art, bits of other ads, and some new typesetting).

****

The ad's theme of 'a gun makes an ideal gift' made me think of that Little Rascals episode called Birthday Blues with a very young Spanky, and Dickie Moore as his older brother. In that episode, their father is too cheap to buy their mother a birthday present, so the boys decide to raise some money and buy her one themselves. They go window shopping for a present, and Spanky suggests buying their mother a gun.

Spanky: "Oh Boy! Let's get that gun for her!
Dickie: "What would she do with a gun?"
Spanky: "Shoot Papa!"

Of course, the boys raise their cash by raffling off pieces of that infamous birthday cake that sounded like a slow-motion foghorn and was stuffed with 'prizes' (such as a hairbrush or pair of galoshes).

Lorain Overlook Apartments Then & Now

2011-12-07T03:17:00.000-08:00

Here's an undated photo of my old apartment house: the Lorain Overlook Apartments at 2715 E. Erie. (Thanks to the Black River Historical Society for allowing me to copy this photo.)

The vintage photo is hard to date. There's no real landscaping, so the barren view makes me think that the photo dates back to the apartment's early days. There are also structures visible to the east of the building (I've been told there were garages at some point) – instead of the present parking lot – so that also makes me think the photo is earlier rather than later in the building's history.

The Lorain Overlook Apartments first showed up in the city directory in 1926 at 2709 E. Erie. (The previous person who had that address was Gurnie Randall; that makes sense, since the Overlook Apartments were supposed to have been built on or near the site of the old Randall's Grove picnic grounds. (Click here and scroll down a bit to read more about the history of Randall's Grove as it relates to the interurbans and local streetcars on the Lake Shore Rail Maps website.)

I've been told, and the city directories seemed to confirm it, that at one point the Overlook was the only real apartment house in town.

Here are some recent views from last weekend. (I couldn't exactly match the angle without standing on the front porch of the house directly across from it – sorry about that.) There are some minor differences in the fascia above the entrance, but the building is still in great shape.

Like I said, I used to live in these apartments back in the mid-1980's. I thought my apartment was pretty nice for an efficiency. And cheap too – I think I was paying $185 a month.

My apartment had rounded archways between rooms, beautiful wood floors and even an ironing board that swung down from inside a door in the wall (right out of a Tom & Jerry cartoon.) I loved hearing the lake at night, and seeing it up close when I went to and from my car. I could see the lake from my windows too.

The faucets in the bathroom sink were interesting. You had two faucets; one for hot and one for cold. You would have to mix it up yourself to get lukewarm so you could shave.

My biggest complaint? Being so close to the lake, my apartment was infested with huge centipedes – ugh! Besides on the floors, they would show up everywhere: on the walls, in the sink, on my bath towels, etc. It was so bad that I used to spray all my baseboards with Black Flag every morning before work – and then come home each night and sweep up the carcasses.

There were also some of the most exotic-looking spiders and beetles I had ever seen in the hallways, with all sorts of unique markings. But that's all part of living in an old building I guess.

Back then, the Overlook was also on the bus route out of Downtown Lorain (since it's right on US 6) – so for a while I could step right out my front door and catch the bus to Cleveland. But it was on a limited schedule, and it was cheaper to drive to Aqua Marine Resort in Avon Lake, leave my car there and ride the RTA.

Broadway and Route 6 Then & Now

2011-12-06T03:33:00.000-08:00

My 2011 "Then and Nows" continue to wind down with the crummy weather...

Here's an undated photo from the photo archives of the Black River Historical Society, showing the intersection of Broadway and Route 6. The view is looking east toward the swing bridge with the Broadway Building on the right. (Click on it for that "You are There" experience.)

To me, it's a fascinating photo of a thriving Lorain. Just seeing the gas station and other buildings on the left side of the photo is amazing. (Today, you would never guess there was anything there – ever.) I like the old US 6 and Ohio 2 signs too.

I tried like crazy to find something in this photo that would nail down a specific year, to no avail – sometimes research is like that. We know the Broadway Building was built in 1926, and that the Swing Bridge was replaced by the Bascule Bridge in 1940. I couldn't determine whether the corner service station was always a Gulf station, or if it had become one at some point, because it is not listed by gasoline brand – just by owner. (For another view of the service station, click here.)

I couldn't find the Primrose Beauty Salon in the available books either (but the Library is missing all three books from 1934 to 1936, making it an incomplete search). I'll have to recheck the books for that Zoric Laundry & Dry Cleaning business and report back here later.

The canvas awning on the Broadway Building to the right of the 'Billiards' sign is pretty tattered – so the Broadway Building can't be all that new. And I don't see the Bascule Bridge under construction either to the south of the Swing Bridge. So I'm guessing the photo is early to mid-1930's.

Perhaps one of my more knowledgeable readers (Hi, Dennis!) has an idea of when it was. Or maybe somebody who knows their old cars!

Oh yeah – here's the now shot from this past weekend.

O'Neil's Talking Christmas Tree - 1959

2011-12-05T02:30:00.000-08:00

Since my last post resulted in several comments about O'Neil's talking Christmas tree, I thought I would post this. It's a full page newspaper ad that ran in the Journal the day before Thanksgiving 1959 promoting the gabby holiday spruce.

Unless my memory is faulty, I remember the talking Christmas tree still being there in the mid-1960's. It was outside in the courtyard that was surrounded by the various stores. My parents had to coax my siblings and me to go up and chat with it. (It did have a friendly, female voice – and asked a lot of questions.)

I remember being puzzled as to how a talking Christmas tree fit in with the whole Christmas legend. Nevertheless, it was a more innocent time, and I'm sure I attributed it to the magic of Christmas, the one time of the year when everything is geared to making little kids happy.

Santa Arrives at O'Neil's - 1959

2011-12-02T03:10:00.000-08:00

Remember when it was a big deal that Santa Claus would arrive at all of the various shopping centers and department stores in and around Lorain right after Thanksgiving?

He used to arrive at each one of them, it seemed – preceded by huge ads, sometimes full-page, in the Lorain Journal.

Above is the ad heralding Santa's arrival at the old O'Neil's shopping center (now Centre of Sheffield) in 1959. I like the way O'Neil's ad insinuates that theirs was the real Santa. He must have been, since all of Lorain County was going to welcome him, according to the ad!

Anyway, when it came to Santa showing up at a shopping center while I was growing up, he never seemed to arrive in a sleigh. It was always a helicopter or a fire engine, which seemed kinda suspicious to me.

Nevertheless, since I was pretty gullible, I figured that it must have been one of Santa's army of ubiquitous lookalike 'helpers', hamming it up with the locals.

****

A "new breed" Santa – ugh!

Speaking of Santa's helpers, there seems to be a new trend developing. Nowadays, when I see one at a mall with kids on their lap, they always seem to be one of the "new breed" of Santa's with a real beard. The problem is, most of the time the beard is trimmed too short. Plus, these "new breed" Santa's don't seem to wear padding either (too phony, I guess) and they're often fairly scrawny. They look like their day job is peddling herbal tea in a health food store! They have no twinkle in their eye, either; they're just a guy who parlays his white whiskers into some extra cash during the holidays.

Give me a big, fat Santa with a phony beard and a pillow under his coat any day over these guys.

Some Gel-Pak Building History

2011-12-01T03:15:00.000-08:00

1968 Lorain Journal Ad

In early November the official groundbreaking event for the conversion of the former Gel-Pak Building at 1205 Broadway into the new home of Lorain County Health & Dentistry took place.

At the time, the online Morning Journal article had a sketchy history of the building. The article (here) said that it was built in the 1920's and "home to a garment company that sewed parachutes during World War II. Then the Gelman family bought it," according to the article.

I did a little research in the Lorain Public Library to find out more about this building. It turns out that quite a few companies called it home.

Here's what I found in the City Directories.

The building's 1205 Broadway address was not listed in the 1921-22 book, but the 1926 book showed that a Richman Brothers store was the tenant. (At that time, the Gelman Brothers fruit business was at 1218 Broadway, where it would remain until the mid-1960's.)

The Richman Brothers store continued at the 1205 Broadway location into the 1930's. Around 1937, a clothing manufacturer called the Goodall Company (apparently associated with Richman Brothers) was listed along with the Richman Brothers as tenants. But by 1940 the building was vacant.

A storage company – National Terminals Corporation – showed up at that address in the 1942 book and would continue to be listed until 1947, when the building went vacant again.

By 1950, another company – Sci-Eff-Ec Laboratories moved in. Their business was connected with chemical engineering and water conditioning. They shared the building with another new tenant: S. Weitz and Company, another clothing manufacturer.

By 1954, S. Weitz and Company was joined in the building by Lorain Screen Process (a sign and card writer).

From 1955 until 1958, S. Weitz shared the building with the Lorain County Board of Elections. (You can see their name painted on the north wall of the building in the photo at left.)

By 1959, S. Weitz was out and another company, Lorain Storage & Warehousing was a tenant along with the Lorain County Board of Elections. These two tenants would share the 1205 Broadway address until around 1963.

By 1964, the building picked up another tenant: Joseph & Feiss (another clothing manufacturer). The Lorain County Board of Elections and Lorain Storage & Warehousing remained. (The warehousing company did have a Gelman connection, as Alvin Gelman was listed as the manager.)

Around 1972, Joseph Feiss was no longer listed with the other two tenants. In 1974, the Board of Elections and the warehousing company were joined by Stillman-Deutsch, as well as the Banana Specialties Division of Gel-Pak.

The Board of Elections seemed to hang on there until around the mid-1970's, when the building became part of a block of buildings solely associated with Gel-Pak. 1143 Broadway, 1145 Broadway and 1205 Broadway were all part of the Gel-Pak empire.

