Easter Parade of Vintage Lorain Journal Ads

Easter’s only a few days away, so it’s a good time to post these ads. Most of them appeared in the Lorain Journal in early April 1963.

Many people go out to eat on Easter, and the same was true back in 1963. Howard Johnson’s offered a nice holiday menu in their ad of April 10, 1963, with a choice of sugar cured ham or roast turkey. There was a nice lineup of desserts too, ice cream, fudge cake, apple pie, coconut layer cake and gelatin. Hot Indian Pudding (to go with the turkey I guess) was also an option.

The Easter theme permeated most of the sales ads in the Journal around the holiday. Fisher Foods included a nice illustration of a cashier rabbit in their ad of April 8, 1963. (At least he’s ringing up a ham and not one of his own kind, since rabbit isn’t an Easter dish.)

People used to dress up for Easter, so it’s only natural that Pic-Way Self-Serve Shoes would have an ad with an Easter theme. The ad below with the long hare ran in the Journal on April 4, 1963.

And of course, what would Easter in Lorain be without Faroh’s Candy? This ad (below) for the iconic Lorain candy maker ran in the paper on April 2, 1963.

In my mind’s eye, I can still see the showroom in the former store on Henderson Drive, with tables stocked high with Easter candy and other goodies. It was an incredible selection.

Here’s one last Faroh’s Candy ad to put you in the Easter spirit. It was almost a full page when it ran in the Lorain Journal on April 2, 1968 – 50 years ago.

That’s a good-looking Easter Bunny illustration. He’s designed just realistic enough to make the idea of a large rabbit going around and delivering candy seem almost plausible.

Happy Easter!

Easter Time TV Listings – 1963

Anyone who reads this blog knows I like to post vintage Lorain Journal TV listings from time to time, especially if they include a promotional photo for an upcoming animated program.

Thus, the one above from April 12, 1963 fills the bill nicely. It includes a promotional illustration of Pebbles, the Flintstone tyke, pulling a large Easter egg decorated with prehistoric animals. However, I was never a fan of Flintstones stories involving Pebbles and/or Bamm-Bamm. I’d much rather see an episode with Fred and Barney bowling, golfing or fighting.

There’s all sorts of fun things on the TV grid to jog your memories if you’re old enough (like a local channel actually signing on and off).

The TV listings actually fall within the timeframe of what I remember, since I was about four years old at the time. I do recall watching cartoons after dinner (such as Quick Draw McGraw at 7:00) and I'm one of the few people on the planet who remembers watching I'm Dickens, He's Fenster (which according to the listings came on right after The Flintstones).

Lorain Telephone Co. Ad – March 23, 1968

Last week I did a post on a 1960s ad for the Elyria Telephone Company. Here’s one for the Lorain Telephone Company that ran in the Journal on March 23, 1968 – 50 years ago this month.

It’s another one of those quaint ads reminding us of how things used to be. In this case, the subject is party lines – and the illustration does a good job depicting how with a 4-party line, four different phone company customers had to share the same line.

The ad suggests replacing a 4-party line with a 2-party line for $5.90 a month, or a private line for $7.00 a month. That’s fifty bucks in today’s world, using one of those online inflation calculators!

This Wiki entry for party lines reveals that hogging the line, and even eavesdropping, were common complaints of party line customers.

Today, you don’t have to be a party line sneak to eavesdrop. Many people are more than happy to yak on their smartphones anywhere, oblivious to the people around them.

Luxury High Rise Apts. for Lorain’s West Side – March 1964

When I saw this photo on the front page of the March 25, 1964 Lorain Journal, I thought it was an architectural rendering of the Lakeside 10 Apartments that were built in Sheffield Lake in the late 1960s (known today as The Perch on Lake). 

But as it turned out, the rendering was a high-rise luxury apartment project slated for the West Side of Lorain. Read all about in the article by Ralph Neumeyer below.

