John Bober's Sohio Grand Opening – June 30, 1956

June 29, 1956 Lorain Journal ad

Gee, this week sure is full of Grand Opening ads on this blog.

Here's a business you might be familiar with: John Bober's Sohio Service, which celebrated its Grand Opening on June 30, 1956. It was located on the northwest corner of Colorado Avenue and Root Road.

As usual in these vintage gas station grand opening ads, tumblers are the free gift of choice.

It's kinda sad that you don't see too many full-service gas stations any more, especially any with one, visible owner that you could get to know and trust. In fact, I can't think of any full-service stations off the top of my head.

It's funny how everyone has their favorite brand of gas. In our house while I was growing up, Sohio ruled for many years; maybe it was because of the all-important Sohio charge card that we often used on our cross-country family camping trips. (Remember how the back of the card showed all the related Standard Oil service stations that you could also charge gas at?) Later, Sunoco was the gasoline of choice for my parents.

But now more than ever, it's all about the price, and loyalty to one brand is pretty much a thing of the past.

Anyway, John Bober's Sohio continued to show up in the city directories until the 1974 book, when the station was renamed Szabo Sohio Service. By the time of the 1975 book, it was Joe's Garage.

Within a few years, the building had left the world of automobiles behind and was repurposed for the selling of things that grow. It was Country Boy Market in the 1980 book, and Spike's Farm Market from the 1981 directory until around '83 or '84.

By 1985 the building housed the Garden Basket, and from '86 to '88, the Flower Corner called the location home.

Very briefly, the address was home to Zinn Refrigeration in the 1991 book, and then it was Linda's Lighthouse Floral in the '93 and '94 books. After that, there was no directory listing at all for several years.

A new travel complex (gas, convenient store and Blue Diamond car wash) was built in the late 1990s, with a Taco Maker restaurant first appearing in the directory in 1999. Within a few years, however, Taco Maker took a siesta and was replaced by popular Burger King, which remains there to this day, much to the delight of Lorain East Siders.

Today, the busy Valero gas station complex at the eastern gateway to Lorain continues the long tradition of services related to automobile care at that corner.