I know what she means. Although I'm usually a big fan of cartoon mascots, I never cared much for that guy. He kind of reminded me of a mutant version of the father in the Dennis the Menace comic strip.
I'd love to know the story behind his design. Was he a caricature of someone? I originally thought he was a piece of clip art, but there are subtle differences between the two versions of him in the ads I posted last week – which makes me think that an artist rendered him and then fine-tuned him a bit.
Anyway, those photos of the former Forest City Auto Parts store got me to wondering if it was still there. I had to find out. (Gee, don't I love to waste time?)
Looking online, it was fairly easy to figure out that the particular photogenic store was at 2001 Clarke Ave. So during lunch on Monday, I took a short drive down W. 25th Street in Cleveland to Clark to see if it was still there.
Alas, the outside of the whole brick building had been painted over, including Mr. Longneck.
However, thanks to Google's mapping feature, for now you can still 'drive by' the building as it looked before it was painted over. (Click on each for a closer look.)
Today, the store is part of the Federated Auto Parts chain.
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Click here to access all of the blog posts that I’ve written about this well-remembered chain! One post shows the evolution of Max through the years.
I sincerely appreciate all of the wonderful reminisces left by former FCAP employees.
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| Another view of the Clarke Avenue store (Courtesy Yellowpages.com) |