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$2 Million Luxury Apartment Planned
By RALPH NEUMEYER

An eight-story high-rise luxury apartment is in prospect on Lorain’s West Side.

Plans were announced today for a new $2 million apartment development in the fast growing area near the Lorain Community Hospital.

The multi-story, 222-foot by 72-foot unit will be located west of the hospital and overlooking Beavercrest Dr. and Oak Hills Country Club.

The five-acre site fronts on Beavercrest Dr. and W. Lake Rd., Rts. 2 and 6.

Application for a building permit has been filed by Bozsoki Bros., Lorain builders.

The architect is Keith Haag and Associates of Cuyahoga Falls, specialists in high rise construction.

The Haag company has designed similar apartments in Akron, Philadelphia and other cities.

Construction is expected to get under way by late summer with occupancy scheduled for May, 1965.

The project contemplates 100 luxury suites of one, two or three bedrooms and balconies overlooking Beaver Creek and the Oak Hills golf course to the west and Lake Erie to the north.

The apartments will feature underground heated garages, high speed elevators, and sound proof walls. The building will be of poured concrete construction with a brick exterior.

A large heated swimming pool, cabana and party room will be incorporated and extensive landscaping and grounds for tenant enjoyment.

The apartments will be known as “Crest Towers,” with a rental range of $115 to $275 per month.

The project is being financed by private investors, it was indicated.

Muriel Watt Mead Real Estate Co. will be leasing and managing agents.

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Today, there are plenty of apartment buildings out there by Mercy hospital, but Crest Towers isn’t one of them. I’m not sure why.

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UPDATE (March 28, 2018)
As usual, regular blog contributor and researcher extraordinaire Rick Kurish has come through, this time with the answer as to why the high-rise apartments were never built.

Rick wrote, "As with many of the grandiose projects proposed for Lorain, the financing for Crest Towers apparently fell through. I found the attached article from the Chronicle-Telegram of June 7, 1968 which details the story."

The short article had the headline of "Lorain high rise just can't get off the ground." It noted that the plans had fallen through, according to a stockholder.

"Building for the 10-story high rise apartment was to have begun two years ago," stated the article.

The stockholder mentioned in the article said, "The company, Crest Towers Inc., could not receive financial support for the project after the Lorain Planning Commission granted a zoning variance."

The article noted, "The structure, planned for a site on Beavercrest Drive, was to contain 104 apartment units plus an indoor heated swimming pool."

Foreclosure proceedings on the land eventually took place.

From Amherst to Hollywood – March 1941

The front page of the March 1, 1941 Lorain Journal is a study in contrasts.

On one hand, the boldfaced headline somberly notes that the Nazis were marching into Bulgaria, who had just joined the side of the Axis powers in the war raging in Europe.

But right under that headline, is a story (and glamour photo) of a former Amherst girl who was making headlines of her own out in Hollywood, where her movie career was beginning to take off.

Read all about Juanita Stark and the Cinderella story of how the Ohio beauty got her big break in the article below.

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Former Amherst Girl’s New Film
Cinderella; Has Movie Contract

Juanita Stark Has Whirlwind Rise to Success

A former Amherst girl, 20-year old Juanita Stark, is being hailed as Hollywood’s first “Cinderella Girl” of 1941, possessor of a movie contract and a role in a new picture.

A month ago Miss Stark was unemployed and it was while she was standing in line for her last unemployment check that she was “discovered” by Lewis Green, a Hollywood agent.

Green was attracted by her beauty, arranged for a screen test at Warner Bros. and Miss Stark is now on the payroll there – all within a week’s time.

FATHER’S INJURY 
LEADS THEM WEST
When Juanita went to Los Angeles with her parents six years ago, she had no intention of being a movie actress, altho she had once desired to become a singer.

The family left Amherst, where Juanita finished the ninth grade, for the west when her father, former world’s champion punching bag puncher, got a job in Los Angeles.

