Skate World Makeover

I've written a lot about Lorain's popular Skate World over the years.

Happily, it's been a dependable and wholesome source of local recreation for decades, celebrating its 40th Anniversary back in 2015. Skate World also has a fascinating history, which I wrote about on my "The Motel Inside Skate World" post.

Skate World was most recently in the news at the end of September 2018. That's when its owner, Alice Carter, made the rink readily available to the coaches and teams of the Brookpark Skate Club, who lost their home rink, Brookpark Skateland, to a fire on September 19 (as reported in the Chronicle-Telegram here).

Anyway, the exterior of SkateWorld recently received an attractive makeover.

Here's how it looked after the exterior graphics were refreshed in 2015.

And here is the most recent makeover.

Be sure to check out the Lorain Skate World website.

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UPDATE (Sept. 3, 2022)

Here is the latest makeover.

Those Fishing Shacks on Lake Road

Last summer, I had the opportunity to interview Alice Carter, the owner of Skate World. It was a chance to not only learn about the history of Skate World, but also the trailer park just west of the roller rink. That's because at one time, Alice owned it and all of the surrounding land as well. Thus during our conversation she was able to shed some light on what the property was like back in the 1970s.

Courtesy Lorain County Auditor

Of particular interest to me were the two cottages (above) at the western edge of the grounds. Although after our conversation I no longer believe they were part of the Green Lantern Camp (which I wrote about here and here), they still have an interesting history.

Alice says that when she first owned the trailer park, she was told that the two small cottages were fishing shacks. She said that they looked very much then as they do now. However, they had no electricity or water; Alice had to run power and water lines to them.

Since then, the property has been separated, and one cottage is by itself. Alice still owns one of them.

She also said that the small brown shack (seen in the photo below) was something she put up, so it is not a leftover from an old camp.

The two cottages certainly fit in with the thought behind HGTV's Tiny House, Big Living show. They're really cute and 'on the lake' to boot.

Alice also told me about the white building that sits in the middle of the trailer park. You can see it in this vintage 1950s aerial (below). (The two cottages are a little obscured; you can see part of one of them.)

Courtesy Lorain Historical Society

Alice says that the white building was a house when she first owned the property. It had two apartments in it. She converted it into a utility laundry and kept the upstairs apartment.

Here is the building today (below).

Courtesy Lorain County Auditor

Lastly, Alice was also able to tell me about the dark colored house that used to be located near the front of the property. It was visible in the vintage photo (below). 

She revealed that it was still standing in 1976. But it was not worth saving so she had it torn down. Today, some landscaping consisting of evergreens and shrubs marks the spot where the old house was located. You can see it in the Bing Maps aerial view below.

My thanks to Alice Carter for filling me in on the history of the property adjacent to Skate World. It’s nice to get the information from someone who was there when the area was going through massive changes.

A 1959 Drive Along Lake Road to Edna’s Restaurant

Yesterday I mentioned how Bill Latrany had explained to me that Skate World had been built around the old Ed’s Place Motel.

Well, a few years ago Bill sent me a fantastic link to some unbelievable movie footage from showing the motel. The 1959 footage is part of the YouTube collection of Johnny Sharp (former organist at Skate World).

Here’s how Bill explained it to me in an email:

"Johnny Sharp was the original organist at the Lorain Skate World, and stayed on with the new ownership in 1976, as the venue expanded from live organ music to DJ entertainment during the disco era.  The lines to get in on Friday and Saturday nights would wrap around the building to the restaurant parking lot to the east back in the day.  

"Anyway, somewhere in this link I'm providing you, you will find actual 8mm movie footage from the mid 1950's coming down West Erie Avenue from Lakeview Park, passing the former Lorain Arena, and very ironically pulling into the parking lot of the Benny's Motel where Skate World now sits! I haven't seen the video in about 2 years, but Johnny Sharp has it here in his YouTube collection. “

Here is the link to the footage for you to copy and paste into your browser. (YouTube won’t let me embed it here on the blog post.) One of these should work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9k3AWm9W_o&list=PL87333E057E1A70E8

https://youtu.be/W9k3AWm9W_o?list=PL87333E057E1A70E8

The footage starts at Lakeview Park at the Easter Basket, and then the person operating the 8mm camera points it right through the windshield as the car makes it way along Lake Road west under the railroad undercut.

As the car makes its way up the hill past Franke Drive on the right, a lonely, long-gone house or cabin appears on the horizon.

A cluster of buildings (one of which must be Garwell’s) slowly looms into view.

The car then abruptly pulls into the parking lot of Edna’s Restaurant (what we know as the former Tiffany’s Restaurant), and past rows of gas pumps from the adjacent service station.

Suddenly, Ed’s Place Motel (the building with the long roof) is visible in the background as the car makes it way towards parking near the rear of the restaurant.

We then get a few good shots of Edna’s Restaurant as the driver looks for a parking space. (The building sure looks different without the windows all covered up like they are now).

Later, as the car prepares to head home again by pulling out onto Lake Road, the Edna’s Restaurant sign is clearly visible. The Lorain Drive-in is off in the distance on the left side of the frame.

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Just for comparison, here’s a similar sequence of shots retracing the route of that 1959 driving excursion.

That’s Franke Drive coming in from the right.

