Lyon Tailoring Company Ad – November 1949

Since the Christmas shopping season has already started, it’s a good time to post this 1949 ad for Lyon Tailoring Company. It ran in the Lorain Journal on November 25, 1949 and reveals that gift certificates have been around for a long time.

I’m not lyin’ when I say that I like the Santa-suited lion advertising mascot.

Lyon Tailoring Company in Cleveland
(Courtesy of the Cleveland Memory Project)

It appears that the Lyon Tailoring Company was a regional men's clothing chain based in Cleveland. There were outlets in many cities, including Cincinnati and Pittsburg.

The Lyon Tailoring Co. was already a longtime Lorain business by the time of the 1949 ad. The company had first appeared in the 1933 Lorain City Directory at 550 Broadway, replacing Ruth Apparel Shoppe Inc. at that address. It had a variety of store managers including Gus V. Chriss (1933) and William P. Pettigrew (1937-1942).

The store sponsored several Lorain sports teams.

By the late 1940s, the store had moved to 508 Broadway. Managers during this time period and thereafter included Emil Bernard (1947) and Jos H. Bernay (1952-1955).

The store moved one last time. The 1958 city directory had it listed at 717 Broadway under the management of Leo Friedman. The store then disappeared as of the 1959 edition.

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Speaking of tailors, when I was a senior in high school my parents took me to Ricci Tailors in Downtown Lorain to have a suit made. That’s because I had a bunch of events and ceremonies later in the school year that required me to look spiffy.

It was kind of exciting to pick out the suit’s material  – although I don’t think I would select the same lime-green gabardine today. (In my defense, the mid to late 1970s was the leisure suit era, and pastels were in.)