Curiously, by 1987 Joseph & Feiss had apparently returned to share the building with Gel-Pak.

Around 1988, the Gel-Pak name disappeared from the City Directory, replaced by another Gelman family business: Lorain Foods, Inc.

Thus this old building has seen a lot of tenants over the last eighty-some years.

Amish Country Revisited

2011-11-30T03:18:00.000-08:00

Deb's Golden Bear in Apple Creek

The day after Thanksgiving, the spouse and I headed back down to Amish Country. (Remember our hijinks with the GPS last time?)

Well, we still managed to get lost this time. Although I printed out a nice MapQuest itinerary showing how to get to Kidron from Berlin, the spouse revealed at the last minute that she wanted to stop at Lehman's Hardware in Kidron first.

We tried using the MapQuest instructions in reverse to get to Berlin, but we still got lost and ended up in Apple Creek. Three maps that we had didn't help either, as none of them seemed to have the obscure numbered road we happened to be on!

While turning around in Apple Creek, I happened to notice this cute little ice cream stand called Deb's Golden Bear drive-in. It looked like it was shuttered for the season, which is fine since I didn't need ice cream after my usual Thanksgiving overeating.

Lehman's Hardware in Kidron is a great place if you are into nostalgia. Besides carrying tons of old-fashioned merchandise, the whole place is decorated with antiques. We only spend a couple of hours there, but you could easily spend the day there exploring every nook and cranny.

Along with our other purchases, we picked up a couple of bottles of hard-to-find root beer: Dog N Suds and Frostop. (Do you remember that the Berardi's in Huron used to be a Frostop drive-in with the huge rotating root beer mug on top?)

Lehman's also had dozens of other rare soda pops, including Kickapoo Joy Juice.

After our usual trip to Berlin, we stopped at the Everything Rubbermaid store in downtown Wooster on the way home. The store is located right on the square in a four-story historic building with wooden floors. It's crammed with great Rubbermaid products (lots of close-outs) so we stocked up. What did I buy? A manly Rubbermaid mini-cooler to replace my (ugh) soft fabric purse-like First Federal Savings of Lorain lunch bag.

As usual, instead of dinner at Der Dutchman or some other Amish restaurant, we headed over to our favorite Perkins on US 250 in Ashland to have a nice supper with the locals, and even got our favorite server (April) again.

I still think that Perkins outlet is the best one we've ever been to in Northern or Central Ohio. We saw the same manager hustling around again as usual; he's always there every time we go. The service and food is always great and April even sent us home with coffee to go for our one hour drive back to Sheffield Lake.

All in all, a great day trip – and we did it without the GPS!

Sisters Chicken Then and Now

2011-11-29T02:40:00.000-08:00

The weather is getting crummy, making it tough to take good photographs. So I gotta squeeze in some final 'Then and Nows' while I still can, before it snows!

Here's another one of those 1986 Lorain shots that were on Ebay for a while. This one shows the former Sisters Chicken & Biscuit restaurant that was located at the corner of Fifth Street and Reid. (Prior to that, the location was City Parking Lot Number 4.)

Sisters Chicken & Biscuits was a subsidiary of Wendy's beginning in the early 1980's. Apparently, the chain never quite clicked with the public and was sold off by Wendy's to its largest franchise owner in 1987.

Coincidentally, this Lorain restaurant at 221 Fifth Street first appeared in the city directory in 1987. (There was also an outlet at 940 N. Leavitt Road near the intersection with Cooper Foster Park Road.) Unfortunately, the Lorain restaurant didn't make it and the building was vacant by 1993. Another restaurant (Chello's) moved in later, before the building became vacant again.

Today the site is the home of the Social Security Administration building. Here is the link to the Morning Journal's account of the relocation of the Lorain office.

That brick box is really crammed onto that property!

Christmas Giants in Lorain

2011-11-28T03:32:00.000-08:00

After crossing the Bascule Bridge heading west on Saturday morning, my bleary eyes came upon this odd site: a giant Santa Claus in Veterans Park who seems to be yelling across the street to an equally gigantic (and toothy) Nutcracker who seemed to be guarding the fortress known as Lorain City Hall.

Last year, the menacing nutcracker with fists clenched (I still think that nutcrackers are a dubious Christmas icon at best) was positioned at the bridge approach at the intersection of Broadway and West Erie just a hundred feet away. I like that this year the Light Up Lorain committee installed the non-threatening tin soldier (holding a candy cane) there instead.

According to the Morning Journal, this year's Light Up Lorain was a big success.

Santa must have vanquished his nutcracker foe. This morning I drove through the area again; Santa was still standing tall, and the nutcracker was a pile of deflated fabric.

The Day After Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T05:41:00.000-08:00

Nowadays, the day after Thanksgiving means only one thing: Black Friday.

Which to me seems like a ridiculous name. It certainly isn't similar to Black Tuesday – October 29, 1929 – when the stock market crashed. It's a good day – heck, even a great day – for shoppers and a retailers alike. So why is it Black?

Anyway, to a lot of Baby Boomers like me, the day after Thanksgiving used to mean one thing: special cartoon programming for kids who had the day off from school.

Since my memory isn't always the greatest, I went back to the newspaper microfilms to see just what was on the day after Thanksgiving from the mid-1960's to the early 1970's. As it turns out, there really was just one TV network that did this: ABC. And more often than not, it was a wholesale rehash of the Saturday morning cartoons from that period.

The website www.tvparty.com confirms my suspicion with a description of ABC's traditional day-after-Thanksgiving cartoon block which you can read here.

1967 seemed to be a banner year as far as I'm concerned. The day started off early with Bullwinkle at 9:30, followed by Milton the Monster, Casper the Friendly Ghost, The Fantastic Four, Spider Man, Journey to the Center of the Earth, King Kong, The Beatles and George of the Jungle last at 1:30.

Here's the TV listing for Thanksgiving 1967 with the next day's listing under it. (Give it a click so you can read it.) It sure is weird remembering how stations signed off back then – and how some of them signed on with a Farm Report!

1967 Thanksgiving Day TV Listing

Here's ABC's animated turkey (remember him?) promoting the 1972 cartoon festival. By then, I must not have been watching; I don't remember any of those cartoons!

Happy Thanksgiving - 1959 style!

2011-11-24T04:22:00.000-08:00

Here's a full page ad that ran in the Journal at Thanksgiving time the year I was born: 1959. It's comical that the family seems to be right out of a 1950's sitcom.

Click on the ad so you can read the roll call of vintage Lorain, Elyria, South Amherst and Oberlin firms that sponsored the ad.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Cleveland Greyhound Station Then & Now

2011-11-23T02:22:00.000-08:00

If you're doing a little traveling during the holidays – specifically a bus trip back to Northeast Ohio – then this post might be of interest.

The vintage postcard shows Cleveland's classic Art Deco Greyhound Bus Station. It's probably fairly new in this shot.

Over the years it got pretty run down. Then, the station, which had been built in 1948, got a much-needed facelift and it looks better than ever today. (This January 2008 USA Today article tells about the revamp.)

Anyway, during one beautiful autumn day last month I ventured downtown during lunch and grabbed this shot of the station.

Here's another vintage shot from Ebay from the other angle.

And yet another from Ebay.

And here's my corresponding shot. Cleveland's skyline sure has changed since then.

The Big Boy's Dual Identities

2011-11-22T03:06:00.000-08:00

Before I close out my series on Manners Big Boy, I thought I would point out something that has confused me for some time: there are two different Big Boy mascots.

The one you see the most often is the one with checkered overalls above, hoisting his namesake sandwich. He's kinda chubby and has that distinctive upswept hairdo. He appeared in all those comic books that were given away at Big Boy restaurants. (Click here to read the very first issue at www.animationarchive.org.)

Courtesy of www.animationarchive.org

He was featured prominently in the movie Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) when Dr. Evil escaped at the beginning of the movie, by launching himself into space inside a rocket shaped like a Bob's Big Boy statue.

Dr. Evil's Big Boy-shaped rocket in orbit

The other Big Boy is the one that we grew up with in Northeast Ohio, featured in the Manners ads. This lad isn't as chubby, and has a slingshot sticking out of his back pocket. He also wears a paper hat with the Manners name on it. (Sometimes it just says "Big Boy".)

In his early appearances, his overalls are plain. Later on, they have stripes.

He was featured in his own comic books too.

1961 comic book giveaway

So why are there two different Big Boys?

The chubby one in the checkered pants is more or less the 'official' one, meaning that he evolved as the mascot for Bob's Big Boy in California, where it all began in 1936. You can visit the Bob's Big Boy website here.

When Bob's Big Boy decided to franchise their sandwich, Frisch's in Cincinnati (owned by Dave Frisch) was the very first licensee. They had the rights to Big Boy in Ohio, Kentucky and a few other states.

You can visit the Frisch's Big Boy website here.

The Frisch's mascot ended up looking a little different from the Bob's Big Boy version. And he still does to this day.

According to the Tom Feran article, Bob Manners bought the rights to the Big Boy from Dave Frisch and thus ended up with the Frisch version of the mascot.

I actually like him better than the Bob's version.

To me, he's got a lot more personality. He looks like a fun-loving kid with his slingshot. He's actually taken a bite out of the double decker, rather than delivering it to a customer. He's running away with it!

Here's how he looks now (below).

Compare it with his chubby counterpart at the top of this post. It looks like the now hatless, hapless mascot is slowly being forced to conform to his double-chinned double! Note the wavy hair and checkered overalls. Plus, it looks like he has been forbidden to sample the burger. "Don't eat it, just deliver it as per our instructions," he's been told by the corporate suits.

