The Overlook Revisited – Part 4

Returning to live in the same apartment at the Overlook that was home to me back in the 1980s was a weird experience.

Climbing the stairs to my old room on the fourth floor, and turning the key to Room 412 made me wonder if the last thirty years of my life hadn’t been something that I only imagined.

Many things hadn’t changed. The architectural details of the building were still charming, and made you feel that you were living somewhere special.

Amazingly, my bathroom sink with a separate faucet for hot and cold water was still the same, thirty-plus years later. Soon I got used to mixing the water together in my hands again if I wanted it lukewarm.

Some things in the apartment had changed for the better, making it much more comfortable. It was carpeted now. Rooms had ceiling fans. As opposed to the 1980s, air conditioner window units were now being manufactured that were small enough to fit the narrow Overlook windows. One came with the apartment, and I added one of my own to keep thing cool. And there was a dishwasher now too.

Maybe the built-in ironing boards at the Overlook were
removed because they were too dangerous

Sadly, the Tom and Jerry-style ironing board hidden in the wall behind a little door was gone – plastered over.

But although the apartment hadn’t changed that much, I soon realized that I had. I was too used to owning a place to accept renting again. Plus, things that I might have found funny during my first time there as a twenty-five year old renter became difficult to “overlook" the second time around as a guy pushing sixty.

For instance, there was a reason that heat at the Overlook was free. That’s because even in the dead of winter with the heat off, it was more than 80 degrees in my apartment – even with the window cracked open!

Gas for cooking, however, was not free. And even though some months I only used the gas range once to fry an egg, the minimum gas company bill still applied. That one egg cost me about thirty bucks to cook.

One of my nightmarish memories of the Overlook in the 1980s were the centipedes that seemed to be everywhere. Was it better in 2017? Yes – a lot. There were still ’thousand-leggers’ but not as many. (A few times I wondered if they were the descendants of the ones that were there in 1985.)

And there were some plumbing issues too. A few times I came home from work to find there was no water at all. Other times, there was only cold water. I soon discovered that you could get used to ice-cold showers if you have to.

I do have to say that the people in charge of managing the Overlook during my second stint were terrific. The manager (who, by the way, was young and pretty, and quite a change from the usual retired caretakers of the past) did her best to respond to any concerns and was pleasant to talk to.

The other residents living at the Overlook made it interesting and fun as well. A crazy assortment: lonely seniors, a young couple with a newborn baby, a Goth girl, health care workers, a mailman, even a young woman with a pip-pip British accent.

Anyway, the Overlook was still a bargain in the 2000s, and one of the best kept secrets in the area when it came to apartments. Who knows? Maybe I'll end up there again at some point in the far-off future.

But I hope that sink in #412 gets updated before then.

****

Please note that since I moved out of the Overlook in 2018, there has been a change in ownership of the building, as well as a new property management team installed. 

The Overlook Revisited – Part 3

My “virtual tour” of Apartment 412 at the Lorain Overlook Apartments continues...

After climbing the steps to the fourth floor, it was a perpetual state of déja vu for me to see the old familiar door to my apartment.

Coming inside, the biggest change since my last stint there in the 1980s was the addition of carpeting. Strangely enough, it was similar to what I had in my house.

The old-time radiators are still the source of heat, and the living room (shown), bathroom, bedroom and kitchen all had one.

To the left of the living room was a hallway leading to the bathroom and bedroom.

To the right was the arched entrance to the kitchen.

The bathroom was exactly as I remembered it.

Amazingly, more than thirty years after I lived here in the 1980s, the bathroom still had the sink with the goofy separate faucets for hot and cold water.

Once I got some stuff in it, the apartment began to take on the feeling of a home.

Just like last time, the view was the best thing about the apartment. It was always enjoyable, no matter the season.

It was interesting to look out onto East Erie Avenue as well.

Next: Final thoughts

The Overlook Revisited – Part 2

Apt. 412 was at the center of the fourth floor and includes all seven windows
under the triangular peak, plus the kitchen window to the left (with the A/C unit in it)

You might be wondering how I came to live in the same apartment (#412) at the Overlook in 2017 that I lived in back in 1984-85.

It’s not that hard to believe if you think about it. It was on the fourth floor of an apartment house with no elevator. In fact, the ready availability of #412 is nothing new. It had been going on since the Overlook opened back in March 1928.

Here’s the city directory listings from the 1929 edition. Note that good old #412 (and eight other fourth floor units) are vacant.

By the time of the 1931 Lorain City Directory, the fourth floor had largely been rented out – except, natcherly, for #412 and four others.

Anyway, let’s step inside the Overlook from the parking lot, which is nicely paved now. (It was gravel and dirt when I lived there in the 1980s.) You have to use your key to get in the outside door, which was new to me too. It’s a nice security measure, but a nuisance when you are lugging groceries – or moving in or out.

Down the steps...

A couple of turns, and then it's down the hallway towards the mailbox.

We’ll take a quick peek out the front door onto East Erie before we grab our mail, though.

Then it’s back down the steps, and towards the mailbox near the end of the hallway.

