Here's another vintage ad to put you in the Christmas spirit. This one ran in the
Journal on December 7, 1961 (a mere 51 years ago tomorrow) and promoted the appearance of Santa Claus at
Shoreway Shopping Center in my current town of Sheffield Lake.
Back in the late 50s and 60s, the various local shopping centers were literally at war with each other. Oakwood, Westgate, Sheffield Center and Shoreway were all still new at that point, and battling it out for a piece of the shopping pie in almost daily newspaper ads (which I'm sure the
Morning Journal is nostalgic for). Each shopping center had its own Santa too, of course. Caught in the crossfire was Downtown Lorain, which put up a good fight until Midway Mall appeared.
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| Westgate Today |
Today, Oakwood is gone, Westgate is an empty shell (
at left) and Sheffield Center (oops, I mean Centre of Sheffield) and Shoreway each tore down part of their properties to enhance them a bit. Thankfully, Downtown Lorain is still somewhat alive and kicking thanks to the efforts of the city and various organizations dedicated to bringing it back.
Unfortunately, I don't think Santa Claus is going to be dropping by at Shoreway any time soon.
3 comments:
I worked in that end store of Westgate when it was Fazio's from 1974 to 1978 as a bagger and stocker. God, I hated it but I wanted money to buy that all important car! Ironic that while Lorain encourages the demolition of architecturally unique structures like Ghoulardi's on Broadway it allows this hell hole to stand, year afer year, decade after decade.
My father played Santa at Shoreway for years in the late 60's and 70's. Some of our favorite memories.
In Google Maps, clicking on the Shoreway Shopping Center, this image shows up?
Having grown-up in Sheffield Lake, I knew right away this was not Shoreway Shopping Center building.
Somewhere something got screwed up?
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