Nevertheless, the two different Big Boys coexist peacefully. And I still like the Frisch's one better.

****

Back in the fall of 1999, I took a road trip to Columbus to shoot along U.S. Route 40, the National Road. I snapped my way (no digital camera then) from one side of the town to the other, shooting a variety of things.

One of the subjects was this Frisch's Big Boy which was right on U.S. 40 on West Broad Street.

I read online that it's gone now, replaced (just like the Kahiki, Columbus' famous Polynesian supper club) by a Walgreens. Ugh.

****

And as a final note, after writing about Big Boys for several days now, I just had to have one! (It's been about 12 years since my last one!) So after a haircut and some business out in North Olmsted last week, on a night that the spouse duped me for dinner, I headed out to the Big Boy at 12920 Brookpark Road in Cleveland.

I walked in, ordered a Big Boy for take-out, and sat down. They had a nice display of Big Boy items for purchase in the lobby, including a nodder, a bank and a travel mug. No comic books, though.

Back in the car, I excitedly unwrapped my Big Boy. It looked great – huge – and tasted fantastic. As I told my co-worker the next day: "It was the best thing I ate all year."

Until Thanksgiving dinner, of course.

The Hoop/Manners Story Part 2

2011-11-21T03:25:00.000-08:00

1966 Phone Book ad

Manners had an immediate presence in Lorain County with the purchase and conversion of three Hoop Drive-ins, and the construction of a brand new outlet at 2173 N. Ridge Road near the intersection of State Route 254 and State Route 57. (Meanwhile, the lone Hoop Drive-in also continued on for a bit at 2017 N. Ridge Road, which is where Clinton Avenue meets N. Ridge Road.)

Manners really believed in promotion, and the company ran large ads in the Lorain telephone book (like the one shown above) touting their signature Big Boy double decker burger. The company also ran big regular ads in the Lorain Journal.

November 18, 1968 newspaper ad

It was hard not to be aware of Manners if you were a kid growing up in Lorain, with two restaurants on the west side. I've mentioned before how Manners used to give away free Big Boys for good report cards.

Since the Big Boy name was franchised, different restaurant chains bought the right to use it in certain territories. While Manners had the rights for a while in Northern Ohio, they must have lost them or decided to drop them at some point because by 1970, the ads no longer featured the Big Boy name or its iconic slingshot-carrying mascot.

1970 phone book ad; note the generic double decker burger

The Manners restaurants began to disappear in the early 1970's. The lone exception was the one at 2173 North Ridge Road. It was the only Manners left in town by 1975. (The Henderson Drive location, discussed in a separate post last week, had become Poor Richard's Pub.)

Strangely enough, the Hoop Drive-in made at curtain call at 2405 W. Lake Road for a few years starting in 1975. But by 1980, it was Tudy's Coffee Shop, followed by Bonnie's Place (in 1982). Sadly, by 1985 it was storage for Jeancola's Market. It would later spring back to life as Antigoni's, and later, the Fish Shanty and others. The restaurant sign has said Pete's Family Restaurant for quite a while, but I think the current business occupying the building is called the Beachcliff Diner.

Former Manners at intersection of Leavitt Road and US Route 6 in Lorain

The Manners at 2173 N. Ridge Road near Route 57 was still in the phone book in 1977. Then, in 1978 it returned to its roots as it was very briefly Bob's Big Boy. By 1980, it was also a Tudy's and by 1983 it was listed as vacant. It was also Twigs Family Restaurant around 1986 before becoming Imperial Gardens Chinese Restaurant in the late 1980's. Today, the North Ridge Park office park is at the location and there is no evidence that there ever was a restaurant there.

Former Manners Big Boy location on North Ridge Road near State Route 57

The Manners building at the southern end of Oberlin Avenue is gone as well. The property has been used for years to display a variety of small sheds and other buildings for sale by Storage Buildings Unlimited.

Looking east across Oberlin Ave. at former Manners location

To read a nice story about the Manners restaurants by noted Plain Dealer reporter Tom Feran, click here.

The Hoop/Manners Story Part 1

2011-11-18T03:20:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, the Hoop restaurant on Henderson Drive was the first of four units in Lorain.

As of 1957, there were three locations: 1850 Henderson Drive, 2405 W. Lake Road and 2017 N. Ridge Road.

By 1958, another location was added: the corner of Foster Park Road and Oberlin Avenue. Thus there were Hoop Drive-ins on the east, west, southeast and southwest sides of Lorain.

1960 Telephone book ad showing all 4 Lorain locations

By 1961, however, the Henderson Drive unit became part of the Manners Big Boy chain.

The three other Lorain Hoop restaurants continued to be listed in the phone book as of 1965. Apparently there was also an Elyria restaurant as well at 146 E. Bridge Street.

Then, a deal was struck between Richard Head, the owner of the Hoop restaurants, and the Manners restaurant chain. On August 3, 1966 this article appeared in the Journal, signaling what appeared to be the end of the line of the Hoop chain. But as we will see in a later blog post, that was not quite the case.

****

New Manners Drive-In To Be Built on SR 57

A new Manners Drive-in Restaurant will be built on the northwest corner of SR 57 and SR 254, it was announced yesterday by Robert L. Manners, president of the firm.

No other details were divulged except that land acquisition is in progress.

MANNERS RECENTLY purchased three area "Hoop" restaurants which were operated by Richard Head, now a Manners associate.

The "Hoop" restaurants were located at SR 254 and Oberlin Ave., W. Erie Ave. west of SR 58, and at 146 E. Bridge St., Elyria.

Manners also announced the purchase of four El Dorado restaurants in Cleveland.

MANNERS FOUNDER and principal stockholder began "as a cook with another man as manager" in 1939, just east of Euclid Beach Park on old Lake Shore Blvd. in Euclid.

His first unit "was a cinder track," he said, "and we served cars at the curb while peeling potatoes by hand."

Manners said he hopes to build about three new restaurants a year and "overhaul" older Manners units "as soon as possible."

A new Manners Hospitality College in East Cleveland will aid in training all future employees, Manners said.

What used to be in that building? The Hoop – among others!

2011-11-17T03:19:00.000-08:00

Right next door to the former Gulf station on Henderson (you can see it in the background in the photo above) is this well-known building. Until fairly recently it was part of the national Denny's chain, but before that it was different things to different generations of Lorainites.

If you go right back to the very beginning, it was the first restaurant in the chain of local restaurants called The Hoop, showing up in the city directory in the mid-1950's.

1955 Hoop telephone book ad showing neon hoop on roof of restaurant

A 1955 newspaper ad included some information about the owner and his view of the business. It stated, "Mr. Richard Head, owner of the Hoop Restaurant, came to Lorain from Cleveland four years ago with a definite purpose in mind – to serve the people of Lorain the BEST in foods at POPULAR prices. Situated in an ideal location and designed in a modern trend, the Hoop will make you more relaxed and comfortable to enjoy your dining. Because of this home cooked food and courteous service, Mr. Head is working on an expansion program which will include several restaurants throughout Northern Ohio."

By the early 1960's however, this particular restaurant had become Manners Big Boy.

It continued as part of the Manners Big Boy chain until about the mid-1970's, when it became Poor Richard's Pub.

It was very briefly the Quarter Horse Restaurant and Saloon in 1981.

But by the mid-1980's, and into the 1990's it was the Double R Ranch House. (I remember this restaurant the most.)

By the late 1990's, however, there was no listing for the address at all. It wasn't until about 2004 or so that another national chain – Denny's – decided that 1850 Henderson was a great location.

Photo courtesy of Lorain County Auditor's website

Unfortunately, Denny's closed in January 2011 (which was reported on the Morning Journal site here). The building is currently for sale.

Here's hoping that another business moves in and keeps the kitchen open at that historic restaurant location.

What used to be in that building?

2011-11-16T03:12:00.000-08:00

Here's another building that I've wondered about on Lorain's east side. It's at 1443 Colorado Avenue, across from the shuttered Wonder Bread store.

I've always kind of admired this stylish building and hoped that someone would fix it up right.

Anyway, it first showed up in the City Directories in 1955, as the home of Ashyk's Drapery Shop.

By the 1958 book, it was a branch of Central Bank. The bank was a longtime tenant, from 1958 until the early 1970's. ( I don't remember this at all. I have very little recollection of Lorain's east side while growing up, until around '74 when I became pals with some guys who really liked to ride their bikes all over Lorain. )

Very briefly, the building housed Shannon Pizza in 1975. After that it became the longtime home of The Times (or The Lorain County Times) until at least 2000.

A few other businesses were in and out of there since then. Today, as the photo shows, it is the home of Art of Cutz.

What used to be in that building?

2011-11-15T03:37:00.000-08:00

Over the years, I've passed this building at 1906 Henderson Drive many, many times while heading west over the High Level Bridge (the Lofton Henderson Bridge). Almost every time, I've looked at the building, wondering what brand of gas was sold there in its heyday – as well as wondering just when was its heyday.

Today seemed like a good day to hit the city directories in the Lorain Public Library to find out.

There was no listing of Henderson Drive in the books that I could find until around 1950, and even then there were no listings for anything on that side of the bridge. It wasn't until the 1958 book that the building showed up, as Gully's Gulf Station.

Within 2 years, the station apparently changed hands and became Larry's Gulf Station.

Two years after that, it showed up in the 1962 book as George & Lucy's Gulf Station.

Surprisingly, the building's career as a service station ended in the 1963 book, when it became the home of Black's Muffler Service. I never would have guessed that it had happened that soon.

