New Year's Eve – 1954 & 1964

Well, it's New Year's Eve 2024.

It's hard to believe another year has gone by, isn't it? As you get older, the years seem to go faster and faster. It gets a little creepy when you're in your 60s (like me). But I'm just glad to still be around, however weather-beaten I may be.

Sixty years ago it was New Year's Eve 1964. Regular readers of this blog know what that means; it's time for me to post another vintage "Don't Drink & Drive" full-page ad from the Journal. Here's the one that ran on December 31, 1964.

Even without a grisly guest appearance by the Grim Reaper, the ad is still pretty effective. 

Appropriately enough, many of the sponsors seem to fit in with the theme of the ad, with both "Drinking" (Eddie's Bar, Herb's "333" Bar, and Dewey Road Inn) and "Driving" (George May Ford, Kaminski Olds-Cadillac, Duskey Bros. Pure Oil Station, Makruski Bros. Garage) well represented.

As usual, there isn't a single business that is still around.

And what if you hadn't made any plans yet as to how to spend December 31, 1964? Here's the entertainment page showing what was happening.

There were plenty of movies to see. Even the Tower Drive-in was still open, with its in-car heaters. (Note that the Palace was showing one of those crummy kid's matinee features, the Mexican import Little Red Riding Hood and Her Friends, courtesy of producer K. Gordon Murray.)

The private clubs (such as the Serbian Club, the Croatian Club, the Italian American Vets, etc.) had dances.

A few restaurants and night clubs (Benny's, The Note and The Red Carpet in Amherst) had big New Year's Eve Parties and dancing.

As for me, I would probably have decided to amble down to Heilman's Ranch House for the Midnight Round-Up and tie on the feedbag, since the chuck wagon menu included pancakes and sausage, bacon and eggs, and charcoal broiled steak 'n eggs.

And what about New Year's Day? Good old Vians in Sheffield Lake was serving up traditional pork and sauerkraut – always a good way to start off the year.

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As a bonus, here's the New Year's Eve 1954 "Safe Driving" ad from the Dec. 31, 1954 Lorain Journal.

As you can see, there's no Grim Reaper in this ad either, just happy party-goers hanging out of windows. The ad has plenty of sponsors, but I suspect that few of these businesses and organizations are still around as well. At least Polansky's is still in business.