Monday, November 23, 2015

939 Broadway in Lorain

When Dabu Restaurant & Cocktail Bar opened its doors in July, the Morning Journal gave it a nice writeup. The article mentioned that the Asian fusion restaurant had evolved from the Club Copa, which had formerly occupied the same space at 939 Broadway. I wonder how many people remember some of the other businesses at that location?

The first appearance of the 939 Broadway address in an available city directory at the Lorain Public Library was in the 1940 edition. Arlington J. Popp ran a used car business with that address. Within a few years however, the address was listed as vacant. It continued to be vacant in the 1945 and 1947 books.

By the time of the 1950 edition, C. G. Captain & Sons were operating their company there, which specialized in paint, wallpaper and decorating. Their business continued to be listed at that address until the 1955-56 book. That’s when Sun Finance first appeared at 939 Broadway.

Sun Finance (later listed as Sun Finance & Loan) seems to have been the longest tenant of the building. It was listed from the 1955 book right up through the 1968 edition. But by the 1969 directory, the address was once again listed as vacant.

Next was the company that I still associate with the building when I drive by it: radio station WLRO, run by Lorain Community Broadcasting. (The WDLW Wiki page explains how WLRO rose from the ashes of WWIZ.) WLRO appeared in the city directory through the 1984-85 edition.

But around the middle of 1984, WLRO was sold. The call letters changed to WRKG, and the station moved to the Antlers Hotel at 300 Washington Avenue beginning in the 1986 directory.

That was pretty much the end of glamorous businesses at 939 Broadway until now. The building was vacant for a few years, until Great Lakes Offset (a printing company) appeared in the directory in the 1988 book.

The building appeared to be vacant during much of the 1990s. Lighthouse Laser (a computer repair company) eventually called the location home either in the late 1990s or early 2000s. Then the 939 Broadway listing seemingly disappeared from the directories, including the 2005 - 2010 era. As mentioned, Club Copa was the most recent tenant.

Anyway, here’s hoping Dabu becomes the next longtime tenant of 939 Broadway in Lorain.
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4 comments:

  1. -Alan D HopewellNovember 23, 2015 at 12:02 PM

    I used to stop by WLRO and talk to the DJs; it was a really cool station. WDLW is a worthy successor- I often call Wally and Gene and make requests.

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  2. AnonymousNovember 23, 2015 at 3:10 PM

    Light House Laser did laser printer repair and printer cartridge manufacturing. Owned & operated by Jesse and Dixie Jasinto.

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  3. Dan BradyNovember 23, 2015 at 3:54 PM

    Thanks for posting that, it's always good to associate a name (or names) with a business. It sounds like they were ahead of their time.

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  4. Wireless.PhilDecember 2, 2015 at 9:45 AM

    That blue shape by the door once had 3 or 4 large round holes in it, now covered.
    Sort of looked like the old Razine's (sp) magazine, news stand sign (holes) from way back when. Black river Historical now has the sign, or what's left of it. They also had an old metal phone booth, was in the garage, don't know where that went?

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