Shortly after arriving in California, Juanita’s father, who had recovered in Amherst from an injury suffered in a fall during one of his exhibitions, was again stricken with the ailment. Juanita was forced to get a job so she became a waitress after school hours in a restaurant where her mother worked.

Mrs. Stark finally had to give up her job to attend her husband. In the following five years that Juanita worked as a waitress she was employed at three different places. The last of these was at Republic studios.

While at Republic, she was suggested by two directors for bit parts but the front office frowned at the suggestion. Juanita quit her job there six months ago because “I would have been fired anyway because of this complication.”

Juanita, her parents and one sister came to Amherst from North Olmsted. They were former Clevelanders.

After landing the movie contract, Juanita first moved her family from Los Angeles to Burbank, Cal., a mile and a half from the studio. She then had her 15-year-old sister who was working weekends give up her job.

Then she went to her first Hollywood party, one given by Rex St. Cyr at Ciro’s which resulted in a picture layout of the former Ohioan in Life magazine.

Juanita is now studying drama and posing for publicity pictures and is looking forward to having her fingernails manicured in a beauty shop for the first time.

She has been offered a bit part in “Affectionately Yours” and has no desire to be like anyone else on the screen, she says.

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It’s easy to see why Juanita Stark was discovered, with her ‘girl next door’ beauty (honed in Amherst no doubt) and haunting eyes.

She didn’t have a very long career in the movies, though. According to her biography on a blog about little-known Hollywood actresses entitled “Those Obscure Objects of Desire”, Juanita had retired by 1946. 

She passed away in California in the early 2000s.

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I did a little field research for this post, watching one of her movies, Thank Your Lucky Stars. The musical comedy starring Eddie Cantor featured almost the entire galaxy of Warner Brothers stars and was a fundraiser for the war effort.

Juanita has two funny scenes in the movie, playing a flustered secretary to prissy Edward Everett Horton. Chubby S. Z. Sakall is also featured in both bits, one of which involves an elephant and other animals that were disrupting the big show rehearsal – much to Horton’s consternation.

More Utility Company Mascot Fun

A few days ago, I featured Reddy Kilowatt and Ohio Edison here on the blog. So, to close out the week, I'll move on to another utility – the telephone system – and its mascot.

You might remember that I did a big post on the Bell Telephone System’s mascot (above), a sort of a moon-faced fellow with a telephone for a body. He appeared in full-page magazine ads throughout the 1940s and into the 50s.

Sometimes he had arms, and other times he didn’t.

Well, here he is doing a local gig in a 1963 Elyria Telephone ad (below) that appeared in the pages of the Chronicle-Telegram that spring.

It’s kind of interesting that the Elyria telephone customer received a punched card printed on heavy paper along with their regular itemized bill. The punched card had to be returned along with the payment as part of the processing. I guess that was the latest technology at the time.

Anyway, the mascot in the Elyria Telephone ad looks an awful lot like the Bell mascot. He’s got to be the same guy.

I wonder if the mascot that the Lorain Telephone Company was using about the same time (below) was supposed to be an updated version of the same character. Or was he a phone-y?

Casey’s Drive-in Ad – March 23, 1968

This blog is still one of the few places on the internet where you can find any mention of Casey’s Drive-in, the Northeast Ohio hamburger chain with the baseball theme that had restaurants in Lorain, Elyria, Vermilion, Rocky River and North Royalton. (I’ve done many posts about it since 2009.)

Well, here’s another vintage newspaper ad to add to the growing collection of online Casey’s memorabilia.  It ran in the Lorain Journal on March 23, 1968 – fifty years ago this month.

It’s a clever promotion, giving away kites in the windy month of March with the restaurant’s great Casey mascot on it. But more importantly, it has the one ingredient that is missing from most fast food restaurant marketing campaigns today: fun.

Today’s fast food restaurants try to convince potential customers that their food is the freshest, or that you can get your meal exactly how you want it, as if you made it yourself in your own kitchen – with local ingredients. 