After grabbing all of the mail (that’s taken weeks to be forwarded), it’s back down the hall towards the steps going upstairs.

You had your choice of two stairwells to use. One was rather narrow (and carpeted) and the other (shown above) was wider and suitable for use when moving furniture. Either way, a nice workout at the end of a long day.

If you wanted an extra workout, you did a few loads in the laundry room on the first floor, necessitating even more trips up and down the stairs.

Next: A look inside #412

The Overlook Revisited – Part 1

As we get older, downsizing often becomes inevitable. You start getting rid of stuff, and eventually you just don’t need a big, old house to rattle around in.

But what do you do if you’ve decided to sell your house, but aren’t sure whether to buy another one yet? That’s the situation I was in a few years ago before I bought my condo in Vermilion.

The solution: you rent for a year. And if you write a nostalgia blog, you rent at the historic Lorain Overlook Apartments.

You might remember from past posts (here and here) that I lived at the Overlook before, back in 1984-85. Well, believe it or not, I ended up renting the very same apartment I had back then: #412.

It was the first apartment that I ever lived in – and, at this point, it may very well be the last.

So how was it back at my old, familiar perch on the fourth floor? Stop back here tomorrow, and I’ll buzz you in on the ol’ vintage NuTone N485 (below) for a look around. I’ll tell you what changed in the thirty-plus years since I moved out in the 1980s – and what stayed the same.

This NuTone N485 still worked great

Lorain Overlook Apartments Open – March 1928

After posting the "Then & Now" pix of the Lorain Overlook Apartments last week, it bugged me that I didn't know when the apartments first opened. I had mentioned in the post that the apartment house had first appeared in the 1926 City Directory, so naturally I assumed they opened in 1925. So I hit the 1925 microfilm, looking for a grand opening ad or article and hoping I would get lucky.

Late March 1928 Classified Listing

After fruitlessly searching for an hour and a half through various months of 1925 and 1926, I finally used my noggin. Why not check the "For Rent" classified ads?

I jumped ahead to 1927 – and found no listings for the Overlook. Skipping ahead to a 1928 roll, I finally found an Overlook listing. From there, it was fairly easy to backtrack and find the Grand Opening article.

The result of my search is above, from the Lorain Journal of Tuesday, March 6, 1928. (Give it a click so you can read it.)

The article reveals some of the features of the Overlook. The locked main entrance doors could be electronically unlocked from each unit, Seinfeld-style. Each suite had an in-a-door bed in the living room. (My apartment still had the door but no bed.) A private bathing beach was provided for the tenants as well.

When I lived there in the mid-1980's, being able to sit behind the apartment house and enjoy the lake up close was the best part of living there. I still miss it.

Lorain Overlook Apartments Then & Now

Here's an undated photo of my old apartment house: the Lorain Overlook Apartments at 2715 E. Erie. (Thanks to the Black River Historical Society for allowing me to copy this photo.)

The vintage photo is hard to date. There's no real landscaping, so the barren view makes me think that the photo dates back to the apartment's early days. There are also structures visible to the east of the building (I've been told there were garages at some point) – instead of the present parking lot – so that also makes me think the photo is earlier rather than later in the building's history.

The Lorain Overlook Apartments first showed up in the city directory in 1926 at 2709 E. Erie. (The previous person who had that address was Gurnie Randall; that makes sense, since the Overlook Apartments were supposed to have been built on or near the site of the old Randall's Grove picnic grounds. (Click here and scroll down a bit to read more about the history of Randall's Grove as it relates to the interurbans and local streetcars on the Lake Shore Rail Maps website.)

I've been told, and the city directories seemed to confirm it, that at one point the Overlook was the only real apartment house in town.

Here are some recent views from last weekend. (I couldn't exactly match the angle without standing on the front porch of the house directly across from it – sorry about that.) There are some minor differences in the fascia above the entrance, but the building is still in great shape.

Like I said, I used to live in these apartments back in the mid-1980's. I thought my apartment was pretty nice for a one-bedroom. And cheap too – I think I was paying $185 a month.

1985 City Directory Listing

My living room at the Overlook

My apartment had rounded archways between rooms, beautiful wood floors and even an ironing board that swung down from inside a door in the wall (right out of a Tom & Jerry cartoon.) I loved hearing the lake at night, and seeing it up close when I went to and from my car. I could see the lake from my windows too.

The faucets in the bathroom sink were interesting. You had two faucets; one for hot and one for cold. You would have to mix it up yourself to get lukewarm so you could shave.

My biggest complaint? Being so close to the lake, my apartment occasionally had huge centipedes. They might show up anywhere: on the floor, on the walls, in the sink, on my bath towels, etc. There were also some pretty exotic-looking spiders and beetles in the hallways. But that's all part of living in an old building I guess.

Back then, the Overlook was also on the bus route out of Downtown Lorain (since it's right on US 6) – so for a while I could step right out my front door and catch the bus to Cleveland. But it was on a limited schedule, and it was cheaper to drive to Aqua Marine Resort in Avon Lake, leave my car there and ride the RTA.