By 1975, it was still Black's Muffler Service, but it was vacant by the 1978 directory.

Since then, it has been home to a variety of businesses, including Northside Motors (1981), Lorain Cab Company (1986) and Al's Storage Center (or Al's Service Center) beginning around 1988. I'm not sure what's in there now.

By the way, Gulf is still around, although it didn't seem to be popular enough to sustain a service station in a heavily traveled location in Lorain. Maybe it was the challenge of turning in and out of the place while fighting bridge traffic that discouraged motorists from becoming regular gas customers.

Hazel's Restaurant Then & Now

2011-11-14T03:36:00.000-08:00

Although this blog is supposedly dedicated to Lorain County nostalgia, I seem to rarely venture outside my hometown Lorain city limits. So every once in a while, I try to remedy it with a visit to another fine city, in this case Elyria.

I'm embarrassed to say that I still don't know my way around Elyria very well. It's probably how the spouse (who grew up in Sheffield Lake) felt when I took her down Oberlin Avenue in Lorain early in the dating game. "I have no idea where we are!" she confessed to my great amusement and disbelief.

I'm not that bad in Elyria – I can find the town square, the hospital, Cascade Park, and Stewart's Appliance– but that's about it. Finding anything else means Google time!

That's what I did to find the location for Hazel's Family Restaurant, shown at the top of this post in an undated photo from an old city directory (from the 1950's I believe).

I had assumed the restaurant, located at 615 Cleveland Street, was long gone. So it was a pleasant surprise to see that the business is still there and apparently doing well (although I was disappointed that the cool signage had been updated).

It was quite easy to shoot south down Abbe Road, turn right and arrive at the restaurant.

According to its sign, the business has been there since 1945. The little research I could do revealed that originally, at least, there really was a Hazel: Hazel Olmstead, who was the manager and, I assume, owner (although there seemed to be many Olmsteads involved with the enterprise in 1947).

The widening of Cleveland Street in front of the restaurant robbed it of its sidewalk and treelawn. Also, over the years the trees have unfortunately disappeared, and another building is crammed next door.

Hazel's proximity to the junction of so many highways probably contributed to its success over the last sixty-some years. I'm just glad to see any business manage to survive that long in Lorain County.

Lorain Arena Restaurant Grand Opening November 1959

2011-11-11T03:32:00.000-08:00

Keeping the Lorain Arena theme going...

I found this ad on microfilm by accident at the library on Wednesday night, so I quickly scanned it and cleaned it up a bit. It's a full-page ad that ran in the Friday, November 13, 1959 Lorain Journal, promoting the opening of the Arena Restaurant, located in the stylish building in the front of the skating rink (I've mentioned it before on this blog back here.)

One thing I've noticed after looking at a lot of old Journals on microfilm is that grand openings of restaurants and other businesses in Lorain back in the 1930s, 40s and 50s used to be something really special, almost always warranting a full page or at the very least a half page newspaper ad. (I'll bet the Morning Journal is nostalgic for those days!)

Giving something away – in this case, orchids – seemed to be a popular gimmick too.

The ad above is also typical in that it shows a photo of the person responsible for keeping their customers happy. That's the way it should be.

Along with the grand opening ad, there were always a bunch of other ads in the same edition congratulating the new business. These were usually taken out by some of the contractors and other well-wishers. Seeing all these ads together really created a lot of curiosity and interest for the new business. It also united the community a bit to pull for the success of the new endeavor.

Nowadays, new restaurants open with barely a peep in the newspaper – maybe a small ad at best. Is it that surprising that a lot of them fail?

The Last Days of the Lorain Arena – 1968

2011-11-10T03:19:00.000-08:00

I haven't mentioned the former Lorain Arena for a while in this blog. It's still for sale (here), and still listed by blog reader Bill Latrany.

The other day on microfilm I found the article at left, which fills in a bit of the history when the building was making its transition from skate arena to industrial use. The article is from the September 17, 1968 Lorain Journal.

Rather than make you squint at it using the unpopular Blogger viewer, I've transcribed it below.

****

Council Sounds Death Knell On Lorain's Skating Arena
by Tom McPheeters
Staff Writer

Pleading that they are not really "nasty old men", Lorain City Council last night approved a zone change to allow light industry to operate in the Lorain Arena.

At a public hearing before council's meeting, the rezoning faced opposition from roller skaters, who will now lose the one roller rink in Lorain.

The skaters were aware that their real argument was with the owners of the Arena, who maintain that they must close down because business simply is not good enough to continue.

So some of the sharpest questions from the audience were aimed at finding out why the failure, and why the city had done nothing to save a valuable recreation facility.

Mrs. Jesse Ceja, of 2110 Homewood Drive, Lorain, who had been active in organizing opposition to the closedown, asked the owners, "why couldn't you come to us and ask for help."

She maintained that the Arena had never been run in a way that would make it attractive and that skaters had put in many hours of work over the years helping to keep it going.

"Give us a chance to help you make your business what it should have been when it started out," she said.

Speaking for the owners, lawyer Ray Miraldi agreed that "perhaps there has been some mismanagement." To be realistic, he said, it is necessary to recognize that the owners have never gotten a return on their investment, still have a large debt, and simply can't afford to subsidize recreation.

Asked why the city never stepped in, Mayor Woodrow Mathna replied it had never been asked, and probably would have been reluctant to spend the money if it had been asked.

Councilman-at-large Michael Bulzomi added that the Youth Center had considered the Arena as a home at one time, but found it unacceptable. They had also considered roller skating at their present building, but lack of space and money to make it feasible at present, he said.

Council, obviously anxious to see that the roller skaters had their full say, allowed an hour for the public hearing. However, said Councilman William Parker, "we cannot control, through zoning, what goes out of an arena. We can only control what goes in."

Motor Homes Inc., the new tenant, is very satisfactory, he said. He emphasized that the operation, fitting insides to camper vans, is very "light" industry.

According to Ray Tripp, who will manage the plant, work on alterations should start in the next few days, just as soon as workers can be hired.

Plans, which were approved at a special meeting of the Planning Commission earlier yesterday, call for sales and accounting offices to be built in the front of the present Arena structure after the canopy and sign have been removed. The front lot will be landscaped and provide 11 visitor parking spaces.

There will be 25 employee parking spaces on the west side, allowing an access lane for fire trucks, and 76 spaces for the camper units on the east side of the building, enclosed by a cyclone fence.

****

Speaking of the Lorain Arena, here's a link to a great article about by award-winning writer Alana Baranick about Jeanne Krenek of Lorain, who was well known in the skating world and who sadly passed away in September. She skated and trained/coached many others at various Lorain County roller rinks, including the Lorain Arena and Lorain Skateworld. (Contrary to what the article says, however, the Lorain Arena was not built on the site of the Coliseum.)

The article also includes a great vintage photo gallery of Jeanne skating and performing.

Leavitt Road Mystery Building

2011-11-09T03:22:00.000-08:00

Building formerly at intersection of Leavitt Road (in foreground) and Grace Street

Sometimes it's fun just to poke around in the Black River Historical Society's photo files. You never know what you'll find. In this case, I found just what this blog doesn't need: another mystery.

It was in the BRHS files that I found a small packet of photos labeled 'old motel being torn down' and recognized the building immediately. It used to be on the southwest corner of Leavitt Road and Grace Street, a few blocks south of West Erie Avenue.

I passed this building hundreds of times over the years, wondering what its story was. I always thought it was kinda cool in a retro way.

Here's a view of the rear of the building. Whoever used to live there was all set for winter, judging by that firewood stash.

And here's a view of the front left of the building (below). The brick building at the far right of the photo was the home of Bob's Firearms for many years.

It's a strange little building, with the separate, private entrances and mailboxes. It looks like a motel. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any concrete evidence in the city directories that it ever was one – or an apartment house either.

What's really strange is that the building seemed to be both an apartment house and a commercial strip unless I am misreading the city directories. In addition to average people living there, through the years there were various businesses apparently located in the building, including a donut shop (Bob's Sweet Cream Do-Nut Shop), a jewelry store (Heald Jewelers), a launderette (Nite & Day) and a barber shop. Maybe they were located in another building on the property. Does anyone remember?

It also looks like the barber who had a shop on the property lived in a house immediately south of the building at 1446 Leavitt Road. Here's that house, and a glimpse of the mystery building (with a dumpster behind it) just before demolition in this shot from the Lorain County Auditor's website.

Throughout the 1960's and 1970's the mystery building was usually half-empty.

By the 1980's, the tenants consisted of a few retirees. And by the early 2000's, the building was gone. Today, only the original house at 1446 Leavitt remains on the property, having been expanded and renovated so much that it is virtually unrecognizable.

Here is the 'now' shot of the property today (compare it with the photo at the top), showing the renovated house and the site of the demolished building. Only its driveway remains to indicate that something was ever there.

If anyone remembers anything about the demolished building, please leave a comment! I'd love to know if the low, one story building was originally a motel that was later converted to apartments – and if there was another commercial building in the back.

Vogt Oldsmobile Then and Now

2011-11-08T03:19:00.000-08:00

Back here in October, I had featured the building shown at left (located at the corner of Broadway and W. 30th Street) in a post that listed some of the various automotive companies that had once called it home.

To refresh your memory click here.

Anyway, while flipping through some old Lorain Journals in the library this past weekend, I saw an ad for Vogt Oldsmobile in the June 21, 1955 edition. Included in the ad was the photo below, showing the building right in its heyday.

It's nice to see these old buildings in their prime, when they were a part of a thriving Lorain neighborhood, instead of looking like a walled-up fortress as they do now.