My thought is that if I wanted that, then I would buy the ingredients at my local grocery store and make it myself for a lot less money.

I much prefer the days when fast food was a treat, and something fun.

Reddy for Action in the 1960s

Last week our old pal Reddy Kilowatt, my favorite advertising mascot of all time, electrified one of Gene Patrick’s "The Passing Scene" comics with a cameo appearance. This week, Reddy’s back as I feature two of his March appearances from ads that ran in the Journal during the month of March in the early 1960s.

After appearing seemingly every day in the newspaper in the 40s and 50s, Reddy's career as a spokesman for electricity began to dim a bit in the 1960s. Perhaps consumers were more sophisticated by then, having already embraced the many modern conveniences available in the post-war period.

But Reddy still had a job to do for Ohio Edison in the war against gas appliances. Here he is in a March 3, 1963 Journal ad promoting electric ranges.

(Looking at this ad, it occurs to me that some of my younger readers may not recognize the chalkboard and erasers in the illustration.)

Here’s Reddy in an attractive rendering a year later in a March 30, 1964 ad. He’s still pointing out that cooking with electricity is cleaner because it’s flameless.

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I’m not convinced that the cleanliness factor was a strong enough advertising point to make the case against cooking with gas.

A better angle might have been to point out that “You’ll never blow up your kitchen with an electric range.” After all, there's at least two Laurel & Hardy movies where attempting to light a gas stove had explosive results.

Here’s the hilarious scene from Blockheads (1938).

In case you’re wondering why Laurel flicked his thumb a few times after discovering he didn’t have any matches, it’s because earlier in the movie he demonstrated a bit of white magic: using his thumb as a lighter. It worked with a pipe; too bad it didn’t work with the stove.

It’s also unfortunate that they didn’t take Reddy’s advice.

United Polish Club – Part 2

The United Polish Club was celebrating its 50th Jubilee in 1963 with a big banquet scheduled for October. But the fun started much earlier than that.

A queen had to be selected to reign over the anniversary. Thus beginning in the summer, the Lorain Journal featured photos of Polish beauties vying for the title.

The first photo (below) ran in the Journal on July 12, 1963.

As the article noted, “Applicants for the Polish Club’s 50th Jubilee queen began rolling in today."

“First to enter the contest was Barbara J. Sakowski, 20, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Leo Sakowski, 1233 W. 38th Street. The second contestant is Judy Ann Kapron, 18, daughter of Carl Kapron, 1214 W. 20th Street.

“The contest is open to all girls of Polish descent who are 17 to 24 years of age, married or single,” noted the article. “Applications for the contest are available at Polish organizations in Lorain and Elyria and must be accompanied by a picture. Registration closes Aug. 10."

Another photo ran on August 12, and this time the newspaper included more information about the selection process, as well as the prizes. (Note: one of the young ladies in the photo below would eventually be a member of the Jubilee Queen’s court!)

The article noted, “Every girl entering the contest will be awarded a trophy. Winners will receive additional prizes including savings bonds, wrist watches, charm bracelets, photos and other prizes."

“The crown and trophies for the winner and runners-up are on display at the M. O’Neil Co.

“The girls will be judged at the UPC street dance on 17th St. between Long and Oakdale avenues on the evening of Aug. 30. The queen will be announced and crowned on Sept. 2 at the UPC annual picnic at Michael’s Locust Grove.”

The last batch of contestants featured in the Journal appeared in the August 21st edition.

Finally, on August 30, 1963, United Polish Club began its big celebration. An article by Joanne Petticord in the Journal the next day noted, “More than 3,000 persons turned out Friday night to kick off the 50th Anniversary celebration of the United Polish Club at a street dance and to view the judging of the Jubilee Queen contest."

“Long Ave. and W. 17th Street was the scene jammed with cars and people as Polish music blared through the PA system for the first few hours of the celebration.”

Here’s the photo that ran with the article on the front page.

“Highlight of the evening was judging of the 17 contestants in the Jubilee Queen contest.

