Emerald Valley Golf Club Grand Opening – Sept. 1961

I heard that the Emerald Valley Golf Club clubhouse/nightclub was torn down last month, so I drove over to take a look over the weekend (above). It was strange not to see the familiar building that had been there since it opened in 1961. Here's a view from 2020 (below).

The golf course had opened with much fanfare in September 1961. Here's an article from the September 28, 1961 edition of the Lorain Journal about the impending opening. As we know from last week's posts about the Lorain Country Club, there was real enthusiasm for golf courses in Lorain.

And here's the Grand Opening advertisement from September 30, 1961.

I've featured the Kucireks many times on this blog, including a great Journal interview from 1969 in which the couple explain how they originally wanted to build homes on the site (the former Glen Mauer farm) – but ended up with a golf course.

Here's a YouTube video of part of the demolition. That's Joseph Kucirek, the grandson of Emil and Emily Kucirek, at the wheel of the excavator. He wanted to participate, as a way of honoring his grandparents and their legacy in Lorain.

And here are a few vintage ads of the nightclub and pro shop.

Oct. 9, 1964

Oct. 30, 1964

Nov. 6, 1964

Nov. 7, 1969

Dec. 28, 1970

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.

Emerald Valley Golf Club Opens – May 1962

Emerald Valley Golf Course has been featured on this blog several times over the years, including posts devoted to a 1969 interview with Emil and Emily Kucirek (the builders and co-owners of the course); a 1970 Journal article about the Emerald Valley Golf Shop; and a post with a 1972 newspaper ad and photos of how the clubhouse looks today.

Well, here's a good article about the initial opening of the Emerald Valley Golf Club. The story appeared in the Journal back on May 4, 1962. It provides a great history of the course and mentions the farm that used to occupy the site.

It notes, "Emerald Valley Golf Club, $300,000 semi-private nine-hole golf course located on Leavitt Rd. at the intersection of Jaeger Rd., will be available to its golfing membership for the first time Saturday.

"Emil and Emily Kucirek, builders and co-owners, added that trick shot artist Paul Hahn will appear for an exhibition at the Lorain links June 3.

Photo of Paul Hahn courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

"Construction of the 2,845 yard golf course began in November of 1960 on a 60-acre tract of land once known as the Glen Mauer Farm. Kucirek also has an additional 60-acre tract for another nine holes to be built "at some future date."

"The course is ideally laid out with two creeks and two manmade lakes offering additional hazards along with an abundance of natural tree hazards. It has three par three holes, four par fours and two par fives, No. 1 and 4 both stretching 530 yards.

"Play will be mostly on an open basis the first year.

"Emerald Valley's spacious clubhouse has been in use for several months now and is available for parties, weddings, etc. It contains a dining room seating 88 upstairs and a banquet hall seating 225 downstairs.

"Other clubhouse facilities include a southern exposure patio overlooking the course, lounge bar, snack bar, pro shop, locker room for men and parking for 200 cars. Future plans call for construction of a swimming pool by 1963 and tennis courts."

****

Unfortunately I never golfed at Emerald Valley. My career on the links was a short one, only spanning a few years in the late 1990s/early 2000s. (I mentioned my golf lessons at Bob-O-Link Golf Course back on this post.) I mainly played at Aqua Marine (another lonnnnng delayed post on this blog) on the way home from work, and patronized many driving ranges from Elyria to Westlake and beyond.

I may pick up golf again some day.

Emerald Valley Ad – January 17, 1972

There’s been plenty of new development in the last year or two at Tower Boulevard and Leavitt Road (the Shell station and convenience store, the car wash, the urgent care) as well as the new stores by Meijer to the south (Chick-fil-A, Biggby Coffee and Five Guys), making that stretch of Leavitt a very high traffic area. So it’s only a matter of time until the old Emerald Valley Golf Course property nearby finally looks very attractive to some developer. The big ‘For Sale’ sign has been up for a while.

But fifty years ago, Emerald Valley was still thriving, and the golf shop was advertising in the winter months. Below is an ad that ran in the Journal back on January 17, 1972.