Lewis Radio & TV Service Then & Now

2011-11-07T03:26:00.000-08:00

I found this photo of the Lewis Radio - TV Service building at 421 Colorado Avenue in an ad in one of those commemorative Lorain Journals at the library. The ad appeared in the June 21, 1955 edition.

The advertising copy mentioned that the company had provided service to Lorain and the surrounding area for six full years, repairing radios, televisions and other electronic equipment.

When I saw the ad, I remembered that I had featured Lewis Radio & TV Service prominently on my other internet project: Oakie's Treehouse.

For several years, Lewis Radio & TV had an advertising mascot named TV Teddy that appeared in their ads (below).

1956 phone book ad

For a history of TV Teddy and Lewis Radio & TV Service, click here.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot – here's the 'now' photo of Lewis Radio & TV.

Don't forget to turn back the clock!

2011-11-04T03:25:00.000-07:00

This is kind of amusing. It ran on the front page of the Journal on October 29, 1966 as a reminder to turn the clocks back since Daylight Savings Time was ending that weekend. (It ends early this Sunday morning at 2:00 AM for us too.)

Although the caption doesn't specifically state it, I'm assuming that Evelyn Vogel wasn't really up there on the Journal clock tower in the Norm Bergsma photograph – or was she?

I'm guessing the photo was a tribute to the classic Harold Lloyd 'dangling from a clock' pose from the 1923 film Safety Last (below).

Here's the Journal clock tower as it looks today.

From the E-Mailbag #6

2011-11-03T03:19:00.000-07:00

Back on my post about the Elks Club, I featured an 1895 photo of the Club when it was the residence of Dr. A. N. Garver.

I noticed that someone commented that they were researching their family history and were wondering if their grandfather, Dr. W. P. Garver was related to the doctor who owned the house.

Since I spent a lot of time researching my own family tree through the years I can identify with the reader's desire to know. (Once, I impulsively drove to Ft. Wayne, Indiana just to look up an obituary in their library, and then turned around and drove the 200+ miles home).

As for the reader's question, I spot-checked a variety of Lorain City Directories through the years and came up with a whole bunch of Dr. Garvers. The book from 1919-1920 contained all of them – three to be exact.

Unfortunately I could not find a listing for the specific Dr. Garver they mentioned. Hopefully one of the three listed is a relative.

****

I received a nice email recently from Phil Van Treuren, who reads this blog. He's running for Amherst City Council, and his family has deep roots in Lorain County.

He sent me a link to his blog, where he recently featured an antique Notary press (at left) that his wife (a licensed Notary Public) still uses.

This reminded me that back in the 1980's, I used to get all my documents notarized at the gas station that used to be at the corner of Abbe Road and Colorado Avenue in Sheffield Village. (I think it was a Gulf station.) It was a real Mom and Pop place, and in addition to gas and car repair, it had while-you-wait Notary service as well.

It was right out of Mayberry, U. S.A. and I feel bad every time I drive by its former location and see that vacant lot.

From the E-Mailbag #5: Brady's Dairyland

2011-11-02T03:21:00.000-07:00

Back in my post From the E-Mailbag #3: Westgate Dairy Isle, a reader mentioned via a comment that they remembered another soft serve place (besides the Westgate Dairy Isle) on W. 21st Street. They remembered it being near where the Arthur Treacher's Fish & Chips was located, and that "they had the best soft serve."

At first, I couldn't even imagine what it could have been, and assumed it was a business that moved in after one of the businesses along that strip had gone out of business. I looked around in some city directories in the 1980's to no avail.

Imagine my surprise when the ice cream place turned out to be one that was there before all those businesses (such as Casey's) moved in – none other than Brady's Dairyland and Donut Shop.

Like the 1966 ad shown states, this second Brady business was right "around the corner from Brady's Restaurant." It disappeared from the city directory in 1970 when Arthur Treacher's first appeared, with the same 2511 W. 21st Street address.

1965 City Directory Listing (partial) for W. 21st Street

Memorial Shrine in Mohican State Forest, Then & Now

2011-11-01T03:27:00.000-07:00

I mentioned we were down at Mohican State Forest over the weekend, and as usual I managed to work in a 'Then and Now" photo during my travels.

Above is a vintage postcard of the Memorial Forest Shrine, first dedicated on April 27, 1947. Both the forest and the stone chapel, sponsored by Ohio Federation of Women's Clubs, originally honored the men and women of Ohio who lost their lives during World War II. Later, the scope was expanded to include Ohioans who died in all wars since then, and inside the chapel is a list of all of their names.

Here's my 'now' shot.

It's a different sign, and may be in a slightly different location, but at least you can see how much the forest has changed in the last 64 years.

Incidentally, we went inside, where in addition to the roster of names, there was a display of memorabilia that included a few photos from the chapel's dedication. I was surprised to recognize none other than Admiral Ernest J. King in one of the photos! (I reproduced one of the photos below.)

He attended the the 1947 dedication ceremony along with Ohio Governor Thomas J. Herbert and other dignitaries.

Admiral Ernest J. King is at far left; Governor Thomas J. Herbert is at the podium

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T03:46:00.000-07:00

Here's a nostalgic Halloween photo for all you cat lovers, right out of the pages of the September 1955 issue of Ideals magazine.

Ideals was a terrific coffee-table magazine that came out several times a year for more than 50 years, filled with inspiring stories, essays. nostalgic articles and poems that coincided with the change of seasons. It also had great full-page photographs like the one above.

Unfortunately, it ceased publication a number of years ago. I guess its heyday had passed.

I have a couple of vintage issues from the 1950's, and they are a lot of fun to look at. Normally I'm not a big fan of poetry, but the short collection of verses in each issue (by both well-known and anonymous authors) are fun to read and really put me in the mood for whatever holiday that particular issue is celebrating.

Here's one of them from the September 1956 issue.

Hallowe'en
by Fretia Young Miller

While the owls screech
And the huge bats fly,
The old witch rides
Her broom thru the sky

And down in the valley
In the farmer's corn,
Stands the old scarecrow
With the goblin's horn.

And while he blows
There gathers 'round
The eerie ghosts
Of Cemetery Town.

There also are the
Green-eyed cats
That paw and yell
At the huge black bats.

And while I stand
And gaze at the sky,
The phantoms pass
Of days gone by.

All the ghosts
Both fat and lean
Gather together
For a gay Hallowe'en.

****

Speaking of nostalgic Halloweens, for the second year in a row the spouse and I have found ourselves down in Butler, Ohio right in the middle of their trick-or-treat night. It was a real time-warp – and one of the highlights of our weekend.

Let me explain.

Each year we try to head down to Mohican Lodge around the end of October to enjoy the fall colors in the park. On Saturday night we have dinner at Dutch Heritage restaurant, and on the way back to the Lodge, we have to pass through Butler on State Route 97.

Now according to its Wiki entry, Butler only had a population of 921 people at the time of the 2000 Census. And I think every one of them participates on trick-or-treat night, which for the second year in a row coincided with our drive through town after dinner.

The whole scene was old-fashioned and surreal. Friendly firemen had firetrucks parked at both ends of Ohio 97 at the entrances to the city, and were handing out candy and posing for pictures. Parents escorted their kids of all ages, attired in great homemade costumes, along the main street. People, some wearing costumes themselves, sat on the front porches of old houses holding huge bowls of candy to hand out, taking in the whole scene.

We saw no roving gangs of kids running around unescorted; no carloads of out-of-town trick-or-treaters horning in on the neighborhood fun.

I suppose this sounds very much like any other city's typical trick-or-treat night. But there was something heartwarming and nostalgic watching Halloween unfold against the hilly Central Ohio backdrop in the tiny village that dates back to the late 1840's.

Kresge and Jupiter 1966 Halloween Ad

2011-10-28T04:56:00.000-07:00

If you looking for cheap Halloween costumes for your kids back in 1966, then this Lorain Journal ad for Kresge's would have been of interest to you. Kresge's of course is the forerunner of Kmart (it officially changed its name in 1977).

As opposed to some of the other Halloween store ads that I've posted here that featured lots of TV cartoon character costumes, this Kresge's one is loaded up with generic types.

For little boys, there's an astronaut, a secret agent, Frankenstein, a skeleton and a devil. I wonder how the devil costume would go over today?

For the girls, there's a rather boring selection: a masked bride (maybe she was going to pull a heist), a fortune teller and a hatless witch.

The only true licensed costumes pictured are Lost in Space and the lone TV cartoon, Hanna-Barbera's Secret Squirrel.

Here's a portion of the Jupiter store ad from that same week. (I always thought it was strange that Lorain had both a Mars and a Jupiter store.)

I like the Tom Cat costume with its now politically incorrect image of what looks like Tom chasing Jerry with a gun!

We also have perennial favorite Casper the Friendly Ghost (we had that one for sure), a generic black cat, Dracula and the Phantom.

The Phantom? What's a comic strip character whose heyday was long past by the 1960's doing in there?

To see a neat website with a lot of vintage Halloween costumes from both the Kresge and Jupiter ads, click here.

Oh well, it's amusing to see what passed for mass-produced costumes back in the 1960's. Nowadays you see a lot of creative homemade costumes, which is a good thing.

But being raised on TV as I was, I was happy to go trick or treating as good old Huckleberry Hound.

Midway Mall 1966 Halloween Ad

2011-10-27T03:16:00.000-07:00

Forty-five years ago, Midway Mall was still new, and here's a cute full-page ad for it that ran in The Journal on October 26, 1966. (Give it a click, although the annoying new Blogger viewer may not size it good enough for reading – for that you need to click on 'Show Original' within the viewer.)