“Results of the judging were “locked” up for the night, and will be revealed at the Labor Day picnic of the UPC at Michael’s Locust Grove.

“However, it was announced that Miss Ohio, Bonnie Ann Gawronski of Toledo, will come to Lorain Labor Day to crown the Jubilee Queen and the two runners-up at the picnic.

“According to UPC officials, a Lincoln Continental, owned by Ralph Mitchell of the Merritt, Chapman and Scott corp will leave for Toledo Monday morning to drive Miss Ohio here. The car was donated by Mitchell.

“A “Parade of Cars” which will include Miss Ohio and UPC officials will leave for the picnic Monday at 2:30 from the UPC Club and will travel through Lorain.

“The entire 50th Anniversary celebration of the UPC will continue until Sept. 29, when Jubilee Week will begin.”

So who was crowned Queen? The Tuesday, Sept. 3, 1963 edition of the Journal revealed that Elaine Skolnicki, 21, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Walter J. Skolnicki, was the winner.

The front-page article written by Joanne Petticord noted, “Seventeen lovely girls in fresh summer smocks in a caravan of automobiles, led by the beautiful Miss Ohio, Bonnie Ann Gawronski of Toledo – this is the sight that greeted the 6,300 persons Labor Day at the 50th anniversary picnic of the United Polish Club.”

“But the highlight of the afternoon was the crowning of Elaine Skolnicki, 21, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Walter J. Skolnicki, 1114 W. 23rd Street.

“A senior at Ohio University, Miss Skolnicki, a charming blonde, is active in various university clubs and is majoring in home economics.

“As queen she will reign over all festivities of the UPC up to and including the banquet on Oct. 6.

“Runners-up in the contest were Cathy Muzilla, 21, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. S. J. Muzilla, 4040 Broadway, a junior at Ohio State University, and Sharyll Kay Megyesy, 18, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Michael Megyesy, 910 N. Central Dr., an employee of Aldens Catalog Store Sales.

“The remaining 14 charming young ladies received trophies and pins from the UPC committee and will also reign as ladies-in-waiting to the queen and her court of two attendants.

“Mayor Woodrow Mathna presented the keys to the city to Miss Ohio and welcomed her and all the contestants to the picnic on behalf of Lorain."

United Polish Club – Part 1

The view this past Saturday

1968 Journal ad

One of the St. Patrick’s Day ads I posted on Friday was for United Polish Club, which was located at 17th and Long in Lorain. For decades, the Club was symbolic of Lorain’s rich ethnic heritage, and was one of many such organizations that collectively defined this working-class city.

Today the defunct club’s headquarters (above) is a forlorn site. The landmark building was declared a nuisance to public health by the Lorain Demolition Board of Appeals back in October 2013 (as reported by the Morning Journal here).

Since then, the iconic structure has been the subject of many interesting photo studies, including a great but heartbreaking series on the lorain365.com website, which includes links for both inside and outside shots.

Here’s another shot from Saturday.

But rather than be depressed, let’s look back at some happy times at the Club.

Tomorrow’s post will feature some of the happy hoopla surrounding the selection of the queen to reign over the United Polish Club’s 50th Jubilee, which was celebrated way back in 1963.

Another Journal ad from March 1968

St. Patrick’s Day Ads – 1964 & 1968

Well, St. Patrick’s Day is tomorrow so that means it’s time for the annual bit o’ blarney here on the O’ Brady Blog where I post vintage ads with that theme.

I’d been a-diggin around in the Journal microfilm from 1964 (looking for Chicken Delight ads), so the first two ads are from mid-March that year.

First up is a portion of a large ad for The Reidy-Scanlan Company. It features a nice illustration of a leprechaun pulling wads of “green” out of a shamrock-covered piggy bank.

The ad also includes details on a neat round-trip for two contest that was a tie-in with the 1964 World’s Fair.

