Monday, August 28, 2017

Downtown Sandusky – Then & Now

I saw the above vintage postcard of Downtown Sandusky on Ebay last summer, and knew it would make a good subject for the “Then & Now” treatment. Finally – almost a year later – I finally made it out to Sandusky a few weekends ago.

The back of the vintage postcard reads, “OHIO’S LAKE ERIE VACATIONLAND, COLUMBUS AVENUE, SANDUSKY, OHIO. Columbus Ave., and downtown Sandusky facing the Bay. Main Street of the business section which offers a compact shopping district of up-to-date stores, markets and hotels.”

The postcard was published by Gainsborough Studio, Sandusky, Ohio and was “made direct from Kodachrome.” (We’re not going to read that on the back of a postcard anytime soon. Heck, we may never see a new postcard again, either.)

Anyway, here’s my “now" shot.

While many of the buildings on the east side of the street are the same in both photos, the former Lasalle's department store building is quite different. It was renovated in the 1990s to become the Erie County Office Building. (For a history of Lasalle's, including a great 1955 photo, click here to visit its page on the Erie County Historical Society website.)

4 comments:

  1. How did you get that shot? Quickly?

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  2. That’s funny and you’re right! Took three tries before I was happy with my composition!

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  3. You weren't circling the block over and over, were you? And what did you mean about never seeing a new postcard again? Of that view?

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  4. I parked nearby and had to run into the street about three times to get my shot, and then compare it to the postcard to see if I had matched the original vintage postcard composition as close as I could. There was a traffic light that helped a bit.

    As for my comment about postcards in general, I can’t remember the last time I saw a brand new postcard of any kind in Ohio. I check the racks at Drug Mart (one of the few places that actually sell them) regularly and it seems that no one has any interest in producing them anymore, except for some generic Ohio ones, a few ‘Amish Country’ examples and some gag ones. But I don’t think we will see any with churches, stadiums, schools, downtown views or that sort of thing ever again, at least around here.

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