Get Your Lorain County I.D. Card at Midway Mall – October 1970

Ad from the Journal, Oct. 16, 1970
(Don’t ask me who the pretty young woman is)

Here’s a curious idea that was promoted in Journal ads beginning in August 1970: the offer of getting your own ‘personal tamper-proof identification card’ at Midway Mall.

The above ad ran in the paper on October 16, 1970 in advance of the event the next day.

What was the card good for? Mainly for buying booze, apparently, since the whole thing was sponsored by  the Greater Lorain County Retail Liquor Association.

Here’s the explanation from an article that ran in the Chronicle-Telegram on November 19, 1970. By then, the program was well under way and well-received, with almost 2,000 cards issued so far.

The article noted, "Plastic identification cards, useful for proving age and cashing checks, have been issued to nearly 2,000 area residents since local liquor dealers began their "Identi-Proof" card campaign in August. The identification card promotion is sponsored by the Greater Lorain County Retail Liquor Dealers Association in cooperation with the Lorain County Sheriff's department. 

"Every Saturday since August 15th, a sheriff's deputy, working on his own time, has photographed between I00 and 175 people at the Midway Mall for the identification cards. 

"The plastic card shows a picture of the holder and serves as positive identification as proof of age for liquor purchases and for cashing checks in some local banks and retail liquor establishments, according to Boris Lazoff, president of the liquor dealers association.

"Two auxiliary deputies, in addition to the photographer, check papers brought in by applicants as identification for obtaining the cards, according to Sheriff Vernon M. Smith.

"The campaign is completely funded by the liquor dealers, Smith explained.

"No county money is being used in the project. Lazoff said the identification card processing team would be in the Mall every Saturday from noon to 6 p.m. until the end of the year.

"Proof of age in the form of a birth certificate, baptismal papers, or recently issued driver's license, and Social Security number are required at the time the card is processed, Lazoff said. The liquor dealers are trying to introduce the Identi-Proof card campaign to Lorain County Community College and Oberlin College, but have gotten no response from either institution to date, according to Lazoff.

"The liquor dealers association is also hoping to extend the campaign to neighboring towns, Lazoff said.”

It’s kind of amazing that the card could be used as proof of age to purchase liquor (or perhaps 3.2 beer as the case may be). I wonder how long this gimmick lasted?