Tim Horton Museum – Cochrane, Ontario

Longtime readers of this blog know that I'm a big fan of Tim Horton, the beloved Toronto Maple Leaf defenceman. (I also love his namesake coffee – it's my favorite).

Well, Tim Horton's birthday was a few days ago (January 12, 1930) so it's a good time for me to post some photos that I've had in my files. 

You see, Tim was born in Cochrane, Ontario, which is about a day's drive north of Toronto. His hometown proudly hosts the Tim Horton Museum inside the Tim Horton Event Centre honoring him. 

I happened to be in Cochrane back in the summer of 2017 (to catch the Polar Bear Express train to Moosonee) and was fortunate enough to visit the museum, which has very limited hours. The museum houses a variety of memorabilia of both his hockey career and his donut chain. Here are some of the photos from my visit.

I have a Tim-mug identical to the mug in this photo

Mr. Timbit was the mascot of the Tim Hortons 'donut hole' menu item

The museum is low tech but has its own charm.

A new bucket list item for me is to visit the Tim Horton Mini Museum in Hamilton, Ontario on the site of the original Tim Horton Donuts store. I'll get there eventually, eh?

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Although my preoccupation with Canada, Niagara Falls, the Toronto Maple Leafs and Tim Horton have nothing to do with Lorain County, I enjoy writing about them from time to time. Plus, Canada really isn't all that far away.

Lorain Lighthouse Saved – January 1966

The Lorain Lighthouse is the very symbol of Lorain – a beloved icon that neatly encapsulates the city's maritime history. And it's one of the city's biggest tourist attractions.

That's why it's so hard to believe that at one point in the 1960s, it was scheduled to be torn down. A new fully-automatic red light was to be installed on the tip of a detached outer breakwall.

From the July 12, 1965 Journal

And sixty years ago this month, some of the first steps were taken to 'save' it by a civic group. Here's the front page of the January 5, 1966 Journal with the story.

Later that year a follow-up story appeared with the good news that the Coast Guard agreed to 'continue to operate and maintain the lighthouse.'

May 10, 1966

And a Journal editorial celebrated the decision and gave credit to several citizens who played a major role in the effort to save the structure.

May 11, 1966

Of course, Gene Patrick had a special cartoon in honor of the occasion in his weekly The Passing Scene strip.

May 14, 1966

The story didn't end there, however. 

The Lighthouse would need to be 'saved' again in the 1970s when the Coast Guard put it up for sale. You can read all about it in Valerie Smith's well-researched history found on the Lorain Lighthouse website. 

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The Lorain Lighthouse has been a favorite topic on this blog.

Marketing Meat – Jan. 1966

Lorainites ate a lot of meat back in the 1960s. In addition to the supermarkets with their weekly meaty specials, the city supported at least a half-dozen retail butcher shops.

Several of them incorporated a beef cow into their store's logo, including Mike Polansky's, Lorain County Meats and Tony's Meats. Here's a sample of each that ran in the Journal from early January 1966.

Jan. 5, 1966

Jan. 5, 1966

Jan. 3, 1966

As you can see, the Tony's Meats ad tried something different than the other ads. It gave up some of the retail space in its ad in order to feature a little cartoon. This continued for several months.

Each cartoon depicted some interesting fact. A week later, an "answer" revealed an explanation. It was loosely referred to as a quiz although there wasn't really a question.

Here's the rest of the January 1966 ads. (Be forewarned, the one from Jan. 31st is needlessly racist.)

Jan. 12, 1966

Jan. 17, 1966

Jan. 26, 1966

Jan. 31, 1966

I had wondered if all the cartoons were created by a Journal artist until I noticed that two of the illustrations contained a small credit line: © TOBY EATON ASSOC.

I couldn't find anything online about Toby Eaton Associates. Its weekly quiz feature didn't seem to be widely used across the country, since I could only find one other meat market (in Lompoc, California) using it.

Tony's Meats used the quiz in its ads until the end of March 1966, when it was apparently dropped to make room for cartoon Easter rabbits.

"Batman" Debuts on TV – Jan. 12, 1966

Holy Diamond Jubilee, Batman – your TV show on ABC debuted sixty years ago tonight!

Below is the TV page of the January 12, 1966 Journal making the announcement of the debut, with a photo of Batman (Adam West) in the Batmobile. 

The caption reads, "Batman, the legendary nemesis of evil, the Caped Crusader whose very name strikes fear into the hearts of villainous villains everywhere, sets out with Boy Wonder Robin on another crime-thwarting adventure in his super vehicle, the atom-powered, parachute-breaked [sic], multi-weaponed four-wheel arsenal, the Batmobile, as ABC-TV's "Batman," a new series of twice-weekly, live-action color adventures, premiere tonight at 7:30. The program will also be seen Thursdays in the 7:30-8 p.m. time period.

