Eventually, around high school days, I began to broaden my knowledge of Lorain by doing a lot of bike riding, and that finally took me over to the East side. I remember a buddy needed something from Wheel and Reel Center, so we rode our bikes over there. I was surprised to see that the store was in a little brick shopping strip right in the middle of a residential neighborhood.
And that’s the subject of today’s post: the Hoy-Lo-Mae Shopping Center, which was located on Garfield Boulevard near its intersection with Missouri Avenue. Above is the ad promoting the new shopping center, which appeared in the Lorain Journal back on June 25, 1951.
As you can see, the main focus of the ad is ‘Bill’ Musselman’s Barber Shop. The ad notes, “For convenience, comfort, service and modern design, “Bill” Musselman’s Barber Shop stands second to none. Completely modern in design and appointments, kept immaculately clean at all times, and operated by one of Lorain’s most widely known barbers, the shop is planned to offer every service men want – in the manner they like best.
The ad also provides a roll call of other businesses in the shopping center at that time, including Artistic Beauty Salon, Gilbert’s Delicatessen, Gilbert’s Food Fair, Johnson’s Hardware Co., and O. A. Hafely, Inc.
Today the shopping center is long gone. Since 2019, the shopping center’s former location has been home to Lorain’s Fire Station 4.
****
Be sure to revisit this 2011 blog post, featuring the charming reminisces of well-known local realtor (and all-around nice guy) Bill Latrany, about shopping at Gilbert’s Food Fair with his grandfather.
****
I’ve written a few times about O. A. Hafely, who built a lot of homes on Lorain's east side, including one I owned on Nebraska Avenue back in the 1990s. This link tells the story behind the Hoy-Lo-Mae name.
When we lived on Nebraska, we used to get great pizzas from Sorrento’s, which was located in the shopping center on Garfield at that time. It was kind of nice, and old-timey, to be able to walk over there and pick it up.
3 comments:
I knew Bill Musselman when he had that barber shop on Garfield Blvd...In fact there use to be a barber shop on West Erie Ave.,just west of The Loop in a building that was in between where the buses pulled in and the Dew-Drop Inn Diner..That shop was own by a barber named Frank Krutch and Bill Musselman was the 2nd barber(it was a two-chair shop).Frank Krutch actually lived on the east side on Day Dr..Musselman finally sold the shop on Garfield to Don Brandow who hired a young barber fresh out of the military named Dale Carek..Of course,Dale was a barber on the east side of Lorain at several locations for years until he became ill and had to give it up..
I bought a bicycle from Wheel and Reel Center in 1974, and I knew of the strip mall there from going past it many times over the years, but I never knew it had a name.
Thanks for digging up information on this center. When I was a child of 3 or 4 I remember my mother went to this Beauty Shop. I faintly remember the deli, kind of like it was bare bones inside maybe. What memories of the late 60's this brings back!
Post a Comment