Lorain Entertainment Page Ads – June 10, 1966

It's Friday and the weekend is here! Will you be dining out or heading to a favorite restaurant or bar?

If this was 1966, here are some of the choices that were available to you back on June 10th of that year as seen on the Journal's entertainment page. Of course, I have to feature this ad for Sandy's, featuring my favorite lassie, Miss Sandy. Sandy's Hamburgers still symbolizes the Lorain of my youth, although hardly anyone remembers the small national burger chain any more.

Other 'fast food' choices included Chicken Delight (remember, no Kentucky Fried Chicken in Lorain yet at that time) and local favorite Mister S. I guess everyone was thinking of chicken back then.

For family fun, there was Cedar Point, which was catering to local teenagers by holding a teen dance, with Bud Davies of CKLW as the dj, and music by The Back Group.

For adult dancing, there was old reliable Lincoln Park Night Club (singles welcome) with Ronnie and the Rainbows; the Dewey Road Inn, where The Jet Tones were performing on Friday and Saturday; and Executive Club at 1788 E. 28th Street, featuring the Chantelles. Hey, that's our old pal Ed in the ad!

Here's the entire page, in case you'd like to peruse some of the other ads and read the Minute Movie Reviews. 

Hmmm... seems like movie mash-ups of the Old West and monsters were definitely 'in,' since two of the choices were Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter and Billy the Kid vs. Dracula!

It's hard to believe, but Billy the Kid vs Dracula features some well-known Western actors and actresses who appeared in John Wayne movies, including Harry Carey, Jr., Olive Carey (The Searchers); Bing Russell (Rio Bravo, The Horse Soldiers); and John Carradine (The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and Stagecoach) who plays Dracula!

Lorain Playgrounds Open – June 12, 1956

Back in a simpler time in the Post-WWII era, the City of Lorain's Recreation Department used to have a summer playground program for the kids. It gave the children something to do while school was out, and kept them out of trouble (hopefully).

And seventy years ago this week, according to the article below from the June 12, 1956 Lorain Journal, the city held the official opening of the 11 city playgrounds.

As the article notes, "All playground activities got underway on the opening day, including hand craft, a variety of sports and games.

"In the crafts program, children are making woven place mats, leather billfolds, comb cases, and such items. They also are learning to make and paint molds and to braid narrow plastic strips into attractive bracelets or neck chains.

"Baseball and softball leagues are being organized at the various parks and tennis instruction and games will result in a tournament among the parks at the end of the season.

"Other activities include basketball, volleyball, badminton, paddle tennis, horseshoes, picture puzzles, checkers, table tennis, story hour, croquet, chess and ring toss.

"There are also coloring books for the very small children.

"Playgrounds all have been equipped with swings, both regular and small, merry-go-rounds, climb-arounds, teeter totters, and slides."

It was an impressive amount of activities with something to appeal to every child. It all sounds so quaint. A little more than ten years later, my siblings and I participated in a special Indian-themed Lorain Parks event at Willow Creek (which I wrote about here). It was a day that I still remember fondly.

New Telephone Numbers – June 29, 1950

I'll probably never get used to not having a land line. It's been a couple years since I finally had it disconnected, and I still miss it.

It was so convenient. I gave my land line number to all of the businesses and organizations that didn't require direct access to me during the day. When I got home from work, I called back anyone that left a message.

Getting rid of it (to save money) meant that I had to give everybody my cell phone number. That means I get calls all day at work. Hilariously, I had my own land line at work the year I started. But my employer got rid of them within my first year to save money. 

One of the nice things about the good old days when everyone had a land line was that Lorain Telephone published a directory. Most everyone I know had a number that was listed. You didn't get crank calls back then. Spam was something Mom made sandwiches out of.

And in the 1950s, when Lorain was growing and Lorain Telephone was adding new interchanges, the company regularly published updates in the Lorain Journal with new telephone numbers. Below are the numbers that were published on June 29, 1950.

Hey, there's my father in there. Mom and Dad had gotten married at the end of April 1950, and had moved into a small house (Uncle Ben's old house) at 305 W. 30th Street that Grandpa gave them. So apparently it took Mom and Dad a little while to get a phone hooked up there.

There are several names and businesses that I recognize in the listings; well-known Lorain surnames; classmate's parents; popular Lorain businesses.

It sure was a different, simpler time, during which Lorain seemed like a small town.

Big Boy at Beaver Park

The scene at Beaver Park on Monday

Just by happy accident, I happened to have Monday off for a long-scheduled doctor appointment. So I was in the right place at the right time to catch Union Pacific's famed Big Boy No. 4014, the world's largest operating steam locomotive, as it rumbled by the Beaver Park crossing.

Here's a nice photo of Big Boy, courtesy of the Union Pacific website.

But getting back to Beaver Park.

It was kind of a festive atmosphere. There were only a handful of cars parked along the highway, and a few photographers setting up, when I drove by at ten to nine. But when I came by again on the way home around 10:00 am, there were dozens of cars parked on the grass just east of the crossing, as well as on both sides of Route 6. So I joined the growing crowd and tried to find a good vantage point close to the tracks.

After a few false alarms, ol' Big Boy finally thundered into view. (Sorry, a very low resolution version was all that Blogger let me upload. But really nice video of Big Boy and fantastic pix are all over the internet.)

It was fun taking part in something that has been in the news so much.

*****

Here's a little higher res version, but clipped to fit within the 100MB limit for uploading.

John Ryan and Athena Recording Co.

Athena Recording Company was mentioned a few days ago on this blog, as the record label on which musician Vern Terry released his only 45 RPM.

