Sherwood Inn Ad – July 28, 1962

Let's stay on Oberlin Avenue in 1962 for another day – shall we?

Just a few blocks north of the Putt-R Golf course on the same side of the road was Sherwood Inn. The quarter-page ad below ran in the Journal back on July 28, 1962.

The ad, highlighting the Sunday morning breakfast menu, makes a very convincing case to drop in. I especially like the description of the 'delicious buckwheat pancakes swimming in butter and hot syrup.' And the free cup of coffee, "whether you have breakfast with us or not," sounds pretty good too.

Sherwood Inn has long been a favorite topic on this blog. In fact, it was the subject of the very first regular post back on April 3, 2009.

Since then, I've written a lot about the various establishments that called that building home, including the 400 Bridge Club (early 1930s), the Country Gardens (mid-1930s), Penny Morgan's Place (late 1930s), Hilltop Tavern (1939), the Airport Tavern (1942-1962) and finally, Sherwood Inn (1962-1982). After that, it was the Trademark (1982-83), Scardi's (1984) and then Mutt & Jeff's (since 1984). You can find ads in chronological order for some of these businesses on this post, and read an excellent history of the building and its various occupants (including Penny Morgan) by well-known Journal Staff Writer Hank Kozloski here.

Lorain Nightclub Halloween Ads – October 1963

Halloween is getting closer, so I’d better keep posting some vintage ads to put everyone in the mood.

Here are a couple nightclub ads that ran in the Lorain Journal on October 25, 1963. The first one is for a dance at the Knights of St. John on Kansas Avenue. It features some great, stylized Halloween artwork.

Mike Vidovich’s Jolly Boys provided the music. At the time of his passing in June 1977, the Journal noted that Mr. Vidovich was a native of Lorain and that he formed the Jolly Boys Orchestra in the 1930s. The paper also stated that he served with the U.S. Army Band during World War II, and had retired from the pipe shop of U. S. Steel, Lorain Works after 35 years of service as a group leader.

I’ve mentioned the Jolly Boys on this blog before, posting an ad for a 1953 St. Patrick’s Day appearance here.

According to the Lorain County Auditor website, the Knights of St. John Commandery #281 sold the Kansas Avenue building back in 2013.

Meanwhile, Sherwood Inn at 3700 Oberlin Avenue held their own Halloween wingding on the same night as the Knights of St. John. Here’s the nightclub’s ad. The Harry Herman Trio provided the music.

It looks like the black cat from the other ad wandered into this one.

I’ve featured Sherwood Inn – and its many predecessors and successors – many times on this blog since 2009. In fact, Sherwood Inn was my very first topic.

I did a partial roll call of the later businesses that called 3700 Oberlin Avenue home here. But before them, there was also the 400 Bridge Club, the Country Gardens and the infamous Penny Morgan’s Place. 

When Mutt & Jeff's Was Penny Morgan's Place

I thought I'd done about a complete a history (here) as I could of the building that houses my favorite Saturday night eatery – Mutt & Jeff's – until I found this great article. It's by well-known Journal Staff Writer Hank Kozloski, and ran in the newspaper on April 2, 1989.

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Oberlin Avenue Tavern has colorful past
By Hank Kozloski

Except for the sign in front of 3700 Oberlin Ave., and maybe an occasional change in paint color, the building now known as Mutt & Jeff's hasn't changed much over the years.

But the building has a colorful and sometimes notorious past.

Today Mutt & Jeff's is a popular weekend haunt. To oldtimers, it will always be known as the Airport Tavern.

But during the Great Depression, when the building was still in Black River Township, it was called Penny Morgan's Place and was the site of a famous Lorain County scandal.

Lorain County Sheriff William F. Grall,who served three two-year terms as Lorain mayor (1920-24 and 1926-27), went to prison in late 1938 for accepting bribes in a sensational grand jury probe of a slot machine and vice racket which operated out of Penny Morgan's Place. Five other Lorain County men were also sent to prison for running the racket and giving bribes to Grall for allowing them to operate.

Grall, who was paroled from prison in 1941, moved from Lorain after being paroled to become editor of the Lake Union Herald, a weekly magazine published by the Lake Union conference of Seventh-Day Adventists at Berrien Springs, Mich.

Former Lorain builder Vlad Nickoloff, now living on Key Largo, Florida, recalled delivering newspapers to Penny Morgan's Place during the early 1930's.

"All the politicians went there," Nickoloff said.

He said Carl Finnegan, who replaced Grall as sheriff, put Penny Morgan's Place out of business.

The list of people who owned a building at that site dates back to 1928 when Celia Florence Chovik acquired it, then lost it to Cleveland Trust Co. in 1936. Gus Gailus Sr. bought it in 1937 and sold it to Alex Hormanski in 1943.

It was Hormanski who named it Airport Tavern, after Mills Airport located on Meister Road. When Hormanski was killed in a car accident, Nettie Sroka took over Airport Tavern in 1954. She later sold it to Bruno Dombroski, a local professional wrestler, in 1959.

The name Airport Tavern disappeared from the building when ownership changed five times since 1959.

Wilma George, the next owner after Dombroski, changed the name to Sherwood Inn. Then former County Commissioner Fred Ritenauer became the owner. He called it The Trademark. It wasn't long after that it became Scardi's under Guy Scardami's stewardship. And now, Mutt & Jeff's under Klaus J. Grm.

Whatever it is called, it will always be a part of Lorain history and Oberlin Avenue history.

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Hey, speaking of Mutt & Jeff's, here's a nice look at how it is today. After watching this, you'll understand why my wife and I are Saturday night regulars. (The only problem with the short video? It doesn't have Brenda, our favorite waitress in it. But it does feature her twin sister Becky.)

