Golden Crescent Map – November 1970

Recently I happened to read a ‘letter to the editor’ in one of the two local newspapers, and noticed the writer’s reference to the days when the area was referred to as the Golden Crescent.

It made me chuckle that someone else remembered it besides me.

Several times on this blog, I’ve featured the little graphic that used to run on the Journal’s editorial page, depicting a seagull soaring over the crescent-shaped map with Lorain marked with a star. 

I don’t think it ever really caught on outside of my lakefront home town, because the whole idea was too biased. Other cities included seemed to be an afterthought; I’m sure arch-rival Elyria didn’t buy into the concept.

Anyway, in 1970 the Golden Crescent theme was still in its early years. Thus it was the focus of the handsome full-page ad above, which ran in the Journal on November 22, 1970. 

It’s interesting that this version of the map is a little more fair to Lorain’s neighbors. Amherst’s name is typeset in the same size as Lorain. Elyria is a wee bit smaller – but it rates a star.

Meanwhile, Sheffield Lake is ignored, as well as Milan. Maybe they didn’t buy enough Journals there.

And no star for Vermilion, my present home.

Sunday Journal Arrives – August 1968

For many of you, a lazy Sunday afternoon just wouldn’t be complete without a nice, thick edition of your favorite newspaper to enjoy. Although many newspapers are fighting for survival in this day and age, we are lucky locally to have the Morning Journal and the Chronicle-Telegram to choose from on Sunday.

That wasn’t always the case. I remember my parents in the 1960s having to buy a Cleveland Plain Dealer on Sundays, because the Lorain Journal did not publish on Sunday. It was great for me in a way, because the Sunday edition of the Plain Dealer had a huge comic section that included Li’l Abner, the Wizard of Id, and Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, which became favorites of mine.

But that all changed on August 25, 1968, when the Sunday Journal arrived.

Here’s the full-page ad promoting it that ran in the paper on August 22, 1968.

 

As you can see, the ad includes the iconic Golden Crescent map and seagull that appeared in miniature on the Opinion page of the Journal for many years.

Anyway – since comics were so important to me as a kid –  I seem to recall that the early Sunday Journal had really offbeat comic strips, such as The Strange World of Mr. Mum and Henry.

I also recall that at some point the Journal used to include a small color comic section with strips such as Lolly and Moon Mullins along with its Saturday edition. Does anybody out there remember this too? 

Remember the Golden Crescent?

Here's that Golden Cresent logo artwork that I referenced earlier today. It ran every day on the Journal's "Page of Opinion" for years. I'm not sure when the whole concept of an Ohio "Golden Crescent" petered out. Maybe it was dropped in the recession of the early 1980's, when things weren't all that golden anymore in Lorain.

The artwork is kind of interesting, because Lorain is identified with a star, as well as being the only city whose name is in all caps. (If I was in one of the other cities, I'd have been annoyed!) What's nice is that the Journal was proud of its Lorain roots back then and was a cheerleader for the city. Now, it tries to be the morning newspaper for not only Lorain County, but parts of Cuyahoga, Erie and beyond. As a result, it's lost its 'Lorain' flavor, in my opinion.

The artwork is also interesting to me, because it dates back to the days of old-fashioned paste-up, when the various art elements for a newspaper page were literally assembled and glued down onto white art board, ready to be shot with a graphics art camera. Logos that were used a lot, such as the one shown above, might start to get a little bedraggled after a while, and a new copy might be made from second-generation artwork. As a result, the type would start to plug up on the copy of a copy. That's why "Sheffield Lake" looks like it says "Sheffield Lobe."

Incidentally... do you get the impression that the addition of North Ridgeville to the map was an afterthought?