Emerald Valley has been a favorite topic on this blog. We learned about the history of it back on this post that featured an interview with Emil and Emily Kucirek, the couple who built and owned  it.

It’s interesting that they originally bought the farmland to build houses on it. But, as they noted in that 1969 interview, Lorain wouldn’t give them water or sewer lines, so the couple built a golf course instead, opening it around 1960.

Driving by the aging Emerald Valley clubhouse today brings back a lot of memories of Lorain in the 1960s to anyone who grew up in the area.

Here are some shots from last spring.

Emerald Valley Golf Shop – 1970

A few weeks ago, I noticed some land excavation taking place on the old Emerald Valley Golf property on Leavitt Road, and commented on how forlorn the building looked (above).

Well, from the “Lorain County Business and Industrial Review” pages of the August 17, 1970 Journal comes this reminder of the good old days: an article and small ad announcing an End of Season sale at the Emerald Valley Golf Shop.

(The article mentions Golf Pro Joe Kucirek. I posted a great article by Journal Staff Writer Bob Cotleur about Emerald Valley and the Kucirek family’s involvement in the golf course and nightclub back here.)

Anyway, the photo reminds me of this classic scene in Caddyshack (1980).

Change On the West Side

Last week’s posts all dealt with the annexation of Black River Township land in the late 1950s and early 60s that resulted in the city of Lorain as we know it today, with a huge west side miles from the mouth of the Black River.

And that west side – the part of Lorain that I grew up in – is still experiencing a lot of change.

Since I’ve been living slightly outside of Lorain for some time (almost twenty years in Sheffield Lake and two in Vermilion, my present home), I’m not always up on what’s happening in my hometown. Thus it was a complete surprise earlier this year to see a brand new Shell gas station pop up on the southeast corner of Tower Boulevard and Leavitt Road, across from Lighthouse Village shopping center. It’s not quite done yet.

It wasn’t even that long ago that the old-style transmission tower there was replaced with the newfangled pole (which I wrote about here) and the corner was empty. But I’m impressed that at least it’s a national brand, instead of one of those weird mom-and-pop gasoline brands that you see just off the New York Thruway in the Seneca Nation.

It’s especially sad to see the old Emerald Valley Golf Club building sitting forlornly on the hill, with the land behind it being prepped for something.

It was also strange to see that the old closed soccer academy next door is now a Sprenger health care facility called Silver Maple. How did I miss that?

I can’t forget the new No. 7 fire station going up on the southwest corner of Kolbe Road and West Erie, that I mentioned in a post last week. When the station is finished, it will be quite nice.

But it’s quite a ways from Meister and Leavitt, where the No. 7 station was located when I was a kid in the 60s and 70s. (It always felt good knowing the station was only about 2 minutes away from our house on Skyline Drive.)

So the current No. 7 station on West Park Drive will soon be closed, just like the long shuttered Nickles Thrift Store next door. Gee, why am I suddenly in the mood for some Hillbilly Bread?

I guess this long-faded sign on West Park will come down as well. Hey, that looks like Black River Township’s 1913 hose truck on the sign.

Emerald Valley Country Club Article – August 3, 1969

Here's an interesting article that ran in the Journal on August 3, 1969. It's the story of the well-known Emerald Valley Country Club and the people that built it and ran it – Emil and Emily Kucirek.

The story was written by Staff Writer Bob Cotleur and includes a nice history of the iconic Lorain golf course.

****

Emerald Valley: A Golf Course and Nightclub

The Country Club Emil and Emily Kucirek Built

By BOB COTLEUR

Staff Writer

EMILY KUCIREK'S formula for success is work

EMERALD VALLEY is a golf course built around a night club at 4397 Leavitt Rd., Lorain.

In its nine year history thousands of area people have played at one, the other, or both. It is owned by first generation Americans whose families came from Czechoslovakia – Emil and Emily Kucirek.

The Kucireks have battled the city, the elements, time and their own inexperience at the beginning. They've suffered many setbacks, which were serious, but the answers to a few of them were as hilarious as they were practical.