It was pretty much a stroke of genius to program the show two nights in a row, as my brothers and I loved the show and were suckered into watching it both nights. (We pretty much commandeered the TV in the early evening; I don't remember my parents ever watching it until we went to bed.)

As I wrote back here, my parents bought us the paperback reprints that were rushed into print to capitalize on the popularity of the TV show. Just as we each had a favorite Beatle, we each had a Batman villain that was 'assigned' to us depending on which paperback we had. Mine was the Penguin. At least he didn't seem as evil as some of the other bad guys to me.

Watching the occasional late-night  Batman reruns on MeTV the last few years have really surprised me. I had forgotten the big-name celebrities that appeared on the show as the villains, or in cameo appearances in which they stuck their head out the window of the building that Batman and Robin were scaling. The villains always seemed to have some good-looking henchwomen too (such as Edy Williams). And what boy watching the show in the 1960s didn't have a crush on Catwoman (Julie Newmar)? I remember feeling bad when she fell in that bottomless pit.

During my recent viewings, the celebrity that I was most surprised to see was none other than Jack Kelly – Bart Maverick! He was playing some kind of fedora-wearing guy that was in cahoots with the baddies. In one scene he was comically straddling some kind of 'getaway rocket' (shown below) and I felt bad for him – except that he was probably having a blast working on a wildly popular TV show, not to mention sharing some scenes with Catwoman!

Courtesy David Richardson

Civil War Oddities – Jan. 2, 1965

Wilmer McLean

For all you Civil War buffs, here's an interesting 'Stranger Than Science' column by Frank Edwards that ran in the Journal on Jan. 2, 1965. It's an assortment of odd tidbits about the Civil War, including the story of Wilmer McLean and how his house and farms – one at the Battle of Bull Run, and his second home at Appomattox, Virginia – were involved in the first and last land battles of the Civil War. Unbelievable!

McLean and his family on the porch of his house at Appomattox

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Frank Edwards' weekly 'Stranger Than Science' column ran in the Journal from 1963 to 1966. It looks like it was always interesting and a lot of fun, especially if you were into flying saucers and stuff like that. I wonder where he dug up all of his material?

Here's an ample sample of random columns.

Nov. 23, 1963

Nov. 23, 1963

Dec. 28, 1963

June 6, 1964

Aug. 15, 1964

Nov. 21, 1964

Sept. 18, 1965

Dec. 4, 1965

Dec. 11, 1965

Dec. 18, 1965

April 23, 1966

June 11, 1966

Dec. 10, 1966

The Dec. 10, 1966 column was the last I could find in the Journal. Frank Edwards passed away in June 1967.

Sons of the Purple Sage at the Showboat – Jan. 1956

Here's a nice musical interlude for a Thursday. Seventy years ago this week, the famed recording group Sons of the Purple Sage were about to open a two-week run at the Showboat Lounge in Downtown Lorain.

Below is the movie and entertainment page of the Lorain Journal on Jan. 7, 1956 making the announcement.

The article notes, "The Sons of the Purple Sage, nationally known Western and Hillbilly novelty and comedy musical group, will start a two-week run beginning Monday, at the Showboat Lounge, 766 Broadway.

"The group formerly appeared with Roy Rogers in Republic Pictures and has performed on numerous television shows, including the Milton Berle Show, Ford Festival, Garry Moore Show, Langford - Ameche Show, Steve Allen Show and Songs for Sale.

"Among the top acts are unusual instrumentation by the entire troupe and singing in four languages by Lina Shane, who also plays drums and maracas.

"Bob Wheeler, one of the stars, plays guitar, a toy harmonica, smokes a cigarette, twirls a lasso with his mouth and keeps twisting and turning around at the same time at fast pace."

The history of the group is a little confusing, since there were two bands with just about the same name performing out on the West Coast in the early 1950s.

Nevertheless, it sounds like it was a great show. I'm always amazed at the incredible variety of national musical groups that performed in my hometown during the 1950s. Lorain's nightclub scene was amazing back then.

What was it like to hear Sons of the Purple Sage at the Showboat? Here's one of their albums so you can get a taste of their music. It's got all the classic tunes: Tumbling Tumbleweeds, Red River Valley, even Wabash Cannonball. 

I think they're great!

Meanwhile over at Ben Hart's Show Bar, the Snap-shots were performing. Click here to read a great, detailed history of this band that got its big break on the Gene Carroll TV show.