Next up is this wee ad for Heilman’s, who was serving up the traditional Corned Beef and Cabbage, as well as Mulligan Stew. That’s a pretty stylized leprechaun.

By 1968, St. Patrick’s Day restaurant ads in the Journal featuring leprechauns seemed to be much rarer. Perhaps it was the tempo of the war-torn times.

But good old Harvest House Cafeteria out at Midway Mall (a favorite topic on this blog) included a small leprechaun brandishing a shillelagh in their ad that ran on March 16, 1968. 

The menu included a Corned Beef and Cabbage dinner and – in case you didn’t like Corned Beef – Roast Turkey with Hot Giblet Gravy, Baked Celery Dressing, Cranberry Sauce, Creamy Whipped Potatoes, Choice of Vegetable and Warm Roll and Butter. (Like I said before, it was always Thanksgiving at Harvest House!)

Other perennial blog favorite Vian’s skipped the clip art altogether.

So did United Polish Club, which will be featured on a blog post next week.

Have a Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

The Passing Scene – March 1968

Here’s something I haven’t done before: present a whole months’s worth of Gene Patrick’s "The Passing Scene” cartoons in one post. All of March 1968’s strips from the Journal are presented here for your nostalgic enjoyment.

Gene seemed to really be on a roll this month with some really great, funny commentary about what was going on at that time in Lorain and the surrounding area.

It seems that at that time, Lorain was unveiling proposal after proposal of various projects (including a new civic center and arena). Gene must have been getting pretty tired of it, since nothing ever seemed to get built. The March 2, 1968 strip (below) includes a rare bit of opinion in the first panel.

The strip from March 9, 1968 (below) contains a rare instance of Gene crediting someone with the suggestion of a gag used in the strip. In this case, his fellow Journal coworker – Staff Writer Dick Panania – apparently contributed the funny mannequin gag in the second panel.

The March 16, 1968 strip (below) is unusual in that a self caricature of Gene Patrick himself appears in the last panel, in which Gene good-naturedly pokes some fun at his pal Dale Scherfling. The strip also includes a reference to the article about the proposed Sheffield Lake rec center that I mentioned here on the blog a few days ago.

The March 23, 1968 strip (below) is really great. It includes not only a spot-on caricature of Robert F. Kennedy, but a cameo appearance of our old pal Reddy Kilowatt. 

Lastly, the March 30, 1968 strip (below) ends the month with some good, old-fashioned funny gags, as well as a reference to L’Auberge du Port, a French restaurant in Vermilion.

Elyria Landmark Falls – March 1964

Here’s something that might be interesting to longtime Elyria residents. It's a photo of the stately home of Elyria lawyer King E. Fauver on Washington Avenue, being demolished to make way for an apartment complex. Another home on Washington also came down around the same time for new apartments, radically changing the neighborhood forever.

The photo and accompanying caption appeared in the Lorain Journal on March 18, 1964.

The history of the house can be traced back to at least as early as the 1920s, when it was the home of Theodore T. Robinson, the Chairman of the Board of Elyria Savings and Trust. He and wife lived there right up until around the early 1940s, when King and Annie Fauver began living there. 

This page on the Fauver, Keyse-Walker & Donovan law firm's website provides a nice capsule history of the original Fauver law firm, with photos of family members including King Fauver.

Interestingly, there's also a fast food connection with the Fauver family. John King Fauver, son of Annie and King Earle Fauver, was president of the former White Tower restaurant chain.

Today the former King Fauver property is the home of Carriage House Apartments.

Sheffield Lake’s West Shore Club

Yesterday I posted a photo of Vermilion-on-the-Lake’s Historic Community Center. Well, here’s an article about Sheffield Lake’s equivalent facility: the West Shore Club. Unfortunately, at the time of the article, the building’s days were numbered.

The article ran on the front page of the Journal on March 9, 1968 and reports about a generous “mystery donor” and the plan to replace the landmark building with a new recreation/community center.

The article included a rare photo of the West Shore Club.