For example: "We started right in with banquets and parties, back in those early 60's," Emily said, "even though we didn't have city water. We trucked water in and it was expensive. People complained there wasn't enough water to flush the toilets. But we didn't tell them anything except there must be something wrong with the plumbing, some trouble.

"And they never did know, for a long time, that we didn't have city water."

EMERALD VALLEY IS the indirect result of a meager $235 Emily saved before she and Emil were married, "on September 4, 1939, Labor Day. And I've labored ever since," she laughed. But it wasn't a joke.

Shortly after marriage, Emil was laid off at the (then) National Tube Company. Emily read an ad for construction help with the Rahl (homes) Construction Company "and I told Emil to answer it."

Emil did. "He got 50 cents an hour to start then worked himself up to the boss," she said. "Then after a couple of years he started into business with the $235 I'd saved."

The money merely bought the license for the Kucirek Construction Co. Emil had a partner, Steve Balacz, now of California, and even Emily helped "by pounding nails and painting."

Emil said, "The turning point in our lives came a few months later when my partner said the concrete made his feet swell. He said he'd handle the books if I handled the outside work. I mentioned it that night to Emily.

"She said, 'you handle the outside work and I'll handle the books.'"

"That ended the partnership with Steve."

Emily said, "We started with one house, sold it and built another. We worked up to ten a year, then 20, then a subdivision on W. 27th Street. After that came another subdivision on W. 37th Street where we built some 90 homes.

THEN THEY BOUGHT the farmland that was to become Emerald Valley. They wanted to build more homes, but it had been zoned for a golf course and recently annexed from Black River Township to Lorain.

The city wouldn't give us water or sewer lines, so Emil said, 'well, let's build a golf course.'"

Emil had caddied from 1930 to 1935 at Cherry Ridge. He loved the game "but I gave it up for 14 years after marriage. I had a family to raise."

"At the time, I was against it," Emily said. "I was managing Kucirek Construction Company and E-K Development Co. (excavation work) and then I had to learn the golf business."

Rumors flew around that they were broke. "I didn't pay any attention to them," she said. "I was too busy raising money. We never went broke."

But she admits they bent a good bit, and in a couple of ways. Everything about golf, the golf business, the clubhouse and the bar were new to her. Work had begun on the course but switched quickly to the clubhouse when a low-powered liquor license became available.

SHE DIRECTED construction of the bar and bar furniture, which were custom made, while the walls were going up and the roof didn't yet exist. They had "an August 15th deadline to meet, or lose the chance for the license. We made it."

Then she had to learn "how to mix drinks. I had to learn all of that at the age of 40."

Did she have trouble mixing drinks?

EMIL KUCIREK

"Well, I was afraid. But I usually know what I am doing. At first, when we had this low-powered liquor, the drinks weren't as strong. People would complain they didn't know what it was about the liquor, but it was something. But they thought because I had a nice club I had the right liquor. You know, regulation liquor."

How did she explain the problem?

"I wouldn't tell 'em the answer because I wanted the business."

She's candid. She picked the right time, too. The license for the past several years has been a full night club type and you can order any kind of drink.

EMILY INSISTS her biggest love is people. "Before we got into Emerald Valley I belonged to 25 different organizations and I've been president of all of them. This helped a lot when we started…"

The facts are: "I organized the Squirettes and later the Squires, the teenage organizations of the Knights of Columbus. I organized the Candy Stripers of St. Joseph Hospital and the Danny Thomas ALSAC (Leukemia) group and the Retarded Children's organization which I became the first president of. I was Lorain Woman of the Year in the 50's, so honored by the Quota Club, and last year was named one of 30 outstanding Women of the Year by the Danny Thomas group."

Emil only built homes, in those years. "He's a sportsman. He only likes those that play various sporting things with him," she said.

How does Emerald Valley work?

"I handle the clubhouse and the inside stuff," Emily said, "and Emil handles the outside work. My son Joe, 28, is the club pro and Albert, 26, my other son, is assistant greenskeeper. My daughter Marilyn, 25, is expecting her first child in January but her husband, Dan Makuski of South Amherst, repairs the big machinery. He's mechanical-minded."

But Emerald Valley is incorporated. Emil is president, Emily is vice president and treasurer, Attorney Leslie Burge is secretary.

