Musty Money in Courthouse Records – April 1955

Do you collect old currency just for the fun of it?

Like many of you, I've been doing it for years, although on a very small scale. My paper collection includes old two-dollar bills, silver certificates, etc. On the other hand, I have lots of old coins: silver dollars, fifty-cent pieces, etc. I also hoard wheat pennies (why, I don't know), as well as any nickels, dimes, etc. older than 1970, especially those with significant dates on them, like 1944, 1959 (the year I as born), etc.

When I worked on the west side of Cleveland, I used to make a daily stop at a mom-and-pop convenient store (not unlike the one owned by Apu on The Simpsons. I used to get some really old coins there as change, including a penny from the 1800s. It was as if someone just spent their whole vintage coin collection to buy a bag of Cheese Doodles.

But alas! As we slowly transition to a cashless society, one of the drawbacks is that we will gradually lose that occasional thrill of encountering an old coin or wrinkled, faded bill.

That is, unless you happen to spend a lot of time poking around old records in the archives of Lorain County (like author and longtime blog contributor Don Hilton). Then you might get lucky, like Chief Deputy John Hritsko at the Probate Court office in Elyria, as told in the story below that appeared in the Lorain Journal on April 7, 1955.

Grand Opening of Tina's Pizza Parlor – April 1964

I thought I had heard of most of the pizza places in Lorain over the years, but here's one that is new to me: Tina's Pizza Parlor. Above is the large Grand Opening ad that ran in the Journal on April 3, 1964. 

Two well-known Lorain surnames – Fazekas and Ritenauer – were the proprietors of the place.

In the weeks after the Grand Opening, this ad (below) ran many times in the Journal. But soon all newspaper advertising ended.

May 8, 1964 Ad

It doesn't seem to have been in business very long, as I could not find any ad or mention of Tina's Pizza after 1967. This item (below) seems to be the final appearance of the pizza parlor's name in the Journal.

Nov. 1, 1967

Today, 3010 Pearl is a vacant lot.

Do you have any memories of Tina's Pizza? If so, be sure to leave a comment!

Get-Up Soft Drink Debuts – April 1955

June 2, 1958 Lorain Journal ad

Lorain County has a rich history of soda pops, bottling companies and distributors: Sickles Bottling Company (Ma's Old Fashioned Root Beer); Whistle Bottling Company (Whistle, Brownie); The William Seher Company (Seher's Old English Ginger Beer); Canada Dry Bottling Co. (on Colorado Ave.); T. J. Bottling Co. (Dodge City Sarsaparilla, Quiky); Dr. Pepper at 2215 Lake Ave. in Elyria; and both Pepsi and Coca-Cola bottling facilities still located in Elyria. And leave us not forget perhaps the most beloved soft drink of all, Wild West Sarsaparilla, distributed by World Trade, Inc.

Well, here's another soft drink to add to that fizzy legacy: Get Up, a lemon drink apparently not unlike 7Up. It was launched in our area by the Get Up Beverage Co. at 2215 Lake Ave. in Elyria – the same address as Dr. Pepper.

Get Up was introduced to Lorain Journal readers via a full-page ad (resembling a typical newspaper page) that ran in the April 7, 1955 edition.

The main selling angle appears to be that Get Up had fewer calories than other other soft drinks, as well as being available in king-size bottles – making it ideal for families.

There's not very much information about Get Up on the internet. I'm not sure, but it appears to have been an Ohio-based, regional beverage, because all of the existing bottles and marketing items for sale on eBay are located in cities in the Buckeye State.

Mentions of Get Up in grocery store ads in the Journal seem to fizzle out by the early 1970s. 

Perhaps the whole field of lemon-lime drinks competing with 7Up (Get Up, Bubble Up, Sprite, Teem, etc.) was just getting too crowded. 

7Up was never one of the Brady household favorites anyway. Mom and Dad may have liked it, but for my siblings and me, it was something Mom gave us to drink when we were sick. Consequently, I still associate it with not feeling well – thus rendering it an unlikely choice for me to enjoy on a normal basis.

HoJo to Come to Lorain – April 1954

Typical Howard Johnson's restaurant

Although national companies (except for Dollar stores) now seem to sneer at the idea of doing business in Lorain, there was a time in the 1950s when it made sound economic sense. The city was truly 'an industrial empire in Ohio's vacationland (as the postcards boasted) and the economy was in its Post-War boom – so building a restaurant/motel complex near the intersection of U. S. Highway 6 and Ohio State Route 58 made sense.

And that's the 'second' headline above of the April 20, 1954 Lorain Journal shown below, announcing a new Howard Johnson's motel-restaurant at the former site of the Coliseum, which burned down in May 1952.

Oddly enough, the Howard Johnson's originally was planned for Sheffield Lake, which I discussed back on this post. It was the front page of the Lorain Sunday News back in May 1950.

