A Ghoulardi's Goulash

In case you've been wondering, I've refrained from trying to provide a detailed history of the now-demolished former Ghoulardi's building. That's because of the difficulty in trying to decipher the various addresses connected with the building over the years in the available city directories, which form a sort of goulash of facts.

The Morning Journal has admirably provided some history about the building (here and here) and listed a few businesses that used to call the building home. But, with such a variety of Broadway addresses associated with the building over the years, ranging from the 750s to the 770s, it's a real mess that I'm not sure anyone can figure out conclusively.

For example, it appears that in the 1933 city directory, there are three different Broadway addresses associated with the building: 760, 762 and 768-70. The Greenwald meat market (referred to in the Journal article) was at 760, 762 was vacant and 768-70 was R & B Auto Parts.

But by 1945, it appears that the only two addresses connected with the building were 766 and 770, with 766 being Rusines Mens Wear and 770 being Michael Rusines' drug store.

I looked through a few more city directories and found that The Huddle lounge (which had the 766 Broadway address along with Rieger & Company) was there a lot longer than I thought. One of the earliest listings of the popular bar was in the 1965 directory.

I was never in The Huddle, so if any of you have any memories of it (hey Alan!) be sure to post them. I was in Ghouldardi's a few times, however.

But the building – like so many others in Downtown Lorain that were home to well-remembered businesses – is gone now, so its colorful history really doesn't matter anymore. It's yet another vacant lot full of memories of Lorain past.