"Who's the boss?"

"Emily. She's it. She handles the business, the contracts and the money," said Emil as he studied a difficult shot on the fourth hole.

"I WORK HARD though. In fact, harder than when I ran the construction company. Then I gave orders. Out here I do all the work myself. Run all my own equipment."

Emily agreed. "He gets up early and gets in his four or eight hours, then plays golf the rest of the time. He gets his eight hours sleep and sometimes a little nap as well.

Emil agreed. "Yes, I average about 18 holes a day."

Emily starts working early, at 6 a.m., then quits about 3 a.m. the next day. How does she operate day in day out on three hours sleep?

"I don't really know," she says. "I can't explain that really."

Emil offers a hint. "She wants to run it all herself. So she does."

But Emily has motive, too. "If you want to succeed, you've got to work. And I don't mind working as long as I succeed. But it's too slow, this success.

Ever since we started in this business we've had setbacks. I mean, first we couldn't get water so we booked parties without water. Then after we got on our feet a bit, the new road (SR 58) went by in front and knocked us for a loop. Not a loop, a setback, where you couldn't get to the top as fast.

"Then two years ago Emil put the weedkiller on the greens and that really did a lot of bad to the greens. But in a month's time, he had it controlled. But there's always something. Now the lake. If we don't get that mud out of there we'll worry about watering the greens and fairway."

SHE WAS TALKING about mud caused by enlarging the drainage ditch for Williamsburg Heights in conjunction with seasonal and recent heavy rains. But she also fights a running battle with the kids of Williamsburg Heights.

"They come on the course and do damage to the ball washer, greens and steal golf balls from players. We have an old timer's league, one day a week, and they can't afford it. The kids come and steal their golf balls after these fellows have hit their drives."

She hollers at them from the course loudspeaker. She's never been further out on the course, since it has been built, than the bridge by the last home. And she never swung a golf club once.

June 1972 Journal ad

"When my Al was working at the bar and Joe was working at the shop I was here all the time starting at six a.m. I couldn't keep those two inside to do the work. One day both were on the putting green so I grabbed the first putter I could find. They saw me coming and asked, "What are you doing?"

"I said 'I'm going to learn to play golf.' They said, "Aw, you don't want to learn golf.'"

"Joe, the club pro then, was having trouble with his putting. My luck was every putt I made went right in the hole. So the first thing you see is Al getting his putter and he goes, then Joe gets his putter and goes.

"But I stood there and kept putting. I'd put the point across."

EMILY WAS a Zahorec. Her brother Joe, "Big 'Z'" ran for mayor of Lorain in the last election. Her father was a car inspector for the B & O Railroad. The lack of money as a child, she says, gave her the drive she has today.

"From the time I was four or five, I didn't like to live poorly, not having the things I like. So I made up my mind I was either going to be a teacher or be in business. My folks didn't have the money to send me to be a teacher, so I'm in business.

"It's just nice to get somewhere to enjoy a little bit of nice things in your lifetime. I learned it's a lot of work."

Her pet peeve at the moment, she says, is mud. Her like, is people.

"But the only thing Emil gets provoked with, is when he's expecting rain and it doesn't rain. And he's expecting sunshine and it doesn't shine. He gets mad at those things. When he's fertilizing he's got to have rain."

DOES HE STOMP around and raise cain with the rainmaker?

"He pouts. He's a pouter. And he takes it out on me. But I have my own problems," she laughed. But again, it wasn't a joke.

How's your golf game, Emil?

"I'm known as one of the shortest shots in town. But I get in as well as the next guy," he said while heading toward the tee on number 5.

****

Emily Kucirek passed away in 1985, and Emil in February 1990. According to his obituary, his involvement with Emerald Valley Country Club ended in 1985.

(I've mentioned the Kucireks and their construction company on this blog before, here and here.)

Today, Emerald Valley Driving Range and the lounge are still open (below) but are currently for sale.

The view on Sunday morning

The golf course was sold and became the location the Brad Friedel Premier Soccer Academy in 2007. Today the facility is the Rival Sports Indoor Facility.