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Mystery Donor Planning to Build
Sheffield Lake Recreation Center

By BETSY WATSON
Staff Correspondent

SHEFFIELD LAKE – Supposedly there aren’t any fairy godparents in the world, but the citizens of Sheffield Lake won’t believe it!

Last night, city officials revealed that an anonymous donor has come forward to build a recreation center for the city on the site of the present West Shore Club property.

The gift proposal was made public after Lorain Attorney William E. Wickens, who represents the mysterious benefactor, met with Mayor Jack Miller, Councilmen William Serian, Thomas Jordan, Santino Cambria and Law Director Dale Barnard.

PAUL STOCKERT, vice president of the club trustees, said today he would hesitate to estimate the cost of the recreation center because "the property lends itself to so many possibilities.”

Ten days ago, council passed legislation to purchase the West Shore Club for $7,500 and authorized Mayor Miller to see that the club trustees immediately received [illegible] in “earnest money” as a binder for the purchase agreement.

The scene of clam bakes, political rallies and social events, the club, located at 4575 E. Lake Road, has been a city landmark for 35 years. Fronting some 400 feet along Lake Road, the property is also 400 feet in depth and stretches 500 feet along the Lake Erie Shoreline.

“I am very grateful to Attorney Wickens and whoever he represents,” commented Mayor Miller, as he joyfully made the announcement. “The city will do everything possible to expedite the signing of the final papers on the property.

MILLER HOPES to see a recreation area on the site which will have something for people of all ages.

City Attorney Barnard already had met with Elyria Attorney H. McConnell Sadler, who represents the West Shore Club Trustees, and reports that title clearance is under way. Barnard says it will probably take about three months to gain clear title of the property.

Council President Don Smith said, “We are grateful to this unnamed donor for his generosity in helping to fulfill the dreams of many people in Sheffield Lake. I feel sure that this project will get the enthusiastic backing of our council and the people.”

Equally pleased with this “dream-come-true” development are the West Shore Club trustees, the representatives of the 360 property owners of the West Shore Allotment, who hold joint ownership of the site. Only last week, Trustee Secretary David Alston urged council to see that the club continue as a recreation area for the city. He is glad to see somebody else follow through on the trustees’ action for a community center.

COMMENTING on the donors’ action Alston said, “My feelings are that it fits the bill exactly as I described it to council. This community needs a place for civic groups to hold meetings and for our youth to meet and have some activities. It fits the bill and I’m happy.”

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Today the former West Shore Club property is home to the Joyce E. Hanks Sheffield Lake Community Center.

Hole-in-the-Wall Revisited

Sunday afternoon was sunny and pleasant, and a good day for a drive. So I grabbed my camera and headed out as I often do towards Vermilion on Route 6.

As I was coming up towards Baumhart Road, I watched (as usual) for the two white marker poles by the railroad tracks that indicate the location of Henry Claus’ cattle pass under Lake Road.

(Several years ago, historian and archivist Dennis Lamont provided me with a history of this historic “hole-in-the-wall” which I posted here as part of my two-part series on the Claus farm.)

On Sunday, I noticed that the underbrush that normally hides the former “hole-in-the-wall” was all cleared away, providing a rare glimpse of where Quarry Creek flows under the highway. Consequently, I couldn’t resist jumping out of my car and grabbing a few photos.

Continuing on towards Vermilion, I usually stop and drive around Vermilion-on-the-Lake. I like this area a lot, probably because it reminds me of Sheffield Lake.

The Vermilion the Lake Historic Community Center (below) is looking great these days. I wrote about it back here in 2013.

(While linking to the Historic Community Center’s website, I noticed that its photo gallery included a pretty nice photo of the building. To my surprise, it turned out to be a photo that I shot and posted on my blog back in 2013!)

Lastly, while getting ready to go south on State Route 60, I noticed a good place to go in case I ever have to find somewhere to “duck and cover.” Save a spot for me, Mayor!