Well, it's Easter week – so longtime readers know that means it's time for my traditional Easter parade of vintage ads.
First up is this attractive, full-page ad for Midway Mall heralding the appearance of the Easter Bunny that ran in the Journal back on March 16, 1972. I really like the artwork of the Easter Bunny casually leaning against a basket the size of the one in Lakeview Park (although an egg-rattling earthquake is seemingly in progress).
I don't recall Mom and Dad ever taking my siblings and me to see the Easter Bunny in a department store. In fact, I don't think I ever had a clear image in my mind what a rabbit who delivered Russell Stover and Faroh's Candy, as well as hard-boiled eggs, would look like. Was he six feet 3 and 1/2 inches tall like Harvey in the movie of the same name? Or was he just a little bigger than your average garden variety rabbit?
Plus, the Easter Bunny didn't bring toys, so there wasn't any pressing reason to visit him before the holiday. I do recall that my parents did put little wind-up toys in our baskets one year.
Anyway, over the weekend I had to stop at PetSmart across the way from Midway Mall. It was pretty depressing looking over at the now almost empty shopping complex that's slowly morphing into something else entirely.
For so many years in the late 60s and entire 1970s, Midway Mall truly was the shopping and entertainment hub of Lorain and Elyria, hosting a variety of special events, shows, school exhibits and performances. There's a lot of sentimental memories there for locals. It's hard to imagine that today's youth will look back decades from now with the same kind of affection for shopping meccas like Crocker Park or Legacy Village (which are designed to look like Downtowns) that we have for Midway Mall.