Where the Edna’s sign was roughly located

The Motel Inside Skate World

The Morning Journal had a great article last week by Drew Scofield on Skate World’s 40th Anniversary. It included some nice quotes by Alice Carter, the roller rink’s owner, and she mentioned something very interesting about the building.

"Before it was converted into a skate rink the building previously was a motel and a truck stop,” she was quoted in the article.

The motel was originally called Ed’s Place Motel – Ed being Ed Blahay. You can see it in this photo below; it’s the long building with the white roof at the left hand side of the photo.

Photo circa mid-to late 1950s
(Courtesy of Lorain Historical Society)

Here’s its city directory listing from 1961 (below).

1961 City Directory Listing

It later was renamed Benny’s Motel when Ben Hart owned it beginning around 1963. 

1963 City Directory Listing

It continued being listed in the directory even after Ben Hart’s death until around 1970.

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I had first heard about the Skate World’s previous life as a motel from Realtor Bill Latrany many years ago in a series of emails we exchanged about Lorain’s skating heritage. Bill worked at Skate World, and was the DJ there for more than fourteen years.

Bill was also a witness to the motel’s conversion to a roller rink. He wrote, "Bill Starbuck of Star Builders built the rink around 1973 or '74, but didn't finish and open until the first week of October in 1975.

"I remember my mother taking me down there while the rink was under construction as she knew one of the original owners (Joe Matuszak). He would give us the nickel tour of the place and the progress of construction.

Bill also explained how the motel and truck stop were integrated into the roller rink complex.

"As for the motel that is attached to the west end of the rink, which the rink was built around, it's comprised of the offices, skate room, skate shop and restrooms. They made very excellent use of the existing building in a very creative manner, even using the old window cutouts from each of the motel rooms as bulletin boards for promoting events in the rink itself.

"The rooftop serves as the balcony and storage areas.   There was also a Sohio gas station on the front portion of the lot, between the former restaurant to the east and the motel to the west.

"The parking lot was where the skating floor is now.” 

Here’s an aerial view of Skate World today to compare with the 1950s photo.

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Here are some photographs I took inside Skate World last summer when I went there to interview Alice Carter. This one (below) shows how the former motel was integrated into the structure on the west side of the rink.

These shots of the hallway (below) shows the front front of the motel with the doors that previously opened to the parking lot. Alice told me that each room or office had its own bathroom.

Here are some closeups showing the windows that were converted to bulletin boards.

I thought this vintage Victor Selectorama candy vending machine in the hallway was pretty cool (below). These things are all over the internet in various stages of rehabilitation.

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My interview with Alice Carter last summer was focused on the trailer park to the west of Skate World. That’s because I was still trying to learn more about the Green Lantern Camp. Alice was able to provide me with answers to some of my questions, since she used to own the trailer park. (Watch for an updated post soon.)

Skate World 40th Anniversary Celebration

Skate World recently refreshed its look with a new sign and colorful  building graphics

Skate World recently celebrated its 40th Anniversary, having first opened its doors back on August 27, 1975.

Here’s how the Lorain Journal covered it the next day (below).

The rink then celebrated its formal Grand Opening on Wednesday, October 1, 1975. Here’s the ad that appeared in the paper that same day (below).

As you can see from the ad, Johnny Sharp was at the Hammond X66 Organ for the festivities. Well, Johnny Sharp will be back at the organ for the 40th Anniversary and Reunion Celebration. It all takes place on Sunday, September 20th from 7 to 10 PM. Admission for this special event is $5.00 for all.

Click here to visit the Skate World website and here to visit its Facebook page (which features some great footage from the August 29th, 2015 Celebration).

Ed Blahay Transportation Company

Aerial View of the Blahay Transportation Company Property Circa Mid-1950s
(Courtesy Lorain Historical Society)

Although you would never know it by looking at it today, the property nestled between Garwell's and Skate World today was quite a beehive of activity during the 1940s, 50s and early 60s.

It was home to a trucking company – Ed Blahay Transportation Company – and was a truck stop as well, providing lodging (cabins and later, a motel) and a restaurant.

Ed Blahay began his roadside business as operator of a service station on West Erie. He founded the transportation company bearing his name in the late 1920s (according to his obituary).

As you can see by the 1954 Lorain Telephone Directory ad at left, his trucks hauled freight all over Ohio. The company was also a freight carrier for U. S. Steel.

Ed Blahay's health suffered a downward turn in the early 1960s. His grandson Richard Olson successfully ran the company during his illness. 

The company moved out to 2147 E. 28th Street in South Lorain in the early to mid-1960s. The business was sold in 1970, and Ed Blahay passed away in February 1972.

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Looking at the vintage photo at the top of this post, you might recognize the former Tiffany's Steakhouse restaurant building in the center of the photo. You can see the two huge doors that are covered up today.

Ed's Place motel is the long building at the western edge of the property in the photo. It was referred to as cabins in an early directory. (I'll have more to say about Ed's Place – and Benny's Restaurant, forerunner of Tiffany's Steakhouse – in a later post.)

In addition to the trucking company, motel and restaurant, the Blahay property on West Erie was also home to a handful of residents, according to the 1948 Lorain County Directory. You can see some long-gone houses close to the railroad tracks in the vintage photo.

Here's an aerial view of the property today, courtesy of Bing Maps. It's hard to believe that there were once many more buildings on the site than the sad, empty restaurant that sits there today.

That's Skate World to the left of the former Tiffany's, 
and the former Garwell's (with the blue buildings in the rear) on the right