Friday, January 5, 2024

Another (Former) Bait Shop Bites the Dust

I don't subscribe to the Morning Journal, but I get little snippets of news from the newspaper delivered to my email daily. One of the stories a few days ago involved one of the city's favorite pastimes: tearing down old buildings. The latest (and apparently the last one in 2023) was at 925 Colorado Avenue.

It appears that the last business to occupy that address was Lakeside Bait. So what other businesses were associated with that address?

Falbo Construction called it home beginning around 1949 and up to about 1965. The Falbo family and Terminal Ready-Mix renovated Falbo Park on Meister Road a few years ago. 

After the mid-1960s, there were several companies there, including Seaway Auto Sales (1966), Wallace Heating (1968), Lorain County Fence (early 1970s), Russell's Lounge (mid-1970s), and Atlas E-Z Moving & Storage (1976 – late 1980s). Lakeside Bait & Tackle had its grand opening in 1989.

Maybe the city has something against bait shops. Remember, the one down at Hot Waters was demolished back in 2017 (which I wrote about here and here). Speaking of bait shops, Garwell's was demolished (by its owners) back in 2019.

Here's a demolition photo of 925 Colorado Ave., courtesy of the Morning Journal. I understand the building was condemned.

What I don't understand (and maybe someone can explain) is why some buildings are demolished by the city and other eyesores – much worse than the building above – remain standing.

5 comments:

-Alan D Hopewell said...

Follow the money; who profits, and how?

Anonymous said...

I am almost certain that building was moved there in the late eighties. It was always Lakeside Bait, but it was located somewhere near the pier. I don't remember exactly where it was, but I'm thinking it was moved when they made all the improvements to the pier area. I am getting older and my memories fade away by the day, but darn it, I seem to remember that building being hauled away from Lakeside Ave.

Anonymous said...

I used to have a pet raccoon named Corky and I would stop in at Lakeside Bait and buy a bucket of minnows for him.Then I would pour the minnows in one of those big metal 35 gallon utility tubs and then Corky would get to go fishing.He loved grabbing the minnows and chasing them about the water.He would actually dive his head under the water to get at them.I had forgotten about that place until you posted about it Dan.

Rae said...

In the early 60's my dad was laid off from either USS, shipyards or both. To make ends meet we caught minnows and cray fish in a net in French Creek near Abbe and Colorado. It was the country then. We even had a worm box behind the garage. It was my job to feed worms now and then. (yes, we were the Bumpus' of the neighborhood. Coon dogs, bee hives.) We would take the bait to a bait shop on Lakeside, but it was more of a big house like others on the street. There was a robust smiling lady in a flowery dresses that ran it and paid us. Don't recall any more than that.

Anonymous said...

Yes, there was a bait shop on Lakeside in the 70's/80's. I don't recall whether they moved the building or just moved the business to Colorado Ave. I also don't recall what the bait shop looked like. It may have been a house as mentioned above.