But the loss of the Coliseum apparently opened up prime real estate in Lorain for Howard Johnson's. Its restaurant eventually opened in Nov. 1955.

Nov 2, 1955 Ad from Lorain Journal

But not a Howard Johnson's motel. For some reason, that idea was abandoned – and instead the Beachcomber Motor Lodge was built behind the HoJo restaurant. The Beachcomber opened in December 1959.

Dec. 4, 1959 Ad from Lorain Journal

Today, Chris' Restaurant occupies the former Howard Johnson's restaurant building. I've haven't carried out a tasty perch sandwich from there in a while, so I'm overdue.

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UPDATE (April 22, 2025)

I carried out a perch sandwich and fries tonight, and it was excellent as I knew it would be. But there was one thing wrong. Can you tell by my photo what it was?

The answer: there was no one there for dinner! The waitress confirmed that it was very slow lately.

Please consider a fine meal there sometime in the near future, and help keep this local institution going!

Happy Easter!

Here's wishing all of you a Joyous Easter!

Although it's only supposed to be a high of 50º today, it should be sunny enough in the morning for those who wish to take their traditional photos down at the Lakeview Park Easter Basket.

Like everyone else, the Bradys made the trek to Lakeview Park for photos several times in the late 1950s and early 60s. I've posted most of them during the more than 15 years I've been doing this blog, but came up with a few new ones to share.

Above is the shot of my sister from Easter 1958. I wonder what those gents on the left are looking at in the moat around the basket?

The trouble with the color shots from the mid-1950s is that most of them have that reddish hue. Here's the photo of my sister before I did my amateurish color correction.

Here's a shot from that same day with Mom in it too. I guess the sun was pretty bright.

Ah, but the years of my sister being an only child had come to an end. The following Easter my older brother would get into the act down at Lakeview. Here they are in a very cute black and white photo from Easter 1959. 

I was wondering what Ken was holding. It was some kind of box.

When I saw it up close, however, I knew exactly what it was!

By request, here's another shot from the same Easter, probably before they all went down to the Easter Basket. Ken's got his Sugar Pops and a pinwheel too. What's interesting to me is that at the right of the photo is someone (one of my grandmothers?) who was obviously there to babysit me, since I was only a month old and not ready for the trip to Lakeview Park.

Finally, here's a shot from 1964 of the whole Brady Bunch, minus Dad, who took the picture. 

That's my younger brother at far left in a very stylish outfit. Ken and I have on our matching raincoats, and my sister is looking pretty grown up by now. Alas, we weren't going down to Lakeview Park any more; that's scenic W. 30th Street in the background. 

Happy memories. Consider capturing some of your own today.

Come to Church for Easter Ad – April 9, 1955

 

We've spent most of the week getting ready for Easter circa 1955, so we'll wrap it up with this full-page ad that ran on April 9, 1955 – the day before Easter Sunday. (No Sunday Journal back then.)

It's a nice ad encouraging Journal readers to visit the church of their choice on Easter, with a handy (and impressive) directory of all of the houses of worship.

As usual, it's interesting to see which of the companies sponsoring the ad are still around in 2025 – seventy years later. Although there are several banks listed that have successors, it looks like it's just the Journal and Polansky's Market that are still active. 

I wasn't sure if the Morning Journal still had any presence in Lorain at all (ever since the paper moved out of the old Dianna's Deli building on West Erie). I was surprised to see that the Morning Journal has a Lorain mailing address of 401 Broadway,  apparently in the Duane Building.

Lorain Easter Basket on Front Page – April 9, 1955

Vintage postcard with a postal mark of 1958

The Lakeview Park Easter Basket has been the subject of fifteen posts on this blog over the years. It's been a beloved Lorain landmark since its unveiling in 1941 and one of the unmistakeable symbols of the city. And as we all know, it's been a photo backdrop for countless family photos.

I like to post an articles that show up about it, and here's a new one to me. It appeared on the front page of the Lorain Journal of April 9, 1955 (shown below).

The article notes, "Thousands of people from miles around will come to Lorain's Lakeview park tomorrow to see 675 pounds of eggs in one basket. The eggs weigh 75 pounds each.

"About 10,000 snapshots are expected to be taken  of the 3 1/2 ton green and yellow cement basket of nine colored eggs. Camera fans use it for backgrounds in snapping family and friends in their Easter finery."

The article notes how George Crehore, Lorain park department superintendent, 'dreamed up' the concept of a basket in the park. Unfortunately, the story only attributes its construction to Crehore and the park department workers – failing to identify the man who figured out a way to manufacture the basket: David Shukait.

Eventually, Shukait received recognition in newspaper coverage. A plaque acknowledging his ingenuity in the design and construction of the basket adorns it today.

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Elsewhere on that same front page are a variety of interesting news tidbits, including the report of singer Mel Torme being involved in an auto accident at Route 10 and Indian Hollow Road. According to the story, Torme was "en route from Los Angeles to Cleveland where he is making a personal appearance."