The full-page promoted Midway Mall's Halloween festivities, which included a costume parade and contest for the kiddies, as well as cider and donuts.

I don't remember getting out to Midway Mall much as a kid in the 1960's. Downtown Lorain was still hanging on, and that's where my mother headed to shop on Saturday mornings with my brothers and I in tow for our trumpet lessons. O'Neil's (later replaced by May Company) was still around as well, and a much more convenient choice for shopping than going all the way out to the Mall. (The spouse and I still miss that May Company store.)

My mother's trips to Midway Mall were reserved for Saturday afternoon and, mercifully, my brothers and I didn't have to go shopping too often. Midway Mall wasn't really of interest to me until I began dating, and that's when the Mall's twin theaters came in handy.

Woolworth's Halloween Ad 1961

2011-10-26T03:10:00.000-07:00

For all you Baby Boomers out there, here's an ad that ran in the Lorain Journal on Thursday, October 26, 1961, a few days before Halloween – exactly 50 years ago today. (Give it a click so you can read it.)

It's funny seeing Halloween costumes in the ad that I know that we had. I've mentioned before in this blog that we had quite a stash of those lightweight masks with eye holes (and small mouth slits) that had an elastic band that kept it on your head. Inevitably the mask would crack where the hole for the elastic band was, and the durned thing wouldn't stay on your head.

We definitely had the Fred Flintstone and Huckleberry Hound masks. I'm sure we had the matching outfits too, but I don't remember them too well – probably because we often wore a coat over the whole thing if it was a chilly night.

Amazingly, you can still find these vintage costumes on Ebay once in a while.

Here's a bunch of vintage Hanna-Barbera masks currently on Ebay. They were found in the basement of a long-closed department store.

Huck and Peter Potamus seemed to have fared the best in terms of being faithful to their appearance in the cartoons. Yogi Bear and Top Cat are hilariously off-model color-wise!

Own a Piece of Sheffield Lake's Cottage Past

2011-10-25T03:19:00.000-07:00

The driveway leads to your cottage

I went out to Avon Lake to pick up some firewood on Sunday morning, and on the way back noticed this lakefront cottage (highlighted above) right on US 6 in Sheffield Lake for sale. Its address is 5475 E. Lake Road.

According to the ERA Rath real estate site, the house dates to 1911 – making it a century home. There's also another house, and a garage included as part of the same property. So there's a built-in guest house.

Here is the real estate listing. For anyone who ever wanted to live on the lake in a nice little cottage, I think it's a bargain for $249,500 (although I'm sure the spouse wouldn't agree, though.)

I did a little digging at the library but couldn't come up with much. The earliest listings for E. Lake Road in the Lorain City Directory date from the late 1930's and the only thing listed at this end of Sheffield Lake in those early books is the 103rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry complex, which is right next door to the east.

The 5475 E. Lake Road didn't officially become an address apparently until around 1954, when several other listings in the vicinity appeared.

I suspect it was just a summer cottage (originally with no postal address) that eventually became a year-round home like so many others in Sheffield Lake. Its proximity to the 103rd O.V.I., which had its first reunion at its lakefront property in 1908, makes it a little interesting.

By the way, 5465 Lake – right next door to the west – is for sale too, (below).

There are several homes that are part of that property too, and they date from 1940. Unfortunately, the real estate listing indicates that they are tear downs. So it's goodbye for sure to a little bit of Sheffield Lake's past.

It will interesting to see if one buyer purchases both properties, combines them and puts a huge house on the lot.

You've got to admit, it's a great location. You can walk to the 103rd O.V.I. Pancake Breakfasts!

Mill Hollow in Autumn

2011-10-24T03:22:00.000-07:00

Although the fall foliage has been a little disappointing up here by the lake, if you venture south a little bit it gets a little better. As usual, I headed down to Mill Hollow to see what was going on, and came back with a couple of shots.

I was lucky that the late afternoon sun gave the iconic Benjamin Bacon House (above) a nice golden glow. According to the Lorain County Metro Parks website, the house dates back to 1845. And I was surprised to read on the plaque out front (at left) that the house had only been open for tours since 1963.

Mill Hollow has been one of the favorite places in our family since it first opened. In the 1960's, it was there that my parents first introduced my siblings and me to camping, so it's still kind of a nostalgic shrine to me that I never get tired of visiting.

Ironically, though, for as many times as I've been to Mill Hollow in the last forty-some years, the Benjamin Bacon House Museum has never been open during my visit. It's almost kind of comical. One of these days, I'll get in there for a tour.

Anyway, there wasn't even a lot of great color down at Mill Hollow either. But it was great to get down there and drive around a bit.

American Legion Post 30 Then and Now

2011-10-21T03:06:00.000-07:00

Most Lorainites would recognize the above photo as the home of American Legion Post 30 on West Erie Avenue.

An interesting article ran on September 14, 1963 in The Journal, featuring the photo below, showing how the Post looked back then when it was for sale.

This is the way I see the building in my mind's eye, and I'm still not used to seeing the sawed-of version of it. Can anyone remember what happened, resulting in the shorter version of it?

Anyway, here is the article that explains why it was for sale at that time.

****

Project Is Reportedly Developing

A king-size real estate development reportedly is being planned for the north side of W. Erie Ave. and south side of Second St., between Oberlin and Hamilton Avenues.

Several residents in the area today confirmed reports that they were contacted about optioning their properties to a local representative developer.

No information could be obtained on what type of real estate project is being planned.

There were reports, however, that the project could be either multiple apartment buildings or a large motel with restaurant.

The properties being sought include American Legion Post 30 at 1112 W. Erie Ave., the largest real estate parcel in the area of the development.

Meanwhile, the American Legion property has been put up for sale.

Alex Roth, Lorain realtor, has placed a "for sale" sign in front of the American Legion Home, a landmark on Lorain's West Side.

An official of the American Legion said a contact had been made about selling the property for a new development.

The Legion has occupied the property since the late 1920's.

It was learned that the Legion is interested in constructing a new building smaller than the present quarters, much of which is not being used.

****

Well, whatever it was, the big development didn't happen, although American Legion Post 30 got their wish for smaller quarters.

By the way, I did a little research as to when the Post moved into that house.

Using strictly the city directories for information, the American Legion was at 732 Broadway in 1929. In 1933 they were at 200 1/2 Ninth Street. There is a huge gap in the available books, but the Post was at 1112 W. Erie by 1937 for sure.

That Burger Chef Roof-line

2011-10-20T03:35:00.000-07:00

Last week (here) I was wondering if the former Burger Chef on W. 28th Street in Lorain (now the home of R & J Southern Style Cooking) originally had the distinctive inverted "V" roof-line that was typical of the chain back in the 1960's. The building looked so different now that I wasn't 100% sure that the original structure hadn't been torn down and replaced by the present one.

Fellow blogger Alan Hopewell's got an excellent memory, and he confirmed that the original restaurant did indeed look like the illustration at left.

Anyway, I happened to drive by the building again since then, and swung around to the back of it with my camera. Sure enough, you could easily see remnants of the original structure hidden by the fake 'roof' (below).

Since I was already curious, I also hit the microfilm and came up with the opening date: the middle of September 1968. So Alan's memory is batting a thousand.

A Trip to Amish Country Part 2

2011-10-19T03:06:00.000-07:00

Vintage Postcard

I've already told you about our hijinks getting lost on the way to Lehman's. Well, since we were already on US 30, we decided to make a stop in Orrville before dinner in Wooster.

Orrville, of course, is the home of Smucker's®, and the company has a nice store and mini-museum there a minute or so off US 30. We mainly go there to pick up some exotic Jif® peanut butter variations (peanut butter is the staff of life in our house).

The Smucker's mini-museum was pretty good. It's interesting seeing all of the brands that Smucker's acquired over the years. Besides Jif®, there's Pillsbury®, Crisco®, Hungry Jack® and Martha White®.

****

But what about dinner? Well, our Amish Country jaunt ended with a trip to Coccia House in Wooster for pizza. (Remember when I mentioned it back here?)

Since I was first told about Coccia House from that friendly couple at the Lorain County Fair, I've heard about it a few more times. And with all that word-of-mouth buzz, I felt we just had to go there.

Coccia House was very easy to find, since it was close to Downtown Wooster. The business is located in a quaint old house in a residential neighborhood.

The first thing I noticed is that the large parking lot was packed. Once we got inside, I found out why. It's because nobody was going anywhere soon, whether you were picking up a pizza or waiting for a table like us.

It was a half-hour before we were seated, and another ten minutes before our waitress arrived. After that, it was an hour and fifteen minutes before we got our pizza. By then, I was so disgusted that I'm not sure any pizza was going to impress me. (Plus, I think I used up all my dinnertime conversation topics with the spouse for the next few years.)

So how was the pizza? Well, I hate to say this – but we were disappointed! I guess we've been spoiled with so many great mom-and-pop pizza parlors in Lorain and the surrounding areas, such as Yala's, Rosie's, our current favorite Selenti's, and even Stella's in Avon Lake, that nothing was going to measure up.

To be fair to Coccia House, I don't like any pizza with the cheese covering the toppings, which is how they do it. Otherwise, it's not a bad pizza. It had kind of a sweet sauce, a thick crust and generous toppings hidden under that blanket of cheese. But it just wasn't our cup of tea.

But despite my complaints, we were glad we went to Coccia House just for the experience of something new. It's obvious that an awful lot of people love their pizza.

As for me, I'm looking forward to my Selenti's pizza this Friday night.

