Dino’s Back – at E. 29th & Grove

I did a double-take when I first noticed it last year: a new Sinclair gasoline sign in front of a former gas station on Grove Avenue a block from the steel mill. The classic Dino mascot adorns the brilliant white building as well.

Why was I surprised? Because although the Sinclair brand had once been very big in Lorain County, it has been extinct in the area for a long time.

(I did a two-part series on Lorain’s Sinclair stations back here in 2012.)

According to old city directories at the Lorain Public Library, that location on Grove had been home to a Sinclair service station for decades.

A gas station had been at that location at Grove and E. 29th Street since the late 1930s, when it first appeared in the city directory as J & P Service Station. However, the location was vacant by the time of the 1942 city directory.

It was when Andrew Shumyla became the operator in the late 1940s that the service station began its longtime association with the Sinclair brand. Throughout the 1950s, the station appeared in the city directories as Shumyla Sinclair Service Station.

For a little while in the early 1960s, the station was listed in the directories as Dan’s Sinclair Service before going vacant around 1965. But Andrew Shumyla was back and in charge of the Sinclair station by 1967.

The station became Shumyla’s Arco Service around 1971. The station continued to be listed in the directory until the late 80s, when it was listed once again as vacant.

A city directory as recent as 2016 includes no listing for 2904 Grove, the current address of the building with the Sinclair signage. A sign on the door reads, “George’s Tin Can.” There’s also a vintage Sinclair sign in the window.

So it is going to be a real Sinclair station again? I doubt it.

I’m guessing that the building is merely a happy homage to Sinclair, much like the home of Benny’s Carriage Shoppe on Reid Avenue resembles a vintage Cities Service station.

But while Cities Service as a brand of gasoline is defunct (it’s known today as Citgo), Sinclair is still very much alive.

Nevertheless, the former service station on Grove has been spruced up nicely and in Lorain, that’s a good thing indeed.

Here’s a “before” view (courtesy of Google Maps) of how it looked as a shuttered Arco station.

Here’s an even bleaker “before” view (complete with ghost signage) from the Lorain County Auditor website.

And here are a few recent views.

Seeing the building looking so nice makes me wish I could fill up my old jalopy with “Dino Supreme.”