I guess Mel liked taking the back roads.

It's Ham for Easter, Ma'am - April 1955 Grocery Ads

Have you decided on your menu for Easter dinner yet?

I guess it might depend on how traditional you are. According to the AI Overview on Google (which we know is always right), "Ham is a popular Easter dish, and the tradition is rooted in practicalities and historical customs, not necessarily specific religious meanings. Pigs were often slaughtered in the fall and cured throughout the winter, with the ham being ready for the Easter meal in the spring. 

"Ham also became a more affordable alternative to lamb, which was traditionally the main Easter meat."

I don't remember Mom making lamb more than once – if at all – when I was growing up. I don't think Dad was all that crazy about it. So Easter dinner was always ham. 

Seventy years ago, ham was very popular as well, and all the local groceries featured it in their weekly full-page ads. Here's an ample sample from the Lorain Journal of April 6 and 7, 1955.

Not everyone had to go out and buy a ham. Those lucky enough to have purchased a major appliance at Sears Roebuck and Company (remember when it was called that?) received their Easter ham free, according to this ad which ran in the Journal on March 31st, 1955.

Muir's Ad With Vintage Easter Toys – April 1955

One of the things that I remember about Easter when I was a kid was that Mom and Dad would sometimes put a little toy in our baskets along with the candy and hardboiled eggs. They were often just little inexpensive windup things, the equivalent of a stocking stuffer at Christmas. I don't know what we did with them after Easter.

You can see the 1950s version of little Easter toys in the ad above for Muir's Cut Rate Drugs (a favorite topic on this blog), which ran in the Lorain Journal back on April 7, 1955. Here's a closeup look at one of them – a wind-up bunny.

And here's one, courtesy of eBay, that somehow survived over the years. It's quite nice, actually.

Another toy in the ad is this 'Egg Laying Chick.' (Hmmmm, should that say 'hen'?)

And here's the real thing, also found on eBay. It has most of its hen fruit.

And lastly is this bespectacled bunny bank.

There are a lot of these things still around, in various colors. It was part of a set, with a matching girl bunny. Some of them seem to be missing all or part of their glasses – leaving two holes between the eyes on the boy bunny, and a weird ridge across the nose on the girl bunny (that would not look out of place on one of the alien races found on the newer Star Trek shows).

Vintage Easter Egg Coloring Kits

Courtesy Garage Sale Finds blog

Will you be coloring Easter eggs this year – if not for yourself, maybe for your grandkids?

Maybe not. I know the price of a dozen eggs had gone up again, although I have no idea what it is now. It takes me months to finish off a carton anyway. Sometimes when I get around to frying an egg, I notice that the expiration date stamped on the carton was at least several haircuts ago. (For the record, I go every five weeks.) But I do like hardboiled eggs.

Anyway, coloring Easter eggs has always been a big part of the holiday. Unfortunately, when I was growing up, our eggs never really turned out that great. The colors were usually pretty drab and uneven. Designs applied to the eggs using the waxy 'magic' crayon usually resulted in an unattractive, illegible design. 

Finally, my siblings and I would pollute some of the eggs with the goofy stickers that came with the kit, or insert them in the little paper wraparounds. 

Of course, Mom always bought the PAAS egg coloring kits. You can see the front of one of the boxes at the top of this post. 

Here's the back of the carton (below). There's also a sheet with one of those wraparound stand-ups. They were pretty cute.

Anyway, I was surprised to see that egg coloring kits have been around for a long time, and that PAAS wasn't the only company making them. Here are some vintage boxes and kits that have somehow survived through the decades to make it to eBay.

This kit from the late 1930s provides kids with colorful transfers of famous King Feature comic characters to be applied to the eggs. There's Popeye, Wimpy, Olive Oyl, the Jeep, Blondie, Maggie and Jiggs, the Little King, Krazy Kat, Officer Pupp, Ignatz the Mouse and – Barney Google!

I see there's also Flash Gordon and the whole Katzenjammer Kids gang (Hans and Fritz, Mama and der Captain).

Here's the back of the box, featuring an oddly-proportioned Popeye.

This PAAS kit is from the late 1940s. It still has Popeye and Dagwood transfers, but now the Disney menagerie is included, including Donald Duck, Pluto Pup, Bambi, Thumper and Br'er Rabbit (from the Song of the South). Oh, and a cross is tossed into the mix as well.

Here's a much later PAAS kit. Sorry, Popeye – no fisk fighting on Easter eggs any more.

Like I said, other companies besides PAAS produced coloring kits. Here's one from RIT.

I much prefer this RIT package with a Wild West theme. Sort of a GRIT RIT kit.

And finally, J.J. Fleck of Tiffin, Ohio produced a set of 'Easter Egg Trims." Apparently you moistened them and placed them on the end of the egg.

Apparently the concept never caught on – possibly because of the nightmarish clown design. 

Click here to read a comprehensive, well-written history of J. J. Fleck and his company