****

So we bid farewell to Amish Country, determined to come back one more time this fall to do all the things we missed. But fate had one last cosmic practical joke in store for us.

The spouse decided that Dairy Queen would be a good dessert (so much for the whole Amish theme) for our disappointing pizza dinner, and she turned on the GPS unit one more time. The unit took me off my carefully planned route home and all I could do is trust it, since it was already dark and I had no idea where I was.

I followed the GPS directions, all of the turns, etc. and finally heard the unit announce, "You have arrived."

And we found ourselves sitting in a J.D. Byrider used car lot.

A Trip to Amish Country Part 1

2011-10-18T03:43:00.000-07:00

Vintage Ohio postcard

The spouse and I headed down to Amish Country last Friday. We got a pretty late start, so we missed our usual lunch at The Barn in Smithville.

Amish Country is kind of a funny thing to me. As a kid, I was never really crazy about going there; in fact it was kind of boring. All it really meant was a good dinner at Der Dutchman in Walnut Creek, topped off with some peanut butter pie.

I know I'm getting older because I kind of like going down to Amish Country now, especially in the fall. It's still all about eating to me, although strangely enough we never eat at Der Dutchman. I guess it's because Der Dutchman was the place my parents always took us to, and I wanted to make some new memories.

1960's Berlin Postcard

But one thing's for sure. Amish County is big business now. Berlin is almost unrecognizable to me – the overdeveloped commercial strip, the sidewalks choked with crowds, and especially the rush hour traffic! (Just try to head west out of Berlin late in the afternoon!)

Nevertheless, our favorite place to go to is Hershberger's Farm & Bakery in Berlin. We usually get some produce (squash and multi-colored cauliflower), some bread, maybe some preserves and some whoopie pies. Then it's a short trip down the road to Guggisberg Cheese – although we didn't stop there this time, because I had bought some of their signature baby swiss cheese at Marc's the week before!

The rest of the day was spent shopping and antiquing in Berlin. Then we usually cap off the day with a visit to Lehman's hardware in Kidron. However, we didn't make it there this time. Why? Because the spouse/navigator decided that she trusted her GPS more than my well-honed travel instincts. To make a long story short, somehow she set the GPS to use major highways to get there – so the GPS mysteriously routed us away from Kidron and towards Massillon instead!

Anyway, tomorrow I'll tell you about our decidedly un-Amish dinner: pizza at Coccia House in Wooster!

From the E-Mailbag #4: RMR Ranch

2011-10-17T03:20:00.000-07:00

I received an interesting email last week from Rae that was related to the obituary for Mary Lee DeRamus that was in the local newspapers.

According to her obituary, "Mary became one of the most successful African American female entrepreneurs in Lorain County, when she and two friends bought 125 acres of land off Albrecht Road in Elyria and opened the RMR Ranch Club in 1956. The club, which consisted of a riding stable of 17 horses, picnic grounds, restaurant and motel, also was a nightclub where notable entertainers such as Marvin Gaye and Al Green appeared. She later became sole proprietor and renamed the establishment the DMD Ranch. The last acreage was sold to the Lorain County Regional Airport in 1991."

Rae's question to me was,"Where the heck was this?"

That's a good question. And I didn't have a lot of luck finding out!

I hit the Elyria phone books and city directories at the Lorain Public Library and only came up with one listing (below) of the complex, in the 1961 phone book.

That's it. It was not listed under Restaurants, Night Clubs, Motels, Stables, etc. I checked several years before and after 1961 and came up with nothing. It wasn't in the street listings section of the books I checked either.

Looking at the Lorain County Auditor's website, there seemed to have been a few transactions of land on the south side of Albrecht Road adjacent to the aiport in 2006, but there are none listed that have the 1991 date listed in the obituary.

Here is an aerial view of one of those Albrecht Road properties that the airport purchased in the 2000's. At last this map gives you a general idea of where the RMR Ranch Club was located.

And here's a Mapquest map of the same area. According to an old map I have of the area, the intersection of Fowl and Albrecht is kind of Lorain County's answer to the 'Four Corners' area of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado – except in this case it is Amherst Township, Elyria Township, Russia Township and Carlisle Township.

Since there are so many private residences along Albrecht west of Fowl Road, there would have to be some undeveloped Ranch land left for the airport to purchase. So I'm betting that the Ranch was on the south side of Albrecht, somewhere between Fowl Road and West Ridge Road.

I'll try and dig some more in the more recent books, under the other name – DMD Ranch – listed in the obituary.

Does anybody have any recollection of the RMR Ranch? If so, please leave a comment!

Admiral Ernest J. King Painting Update

2011-10-14T04:02:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I did an update on this whole Admiral Ernest J. King painting caper, and a lot has happened since my last post.

To begin with, thanks to Joe Jeffries of the Lorain Public Library, we know a bit more about Chris Lewis, the person who painted the portrait. According to some clippings from the Chronicle-Telegram that Mr. Jeffries found, Chris Lewis was chief deputy in the Lorain County Sheriff's department during the late 30's and early 1940's. Lewis was also a sign painter by trade for 40 years and he made painting his hobby.

He was also a member of the Lorain Elks lodge, and one of the clippings mentioned that on October 20, 1943, "Chief Deputy Chris Lewis presented his own hand painted portrait of Admiral King to the lodge."

It had already been established that the large color painting at left was done by Chris Lewis and presented to the Admiral at the September 1945 Victory Luncheon. So what was this second King painting that was mentioned in the 1943 clipping? Were there really two paintings – or did the one bounce around a bit?

Fortunately, the Lorain Elks solved this mystery rather quickly. When I contacted them through their Facebook page about the possibility of a second King portrait by Chris Lewis, I received a nice reply from member J. Anthony Rich, who mentioned, "I think the painting is in our Lodge as we speak."

Mr. Rich kindly invited me to visit the Lodge, and he took me upstairs to their meeting room (which was very cool to see – especially since my grandfather was an Elk.) Lo and behold, hanging in one corner of the room was the painting that Chris Lewis donated to the Lodge back in 1943.

It's a lot smaller than the one that hung at Admiral King High School, and done on a smaller scale. But it's unmistakably Chris Lewis' work. He really was quite talented.

Strangely enough, he didn't sign either painting.

Anyway, Mr. Rich was nice enough to remove it from the wall at my request, since I was having trouble photographing it. But no matter which way it was held, or in which lighting, it was practically impossible to shoot without getting a reflection off the paint.

The shot at left is the best I could do.

Anyway, now the mystery shifts back to the original painting at the top of the blog. If it was presented to Admiral King himself as a gift, how did it ultimately end up at Admiral King High School?

I put this question to some of Admiral King's relatives at the dedication ceremony of the new elementary school, where the painting is now hanging. I happened to be standing by the stage while the family was being photographed, and when they started to disperse, I ran up and shouted, "HOLD IT!!! Do any of you ever remember seeing that large painting of the Admiral before, maybe in his house?"

Although most of the family probably thought I was a kook, one courageous women did talk to me. She assured me that she did not remember ever seeing the portrait before.

So my new theory is this: the Admiral decided to donate the portrait to some local organization or group, and it never left the area. Later, that same group decided it belonged at the high school.

We'll see.

Thanks again to Joe Jeffries for his assist with the research, and J. Anthony Rich and the Lorain Elks for the invitation to visit their Lodge and photograph the painting. And thanks of course to fellow sleuth Lisa over at Buster's House for inviting me along on this merry hunt.

From the E-Mailbag #3: Westgate Dairy Isle

2011-10-13T03:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I noticed a comment posted on my blog entry from late April about 1950's Lorain Dairy Queen ads (back here).

A person asked, "What was the name of the ice cream stand on W. 21st Street in Lorain, Ohio during the 1960's and 70's? It was located just past the Westgate shopping center and on the same side of the road. It is now for sale and from the picture it looks like the name on the large cone says Dairy Twist. However, we lived nearby and patronized it often but remember the name to be Dairy Isle. Can anyone refresh my memory?"

That's a great question. I thought about it, and even though as a kid I rode my bike there a couple of times from Skyline Drive, I couldn't remember what the name was originally, or even what it was when it closed. So I dropped by the library Wednesday night to find out.

It turns out that the official name of the ice cream stand when it opened around 1971 was Westgate Dairy Isle, at least according to the city directory. It kept that name all the way up to about 1994, when it became Mr. Twister.

It's kind of interesting that whether you enjoyed eating ice cream here, or at Lorain Creamery (like my family did) you had the train tracks running right alongside for entertainment.

Anyway, in case you have a hankering to run an ice cream stand, here's the link to the real estate company that currently has the business at 2910 West 21st Street listed for sale. It comes with two Taylor Ice Cream machines and a pizza oven!

Burger Chef - Then and Now (Sort of)

2011-10-12T04:06:00.000-07:00

A typical mid-1970's Burger Chef (Courtesy JSF's Burger Chef Tribute Website)

Way back here in 2009, I blogged about the Burger Chef at 28th Street and Broadway in Lorain.

Readers of this blog might remember that Burger Chef, at that location since September 1968, is where fellow blogger Alan Hopewell used to hang out and swill coffee with his buddies (read about those days right here in Alan's blog). It's also where my pal Debi used to serve up those hot, crispy, golden-brown french fries during the summer of 1977.

The restaurant later became a Hardee's in the early 1990's before eventually closing.

Anyway, I happened to drive by the former Burger Chef this past weekend and grabbed a shot. It's now R & J Southern Style Cooking (below).

Here's a link to their website.

I wish them the best of luck with their restaurant. Besides its unique concept, it's got a nice high-profile location with a lot of good Lorain food memories.