The History of 3700 Oberlin Avenue

Ever since I started this blog almost two years ago, I've been feeding you the history of the building at 3700 Oberlin Avenue (above) piecemeal. Of course, many of you recognize it as Mutt & Jeff's. But during my last update, a regular reader of this blog named Bill noticed that I had overlooked two other businesses that had called that address home. So I had to go back and do a little more research.

What follows below is a compilation of my research so far.

I still haven't determined exactly when it was built, since that information for this building is not on the Lorain County Auditor's website. But as early as 1939, it was the residence of Penny Morgan, who rented rooms to tourists.

Listing from 1939-1940 City Directory

An ad in the Lorain Journal in July 1939 for the Hilltop Tavern lists its address as 3700 Oberlin Avenue.

From around 1942 until about 1962 it was the Airport Tavern, taking its name from the airport that was located nearby at the corner of Meister Road and Leavitt Road. At that time, there was nothing out this way (since it was outside the city limits) but farms and the airport.

1942 City Directory ad

April 1958 Lorain Journal ad

Around 1962, the Airport Tavern became the Sherwood Inn. (This is what I remember the place as being while I was growing up.)

1973 Lorain Phone Book ad

From about 1982 to 1983 it was The Trademark.

Next, it was Scardi's in the 1984 phone book.

And since 1984, Mutt & Jeff's has called 3700 Oberlin Avenue home.

Special thanks to Bill for filling in the gap in between the Sherwood Inn and Mutt & Jeff's.

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Most Saturday nights, you can find my wife and me at Mutt & Jeff's, sitting at the same table near the bar, enjoying the great food, the ambience and most of all, the company of the warm, friendly staff. Brenda (our favorite), her sister Becky, Tracy and the rest of the gang make Mutt & Jeff's a special place for their customers and growing group of regulars.

If you've never tried one of their excellent burgers, by all means stop in and try one – or anything on the menu for that matter. You might just get hooked and become a regular yourself. (But please – don't take our table!)

This and That

I found this ad photo of the iconic Sherwood Inn sign while (what else?) looking for something else on newspaper microfilm. It's from June 1969. (Give it a click for a closer look.)

I still can't remember if I ever went in there when it was the Sherwood Inn, but that really doesn't matter. Nowadays, my wife and I spend a lot of time in there on Saturday nights enjoying the Mutt & Jeff's atmosphere. Our favorite waitress Brenda always takes good care of us, and the food is really fantastic. The burgers are great too. 

We never stay for the bands, because that just isn't our thing – we like to eat and run. But if enjoying some great local bands appeals to you, Mutt & Jeff's has an all-day end-of-summer event calling Mutt-Fest coming up next on Sunday, September 26 featuring a lot of local bands and the delicious great food. The event is a benefit for the American Cancer Society.

Here's a link to the Mutt & Jeff's Facebook page.

Mutt & Jeff's/Sherwood Inn/Airport Tavern is rapidly becoming one of my favorite topics on this blog, as it was the subject of my very first post back here, and some follow-up posts here and here.

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Loyal reader of this blog (and fellow Admiral King High School alumni) Jeff Rash left a comment last week about my 'virtual trip' on the sidewalk over to the former Charleston Elementary School (which I posted here). He remembered a 'very small creek' on the west side of the sidewalk and noticed that I did not include a photo of it.

I felt a little guilty that I had rushed through that part of the tour, so I went back with the camera to see what Jeff was talking about. Sure enough, there was a small ditch leading to a storm sewer right where he remembered it. It was dry that day, but I am guessing that this is what he remembered.

Here are the photos of that missing portion of the tour, which starts right at W. 28th Street. (Click on each for a larger view.)

Looking back towards 28th Street you can see the sewer grate.

Thanks, Jeff for pointing that out!

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My blog entry about Johnny Appleseed in Lorain County has caused me to think more about apples, and I've been plowing through the bag of Honeycrisps I bought last week at Shipula's. 

So Saturday morning I headed out on Route 113 to another favorite roadside stand, the Grobe Fruit Farm to get even more apples and a few bottles of apple cider.

Grobe Fruit Farm is also where I've been getting my pumpkins for about the last twenty years.

Here's a link to their page on the Ohio Apple Association website.

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Lastly, I was driving over the Bascule Bridge today and looked over at the harbor and saw some of the first local Autumn color. So, of course, I had to capture it photographically for all you homesick Lorainites living in western states!

And before it was the Airport Tavern...

The very first topic on this blog (almost a year ago) concerned Mutt & Jeff's (one of my favorite restaurants) and how it used to be the Sherwood Inn. I followed that up a few days later with a second entry noting that before it was the Sherwood Inn, it was the Airport Tavern beginning around 1942.

Well, it took almost a year, but I can now add another nugget of information to the history of Mutt & Jeff's building. I discovered that the 3700 Oberlin Avenue address first showed up in the city directory in 1940 as a place where tourists could rent a room for the night. (See city directory entry at left.) It kind of makes sense, since at time there wasn't much on Oberlin Avenue in that neck of the woods, and besides, it was outside Lorain city limits. (The 3650 Oberlin Avenue address disappeared from the directory by the time that the Airport Tavern was in business, leaving just the tavern and the farmhouse on Oberlin Avenue near the city limits.

Before Mutt & Jeff's...

Last weekend my wife and I enjoyed some terrific burgers and great service at Mutt & Jeff's at 3700 Oberlin Avenue in Lorain. It got me thinking back to when it was still the Sherwood Inn. (I believe it became Mutt & Jeff's in 1984.)

As a kid, I always liked the Sherwood Inn sign and ads with the Robin Hood character. It made me think that inside were all these huge oak barrels of ale, and that it would seem perfectly natural for Friar Tuck to be sitting at the bar.

Here's an ad for the Sherwood Inn from 1973 (at right).