Here's yet another photo from the 1968 Greater Lorain Chamber of Commerce booklet – of course, it's the JCPenney store at Midway Mall, sometime in the 1960's. And the corresponding "now" view is at right. (Click on each so you see a jumbo size and pretend "You Are There!")
JCPenney (or just Penneys as it was known back then) was one of the three original anchor stores at Midway Mall when it opened back in 1966, along with Higbee's and Sears.
The concept of a covered shopping mall was still relatively new in 1968, having transitioned from the 1950's open air shopping malls (such as the O'Neil - Sheffield Shopping Center a few miles from Midway Mall). I'll be doing more on Midway Mall and the O'Neil - Sheffield Shopping Center as well in some future blog series.
It wasn't easy getting the "now" picture. Several times I framed my shot, only to have shoppers wander into the shot at the last minute. Then, I realized that a gentleman was seated in the right side of the shot and looking right at me the whole time! After I explained what I was doing, he was quite friendly and enjoyed looking at the 1968 photo.
Unfortunately, I also drew the attention of a security guard, who literally ran over to see what I was doing. "I thought you were secretly photographing shoppers," he explained.
That's all I need – to get arrested and end up on the front page of the newspaper. Actually, it might be good publicity for this blog!
3 comments:
Dan,
Good shot!! I was wondering, what is the gated up store on the right side of the photo? Also, the flags on the left, is that some sort of playground for kids?
I will be looking in on the Lorain Journal for your picture and the headline about somebody taking random pictures around Lorain....where is Homeland Security when you need them?!
Hoy hoy,
Jeff Rash
Hi Jeff,
I should have mentioned in the blog that the flag-like stuff partially obscuring the JCPenney logo is actually a bungee trampoline. And as for the closed store, I was going to go over to it and peek to see what was in there... but I was afraid the security guard would change his mind and run me in!
This is great! I remember the fountains (Give me a penny for a wish, Granddad") and the water strings! My granddad was the master carpenter for the work at Penneys. Some great memories there!
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