The city's industries were booming; farmland was giving way to new housing developments; schools were built to handle the influx of new students; and now-iconic businesses (Yala's Pizza, Willow Hardware, etc.) were springing up to service the growing population on the West Side.
In Downtown Lorain, the buses were still bringing people to shop there. But post-war prosperity meant that many people now owned cars. Consequently, more city parking was needed for those who drove downtown to shop.
Thus some old houses and buildings had to be torn down. The photo at the top of the page above from the August 5, 1954 Lorain Journal tells the story. It notes, "Not war torn London, just two old houses on Sixth Street being torn down to make room for city-operated parking lots. Other houses on Eighth and Fifth Streets are also being removed for the same reason."
It's rather sad that fewer and fewer of us remember when shopping in Downtown Lorain was part of our regular routine. In the mid-to-late 1960s and early 70s, we headed downtown each Saturday morning. Mom did some shopping while my brothers and I had our trumpet lessons with Mr. Visci. Mom shopped at Midway Mall too (but that was more of a Saturday afternoon destination) as well as O'Neil - Sheffield Center.
Unfortunately, the days of people leisurely going from store to store and browsing are pretty much over, thanks to Covid and the internet.
But even shopping online has its pitfalls. Have you ever shopped online at a store like Home Depot or Walmart, found that they had exactly what you were looking for, and then foolishly drove to the store – only to find out it was available only on their website? I'm careful about it now, but it happened to me a few times before I realized that many brick-and-mortar stores aren't trying to get you to go there anymore. They all want to be like Amazon and ship it to you.
Yes, there are still all-day shopping meccas like Crocker Park and Legacy Village, with their elite selection of specialty stores. But sooner or later (in my opinion), they'll take their lumps too.