****

Visit JSF's Burger Chef Tribute website for some great Burger Chef memories!

What used to be in that building?

2011-10-11T03:33:00.000-07:00

While stopped at the light at 30th and Broadway this past Sunday, I looked straight ahead and saw this distinctive building that resembles an airplane hangar. What businesses were in that building over the years, I wondered – and what was it originally? Do you remember?

I had a vague idea that it was connected with cars, although I had no specific memory of it at all. A quick trip to the library answered my question.

The building at 2950 Broadway dates back to about 1950, when it was the home of Kunick Motor Sales. Within a few years, Vogt Oldsmobile was at that address.

Vogt continued at that location until around 1959, when it then became the home of Kaminski Oldsmobile. Here's a 1959 Lorain Phone Book ad.

However, Kaminski moved out after about two years (to its new location on Henderson Drive) and the address was taken over by Si Gary Dodge.

Si Gary Dodge stayed there the longest, lasting until around 1977. Then a variety of businesses took over the building, including Witter Ignition Inc. during the late 1970's and Top Shelf Auto Electric Clinic in the late 1980's.

The building was most recently the address of R.J. Stovicek & Associates, a landscaping firm.

New Lorain – 1977

2011-10-10T03:24:00.000-07:00

Last week, while browsing in the Local History section of the Lorain Public Library, I found another one of those books full of proposals for the redevelopment of Downtown Lorain that never took place (similar to this one, which I blogged about back here). This one was produced by the New Lorain Association in November 1977.

Like the 1978 book with the same theme, this one has many photographs of Lorain sprinkled in with the text. A few of them, reproduced from the book, are below.

Kline's Department Store, which was closed by the time of the book

Note the Eagles Aerie 343 was still at 575 Broadway back then

Hot Waters

Looking West on Sixth Street from Broadway; note the now-gone houses next to the Lorain Public Library

Admiral King Birthplace Through the Years

2011-10-07T03:20:00.000-07:00

Although the hoopla over the dedication of the Admiral Ernest J. King tribute space was last month, I'm still involved in some Admiral King-related research and still coming up with material to post.

It's interesting (to me at least) how the Admiral's birthplace has changed through the years. Here's a view from the 1952 autobiography of Admiral Ernest J. King.

Here's a clipping (below) that I found recently in the Special Collections file of the Lorain Public Library. It's from the Journal and shows Admiral King's birthplace on Hamilton Avenue as it looked back in 1967, when it was for sale for $12,500. It's a shame that it wasn't purchased by the city back then for a museum.

Lastly, here a view from the tribute space dedication last month. That little porch/room on the right side seems to have gone through the most changes over the years.

The John Studebaker Monument near Ashland

2011-10-06T03:22:00.000-07:00

August 2009 photo

Five miles east of Ashland on the top of a hill on US 250, right next door to the former Bonnie Dell Motel is a large granite boulder with a plaque on it: the John Studebaker Monument. A few concrete steps and a hand rail lead up to it.

Cars and trucks whiz by it daily at top speeds without noticing it. (I passed it dozens and dozens of times in the late 1970's going back and forth to Ohio State University in Columbus, and never even knew it was there!)

What does it commemorate? Here is the explanation, according to my battered 1940 copy of The Ohio Guide (compiled by workers of the Writer's Program of the Works Projects Administration).

The JOHN STUDEBAKER MONUMENT (R), 16.2 m., a large granite boulder with an inscription plate, marks the site where in 1835 John Studebaker erected his house and blacksmith shop. In 1852 two of his sons, Henry and Clement, with a capital of $68 founded a wagon works at South Bend, Indiana – a plant that later entered the fledgling automobile industry with the now well-known Studebaker.

August 2009 photo

Several people had the idea of erecting a monument on the site of the original Studebaker blacksmith shop on what was then part of the new coast-to-coast Lincoln Highway, according to an article by Richard Quinn in Turning Wheels (official publication of the Studebaker Driver's Club). A Studebaker distributor in San Francisco, as well as W. A. Duff, the editor of the Ashland Press, had the same idea. But Duff appears to have pushed it the most in his newspaper, and the monument was most likely his brainchild.

In a letter written in 1914 to the last surviving son of John Studebaker, Duff wrote that he wanted to present the monument "to the rising generation that they may emulate the example of the good and the grand and the noble who have wrought in their native county and state." Duff also added that he wanted the Lincoln Highway in Ashland County "to be remembered by the thousands who shall pass over it every year."

The monument was dedicated on May 18, 1927 by the Studebaker Historical Society and has been there ever since.

Although the monument now sits on private property, various owners through the years have permitted visitors to climb the steps to view the monument. (While photographing it, I have parked briefly in the driveway just to the left of it.)

August 2009 photo

Bonnie Dell Motel Then and Now

2011-10-05T03:24:00.000-07:00

Last week I mentioned the Perkins down on US 250 near Ashland as being a favorite Sunday afternoon destination. Well, the road that is now US 250 used to be one of the early alignments of the cross-country Lincoln Highway, and it was dotted with lots of small motels like the one shown on the postcard above: the Bonnie Dell Motel.

Although the motel portion of the property is gone, the brick building near the highway is still there, and we pass it every time we go to Perkins. Here's a modern view.

The back of the vintage postcard reveals that the motel was apparently operated by Mr. & Mrs. E. R. Emminger, and J. & Bonnie Garn, so we know at least where the 'Bonnie' in the name comes from. The back also states that the motel was at "Route 250 at Studebaker Monument."

Studebaker Monument? What's that – and is it still there? Stop back here tomorrow to find out!

From the E-Mailbag #2: D'Agnese Restaurant/Pizza

2011-10-04T03:18:00.000-07:00

At the very end of my series on the Deutschof (which ran back in May starting here), I asked if any readers wanted to share a reminisce or story about a Lorain business they had a personal connection to.

Kelli D'Agnese responded with a nice comment about her family's restaurant legacy in Lorain.

Kelli noted, "My grandfather was Peter D'Agnese Sr. of D'Agnese's Restaurant. My father and his brother were in their late teens at the time. He also had a popular sandwich shop on Root Road in the 70's. Growing up people would always comment about the subs there."

****

D'Agnese Restaurant and Lounge was one of the businesses that was at the former Deutschof location at 651 Broadway.

D'Agnese's Pizza was located at 916 Root Road, which is still kind of unbelievable to me. If you drive past the location today, all you see are houses (which makes you wonder what kind of zoning was in place back then that allowed a business there). But I do remember getting subs there around 1978 or '79 – and they were really excellent. (They were the first hot subs I ever had, after growing up on cold cut subs from Meyer Goldberg's.)

Here's a vintage phone book ad for the D'Agnese Restaurant and Lounge.

And here's one for the pizza and sub business, circa 1977.

Thanks for sharing, Kelli! I'm sure many other Lorainites have fond memories of your family's restaurant and pizza & sub shop. Family businesses like yours were the heart of Lorain in its glory days.

I also believe that family businesses have to make a comeback for this city and country to ever bounce back.

October 1, 1966 Passing Scene

2011-10-03T03:19:00.000-07:00

Readers of this blog know that I'm a big fan of the old The Passing Scene comic drawn by Gene Patrick that used to run in the Journal on Saturdays in the 1960's and 70's, and here's another one. It's from Saturday, October 1, 1966 – 45 years ago. (Click on it so you can read it.)

The first panel of the comic mentions the classic Batman TV series that (according to this Wiki entry) ran on ABC for two and a half seasons. I just remember that it ran twice a week, on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and that my brothers and I loved it. (Here's a great blog with a list and pictures of all the TV show's villains.)

Also of interest is the October 1966 opening of my wife's alma mater, Lorain County Community College. Incidentally, I had no idea that it was the first community college in Ohio with a permanent campus, warranting an Ohio Historical Marker.

Perkins Pancake House

2011-09-30T03:23:00.000-07:00

1966 Phone book ad

I don't go to very many chain restaurants, but there is one that I enjoy visiting every so often: Perkins. Nostalgia has a little to do with it, but I also really enjoy the food.

Like many other Lorainites, I grew up going to the Perkins Pancake House on North Ridge Road near Route 57. That particular location opened in the mid-1960's.

For my family, Perkins was a special occasion type of place. We usually went there when it was one of our birthdays – because if I remember correctly, the restaurant used to have a policy that your birthday dinner was free. They even sent reminders in the mail.

I ate a lot of pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream there as a kid in the 1960's. (Now as an adult, I rarely order it – and when I do, halfway through I regret it! But I'll order it again, no doubt.)

As the years went by, my family went there less and less, and I more or less forgot about the place. The parent company tinkered with the brand a bit in the 1980's, even changing the name to Perkins Cake & Steak to entice the carnivore crowd. But the name change didn't help, and the N. Ridge Road restaurant closed around 1985. (It's George's Family Restaurant now.)

Later, I got reacquainted with Perkins by stopping at the one on US 250 near Ashland on the way home from Columbus. I've been to the one in Sandusky (which is very good) as well as the one in Avon – but the Ashland one is still the best. It's got the best service, best food and best servers. They've had the same hustling manager for years, and it shows. (Plus, I like the local clientele there – interesting country folk who pack the place on a Sunday afternoon and ask to sit in their favorite server's section.)

Anyway, I found this vintage postcard on the cardcow.com website. If my memory serves me right, the one on N. Ridge looked something like this.

****

We stopped at the Perkins down in Ashland over the weekend, and enjoyed a fine meal as usual. It's the perfect Sunday autumn drive – about an hour one-way. Plus, you get to stop at Fin, Feather and Fur outfitters next door to the east, and Grandpa's Cheese Barn just behind the restaurant.