A little digging in the Lorain Journal online archives revealed that the company was owned by John (also spelled 'Jon') Ryan and began operations in the mid-1950s. For several years, its advertisements noted that it was the only recording studio in Lorain County. 

What follows are several ads that ran in the Journal beginning in 1956.

Nov. 20, 1956

June 28, 1957

Dec. 13, 1957

In 1958, John Ryan came up with an ingenious idea with educational appeal: produce and distribute records that a child could listen to while he sleeps as an aid to learning multiplication tables!

Feb. 7, 1958

This article from Feb. 15, 1958 tells the story about how Ryan came up with the "learn while you sleep" gimmick. The story also tells about the recording studio (it was only 22 by 15 feet) and how Ryan created some unique recording effects.

Feb. 15, 1958

It looks like Ryan managed to get the government interested in the records, just as he planned, as noted in this item from "Town Talk."

March 26, 1958

Ads coaxing Journal readers to make their own records ran for several years.

April 28, 1959

July 18, 1959

Aug. 23, 1961

Sept. 2, 1961

Sept. 8, 1961

Sometime in the mid-1960s, Ryan began what turned out to be a decades-long quest to be elected to a political office.

May 1, 1965

Anthem Recording Company was still in business near the end of the 1960s.

By the early 1970s, Ryan had made several attempts to get elected to various offices and attracted the attention of the Journal. This great profile of Ryan by Staff Writer Bob Cotleur provides a nice look at Ryan's life up to that point. The article tells how Athena Recording Co. got started with the purchase of a tape recorder, and how the business 'saved' him when he was down to his last buck (actually it was a buck and a quarter).

Jan. 14, 1973

More than twenty years later, Ryan was still a candidate for public office.

You have to admire a man with such dogged determination to try and help make Lorain a better place. But I think he already accomplished that – since his company undoubtedly produced keepsake recordings (such as the Vern Terry 45 RPM single) that are still cherished today.

Cedar Point Opens for the Season – June 1965

The San Francisco Earthquake Ride, new at Cedar Point in 1965

Cedar Point has been a favorite topic on this blog since the beginning. One of the posts, "Visions of Cedar Point 1966 Part 3" was one of the Top Ten visited posts for many years, but slipped to No. 11 at this point. 

Today's post features a full page of photos from the Journal's great photographer Norm Bergsma that ran in the paper on June 12, 1965. 

The year 1965 was a big one for Cedar Point, with many of its most iconic rides opening that year, including the San Francisco Earthquake ride, Turnpike Cars, Jungle Larry's Safari Island and the Space Spiral.

Although the Cedar Point of our youth is long gone, you can revisit it at the great Cedar Point Historical Museum in Downtown Sandusky. It’s located right inside the Sandusky Merry-Go-Round Museum in the former 1927 Sandusky Post Office – so you get to visit two great museums for one low price!

The Cedar Point Historical Museum has been open since December 2024. It’s an incredible collection of artifacts, photographs, posters, pennants, postcards, souvenirs and other memorabilia, all related to the park. It’s organized chronologically in display cases so that when you view the collection, it’s like visiting the park in a time machine, stopping at each of its eras. 

Vern Terry At Dave Campbell's Chrysler Plymouth – June 1966

Maybe it was the surprisingly high ratings of The Beverly Hillbillies TV program, which debuted in 1962. Or perhaps the enduring popularity of cartoonist Al Capp's "Li'l Abner" comic strip, which over the decades had expanded its reach via books, animated cartoons, movies, TV shows and a Broadway show. And don't forget the long-running comic strip "Barney Google and Snuffy Smith," which made it to TV in a series of cartoons distributed by King Features in 1962.

Li'l Abner and his creator, Al Capp

But whatever the reason, hillbillies seemed to be the hot advertising fad of the early to mid-1960s.

We had Hillbilly Bread (which I wrote about here); Mountain Dew soft drink (with its tagline "It'll tickle yore innards!"); and even a fizzy competitor Hill Billy Joose from Cotton Club. Mom bought all three of these for us.

So it's not too surprising that hillbillies would find their way into this Dave Campbell's Lorain Chrysler Plymouth ad, which ran in the Journal on June 2, 1966.

The focus of the ad was the dealership's "old fashioned Country Style Party" with live country music provided by Vern Terry, an Ohio country music singer, band leader and radio personality on Lorain's W-WIZ radio station.

Here are a few Journal clippings from some of Vern Terry's appearances in the Lorain area, either as a disc jockey or performer.

June 4, 1959

June 5, 1959

June 27, 1959

Aug. 14, 1959

Sept. 26, 1959

Dec. 19, 1959

Aug. 10, 1962

Nov. 30, 1962

On a post by one of Vern Terry's grandchildren on Instagram (here) you can hear the 45 rpm record he recorded in Lorain for Athena Records on W. 13th. They wrote, "He was a country and western singer and a radio DJ in Ohio. He played guitar and sang, and started his first band while he was in high school. He would serve as a guest emcee at the Grand Ole Opry, and also guest DJ for Nashville’s famed WSM. In 1959 he was awarded “Mr. Disc Jockey USA” by the Country Music Disc Jockey Association. 

"This 45 is one of two recordings he made. The other was a duet with Dottie West that was never released, although my uncle has the lacquer master disc. Maybe someday we can get it pressed….. 

"In the 60’s he got into a really bad car accident that caused permanent damage to his vocal cords, which ended his singing career (although he continued to play guitar), and he passed in 2006. This record will be handed down to my kids with the hope of always keeping it in the family."