Tragedy at Sea – April 28, 2025

One hundred years ago this week, a horrible and controversial tragedy at sea occurred: the sinking of the Japanese cargo ship SS Raifuku Maru. Tragic because the entire crew of 38 was lost; controversial because there were accusations that the crew of the White Star Liner RMS Homeric – who received the distress call – was accused of not doing enough to try and save the crew of SS Raifuku Maru.

Above is the front page of the Lorain Journal of April 28, 2025 with the story and a heartbreaking photo showing the ship sinking as seen from the deck of RMS Homeric.

This Wiki page provides a capsule account of the tragedy. And this website provides an interesting look at the sinking of SS Raifuku Maru, as it was lost in the Bermuda Triangle.

SS Raifuku Maru

Elsewhere on the front page: the Lorain Street Railway requests permission from Lorain City Council to abandon street car service in Lorain on Erie Avenue from Root Road to Leavitt Road; Lorain police vice squad arrest six in a raid on a pool hall; a disturbing story of the burning alive and stoning to death of 100 inhabitants of Chinese town of Tsu Ling Chung. 

It is described as such: "Six hundred bandits attacked the town, the inhabitants fleeing in terror. The bandits captured 100 and entombed them in a cave, filling the entrance with an enormous heap of firewood which was lighted. A majority of the victims were burned to death, but some struggled through the flames to be killed with stones."

Strangely enough, I was unable to find any mention of this on the internet except for the same blurb presented on the front page of the Journal.

New Store for Muir's Cut Rate Drugs – April 1955

Logo circa Dec. 1954

Muir's Cut Rate Drug Store has been a regular topic on this blog. Why? Because its history in Lorain spanned the era from the 1920s all the way to the 1960s – making it a spectator to the city's growth and evolution. 

Here's an early Journal ad from the first year Muir's opened in Lorain. Saving money has always been a priority for shoppers and Muir's was a pioneer in that area.

Oct. 20, 1922

The longtime Lorain business enjoyed so much success in the city at its original location at Fourth and Broadway that it opened a brand new store at 758 Broadway in April 1955. The article below from the Lorain Journal on April 27, 1955 tells the story. 

The timing of the grand opening of the new store demonstrated the company's loyalty to Lorain. As the article noted, "The opening coincides with the 33rd anniversary of the founding of Muir Drug in April, 1922, and the opening of the first cut rate store in the Middle West at 521 Broadway in Lorain.

"The new Lorain store is the first completely self-serve store in the Muir chain and is the first in a big $100,000 expansion program undertaken by Muir's for 1955.

""Lorain has always been first in our hearts," said Boyce K. Muir, president and founder of the Muir Co.

""We opened our first store in Lorain with only $1,000; our Lorain store at Broadway and Fourth was the first store in our chain to install a soda fountain; and now our new store in Lorain is the first completely self-serve unit in our company."

****

Unfortunately (as I wrote about it back here), while the Lorain store was a sentimental favorite of the company's management, it was also the one that was the farthest away from the corporate headquarters in Michigan – and eventually had to go.

Jan. 8, 1964 ad from the Journal

NYC Derailment in Elyria – April 27, 1955

It's nothing to be nostalgic about, but seventy years ago yesterday was the day that 22 New York Central cars derailed in Elyria, as noted in the headline above from the Lorain Journal of April 27, 1955.

As the article noted, "A 70 mile an hour, 125 car freight train ripped apart the New York Central's four main tracks in Elyria today. The derailment sent cars flying and snarled the rails. All New York-Chicago rail traffic was blocked or rerouted for 12 hours after the 6 a. m. accident at the Abbe Road crossing.

"No one was injured when 22 of the 125 cars derailed, overturned and spun crazily across the fours tracks. But a crossing watchman in a shack on a 15 foot tower was terrified when a 150,000 pound gondola filled with steel rails skidded towards him, halting only five feet from the base of his tower.

"The train was headed from Toledo to Cleveland's Collinwood yards. It was made up of closed freight cars, tank cars and gondola cars filled with lumber and steel."

Here's the page with the continuation of the front page story. 

Note the pages also include the ongoing saga of the Dr. Sam Sheppard case, an item for Don Hilton about Probate Judge Harold Ewing, and the suicide attempt by famed actress Susan Hayward. 

Oh, and an Ohio Edison ad with old pal Reddy.

****

I've got to admit, I'm always impressed by the fact that in the old days,  a big news event like the NYC derailment could happen in the morning of a given day, and people could read about it in the Journal that night. Incredible. That was the beauty of an evening newspaper with a full staff of reporters, photographers, artists and editors, all working with a tight deadline. Having a news office in the larger, neighboring cities also helped cover stories no matter where they took place.

Journal Entertainment Page – April 4, 1975

April 4, 1975 Journal page

Well, the weekend is here – and perhaps you're thinking of heading out tonight to enjoy a drink or fine meal at a Lorain County establishment.

If you were perusing the above entertainment page of the Journal fifty years ago, you would have a quite a few choices. Unfortunately, all of these businesses are gone today, relegated to the Island of Forgotten Nightclubs®.

There's an interesting article about Camelo Santiago and his Latin American Orchestra performing at the Civic Center Annex in Downtown Lorain. I don't remember this band, as it slightly predates my entrance into the local latin music scene (which I wrote about here). But I played with some of the musicians in the photo, heard of some of them, and went to Admiral King with at least one (Robert DeLeon).

Otherwise, it's fun to check out the various ads. Italian Gardens was one of the businesses in the building that was originally the home of Lum's Restaurant.

Many of us remember Emerald Valley Nite Club. I even played there with my high school friend Bob Berstiling and the Four Links. Bob's father played Emerald Valley with his own band, so I'm sure that's how we got the gig.

I remember the distinctive Tropicana Restaurant in Avon Lake. My old boss Franc Powell designed and installed the well-remembered mosaic on the outside of the building.

I never heard of The Schilling (formerly Donny's) at the intersection of US Route 20 and State Route 301 in Elyria. But Michael Stanley and his band were performing there.

Silver Dollar Lounge & Restaurant is another one I'd never heard of. The ad helpfully points out that it was formerly Roman Villa.

The Angry Bull was at 651 Broadway (no relation to the similarly angry and same-named toro out in Huron). Hey, there's Go-Go Girls every night!

Other ads include O'Henry's Pub, Beaver's Den and Whiskeyville Still (next to the Lorain County Speedway). This version of the Whiskeyville Still became T. J. Light Co. in 1978.

Looking at these ads makes me think how hard it is for local restaurants, bars etc. to survive today without the advertising that newspapers provided. Grouping all of the ads in one spot as shown in the page above made it easy for the person trying to decide where to go. The inclusion of an ad in the paper guaranteed that it was open for business.

Today, neglected and outdated websites, ancient (and phony) reviews, and reliance on social media (which not everyone follows) to promote all make it hard to know if a business is open and worthy of a visit.

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 was 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.

****

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.

****

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.