For little kids, much of their first view of the outside world is from the back seat of their parents’ car.
If you grew up in Lorain in the 1960s and 70s, that world was often full of strange sights – of landmarks that naturally would be of interest to a child. It’s not hard to imagine some of the comments you might have heard from the back seat back then – and some of them are still applicable today.
“Hey, look – there’s a train in Oakwood Park!”
“Wow, that’s a huge Easter Basket!”
“What’s that Big V stand for?”
“Look at that guy in the rocking chair on that sign!”
Well, there’s a brand new landmark in Lorain: a huge script ‘Lorain’ sculpture located at the west end of the Bascule Bridge.
As noted in an article in the Chronicle-Telegram, "The white steel sign comes from more than a year and a half of grassroots work by local real estate agent Andrea Neal, designer Brian Bartlebaugh, Kuhn Fabricating owner Lewie Kuhn, developer Jon Veard Jr. and others.
"It takes after Cleveland and Parma’s similar signage, hoping to bring people to the city to use the sign as background for selfies, brand photos, proposals and other photo ops.
“We did it so people could come, take pictures instead of always using the Easter basket year-round. Now we’ve got something with the waterway and everything behind it,” Bartlebaugh said.
"The project would have cost about $60,000 if it weren’t for donations from local businesses and a large sum from an anonymous donor, Neal said. She estimated the total cost, even with an unexpected increase in materials, was more than $30,000."
It’s a great idea, and it’s nice to see a brand new Lorain landmark that will undoubtedly takes its place in future family photographic memories.
Hopefully the city will add some adjacent parking nearby.
Realtor Andrea Neal, mentioned in the above article, was the listing agent on my mother’s childhood home on Sixth Street a few years ago. She was nice enough to allow my mother and me to go through it and take pictures when it went up for sale a few years ago.
13 comments:
I like the new sign very much! It reminds me of the Lorain Telephone Co logo or something similar.
On another note, my mother wrote a letter to the people in her childhood home in Mayfield Hts that my G father built. Mentioned a few things only someone who lived there would know. Like a place my G father messed up setting the bathroom tiles and a parrot light in the kitchen. They called and invited us out. My mother and I took a box of Farohs and they showed me through the house and as we left gifted us w the parrot lamp shade they had changed out. Great memory.
Sorry,just can't get excited about this 30 thousand dollar boondoggle.
Streets are still horrible
Crime is still out of control
Water bills are still high and full of charges the taxpayers shouldn't have to pay for
And they build a new stage for the democratic city officials to tap dance on at election time.
Thank God it wasn't tax money! Or at least not all of it.
Do you still have the lampshade?
Nice idea, nice site - but why make it look so much like the Cleveland sign?
It's a nice sign.I only wonder how long it will take before some Lorain vandals put their mark on it.Or hopefully there isn't a car crash in front of it and the cars go flying off the road right into the sign.As I don't see a guardrail around it.Just hope it's strong enough to support the weight of people as you know that kids will want to climb all over it and get a photo like with the Easter basket at Lakeview Park.
Alan, I do. Always wanted to use it somewhere, it's more a glass globe.
Post a picture on Facebook.
Alan, I'll have to dig it out. Give me a day. LOL But I will.
"Debbie Downer" Anonymous at 7:31 a.m. mentions that the "streets are still horrible." (Compared to what city?) Crime is still out of control." (Compared to what city?) "Water bills are still high..." (Having the precious Lake Erie at our doorstep makes us very lucky indeed. And I understand that our water bills are not as outrageous as other city's.) All subjective nonsense. Anonymous needs to shut his or her electronic piehole and be thankful for what's in front of them. :-)
That is a cool sign.But Lisa,I think you're being a little bit harsh on "Anonymous".Just take a little drive over to our neighbors in Erie County and they get to enjoy pothole free roads.I don't know how Erie County can figure out how to make a road as smooth as a babies bottom but Lorain County can only give us pizza face,pock mark type roads to bounce around on.I feel like the old bouncing ball on the classic Mitch Miller tv show when I drive on the streets of Lorain.But as soon as you leave Lorain County the roads smooth out and you just wonder "Why"?
Electronic piehole...........lol.
Tens of thousands of dollars for a gift to help beautify downtown compared to the millions and millions required to properly repair and maintain roads. It's not even apples and oranges, it's apples and the Giant Peach. There are a lot of people putting their own money and serious labor into trying to revitalize downtown Lorain, a place that only a few years ago pretty much everyone had given up for dead. It's kind of strange, sad, and yet not too unexpected to hear some people deride their efforts and complain about everything while also doing nothing at all. I haven't lived in Ohio for nearly 20 years, but even from 1300 miles away I've tried to help by sending some business to those who are rebuilding downtown Lorain. They're not doing it because it's some huge investment opportunity they stand to get rich from, they're doing it because they love to build and improve things and because they're proud of the place they come from, despite all its faults and current hardships. It is massively admirable.
As the amiable, lovable ‘host’ of these proceedings, I like to think of the people who leave comments on this blog (including my great regulars--Alan, Rae, Buster, Dennis T., Mark, Lisa, Don, Mike K., LHS Blazer Man, Doug, Bill, Anonymous and many others) as a big group of friends who may not always agree, but are interested in what the others have to say.
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