Anchor Lodge: from Hotel to Senior Home – October 1963

In view of the sad fate of the other 1950s motels along Lorain's West Erie Avenue (U.S. Route 6), it's impressive as well as fortunate that Anchor Lodge was able to make a successful transition from hotel to a rehabilitation center/assisted living residence for seniors. (Here’s the link to its website.)

How did it make the transition? The process started back in October 1963, which is explained in the article below. It ran in the Lorain Journal on October 30, 1963.

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First Senior Citizens' Unit
Completed At Anchor Lodge

By RALPH NEUMEYER

Completion of the first unit of a projected $250,000 residence for senior citizens was announced today by Miss Kathy Nolan, director of Anchor Lodge On Lake Erie, 3756 W. Lake Road.

The senior citizens' home, accenting group living, has been developed from the Anchor Lodge Motel, which was bought and remodeled by James Simon, Cleveland business man and real estate subdivider.

Miss Nolan said $60,000 already has been spent to remodel the motel and incorporate kitchen and dining facilities.

An additional wing is planned which will increase the number of rooms from 26 to 65.

The lodge will continue for the present to be used as a motel, as well as a home for senior citizens.

According to Miss Nolan, Simon bought Anchor Lodge with the "aim of making it a place where I'd like to spend my own retirement years."

He lives here part time and plans to bring his family and reside at the lodge permanently.

Miss Nolan, a former teacher and once associated with the Lorain YMCA, has an educational degree and is completing work on a master's degree in sociology at Oberlin College.

Special "group living" accommodations include a lobby with fireplace and snack bar, dining facilities, a remodeled lounge with a lakefront view and color TV, and a special room which is being fitted out for library and reading room.

The lodge has a lake shore frontage lending itself to picnic and recreation facilities.

Planned for next year are terraces providing easy access to the beach and a dock.

Rental will be on a current basis, according to Miss Nolan. "We want people to stay here as long as they like and because they like it."

Prices, including meals, will range from $10 per day per person down to $%.75, with the average for couples $15 a day. Room furnishings are provided except where guests prefer to bring some of their own.

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Anchor Lodge was featured as a “Then & Now” subject here on the blog back in 2010. In 2014, I posted the full-page ad for the Grand Opening of the hotel in 1948 here.