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.