Own one of the houses on the vintage postcard!

739 West Ninth Street

Although you can't see it very well on this vintage postcard, the house at the far right – at 739 W. Ninth – is currently for sale.

It's a real bargain too. A sign on the front door lists the terms: $300 down and $300 a month!

I did a little online research to try and find out how old it was. The Lorain County Auditor website has the year it was built listed as 1900, which usually means it was built before 1900.

At the library, I dug around in the available city directories. The oldest book that has listings by street is the 1912 edition. William H. Heyer, a foreman, was listed as the owner of 739 W. Ninth Street.

The pre-1912 books have different names for many, if not most, Lorain streets. W. Ninth Street used to be called Second Avenue. After cross-referencing some residents to make sure, I found William H. Heyer in the 1905 and 1903 books at 315 Second Avenue.

Going back even further to the 1891 book (the oldest at the library), I discovered that Lorain had a different house numbering system back then. It appears that someone just counted the houses (or lots) on the street and numbered them numerically from Broadway.

I managed to cross-reference about a dozen families who were in both the 1912 book on W. Ninth Street and the 1891 book on Second Avenue. And there in the 1891 book was William Heyer again, at 52 Second Avenue. (And indeed, his house was about the 52nd listing in the 1912 book!)

Anyway, 739 W. Ninth is a very stately looking home with a nice deep lot.

Sure would be nice if the right handy person bought it and gave it some TLC!

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Incidentally, while researching the above house in the city directories, I couldn't help but look up the William Seher (or the Slattery Motion Pictures) house at 329 Ninth Street to see how old it was. My research wasn't conclusive, but the earliest listing that I could find showing Seher living there was in the 1905 book – when the address was 223 Second Avenue.

In the 1903 book, Seher was living at 917 Reid.

Since there were no listings of addresses and residents by street, it would be a real scavenger hunt to see if the house was in the book before Seher lived there. However, according to the Black River Historical Society's Images of America Lorain book, it appears that Seher did build the house –  for the then-unheard of sum of $15,000.

Click here to read Alan Hopewell's reminisces about the Seher mansion over at his Pointing the Cannon blog.

Ninth Street Then & Now

Here's a vintage postcard showing the view looking east down Ninth Street from Long Avenue. It's where Ninth makes a dogleg as it heads towards Broadway.

Driving over there this past weekend to photograph it (since there wasn't any snow on the ground), I wondered if the homes would still be there. I was surprised to see that the whole block was still intact.

I was even more surprised when I realized that I go down this very street each week on the way home after picking up my Selenti's Pizza every Friday night, and didn't recognize the homes on the postcard.

Here's the current view, complete with a dismal, colorless winter sky that makes the whole proceedings depressing.

On the same side of the street as these homes, a little further down Ninth Street just before Reid Avenue, is the former mansion owned by William Seher, who owned the Lorain Brewing Company (below).

Photographed January 2, 2012

On Area Movie Screens – January 2, 1958

Here's the movie section from the Lorain Journal showing what was playing on the local screens right after New Year's Day 1958. It's kind of an interesting look at a Hollywood in transition from the Golden Age to the modern era. (Give it a click and peruse it.)

It's a real mixed bag with something for everyone, young and old.

At the Ohio Theater, we find the Bowery Boys in Up in Smoke (their next-to-last movie). Jerry Lewis is the star of The Sad Sack (an early solo effort after the split with Dean Martin) at the Palace Theater, and Elvis Presley is featured in Jailhouse Rock (his third movie) at the Avon Lake Theater.

At the Dreamland, perennial box office favorite John Wayne stars in Jet Pilot, and Gary Cooper heads the cast of Friendly Persuasion being shown at the Lorain Theater. At the Grove Theater, Frank Sinatra and Mitzi Gaynor star in The Joker is Wild, and Mitzi was also one of Les Girls, which was showing at the Ohio Theater.

I love the strong typography used in these movie ads. It really makes each theater instantly recognizable.

It's kind of sad knowing that the current Lorain Palace Theatre is now the only place in town to see a movie. I used to patronize the Avon Lake Theater in the 1970s and 80s, and that's gone too.

I'm puzzled by a few things, though. Where was the listing for the Tivoli? And why was the Tower Drive-in open in frigid January? I'm guessing they provided some kind of heaters; does anyone remember?

Happy New Year!

New Year's Greeting for 1910

Here's a few great New Years postcards from the CardCow vintage postcard website. They all feature Father Time and Baby New Year.

I always felt a little bad for the old year character. He has to hit the road, unloved, and unceremoniously replaced by the new kid in town. (Very representative of our society, which doesn't always treat its seniors right!) In the card above, it looks like he is skedaddling for cover while being dive-bombed by the stork! 

Here's another one (postmarked December 1909), with a clever modern-for-its-time streetcar theme. Baby New Year looks like he had a growth spurt on the ride in. 

And here's one more, celebrating the arrival of 1909.

Why do I get the feeling that the cocksure tyke was flattened a few seconds after being handed the Big Blue Marble?

Anyway, here's hoping YOU have a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

A New Year's Eve Message – 1951

This illustration appeared on the front page of the Lorain Sunday News on Sunday, December 30, 1951 – 60 years ago. It appeared with the following message, which is just as timely and relevant now as it was in 1951.

"If 1952 is to be a happy year for the people of this community, it would be well for us all to study the past so that we can profit by our experience. Each of us should analyze his life, compare his life with others, and evaluate his understanding of right and wrong.

Most of the great religious leaders of our day tell us that happiness usually comes from hard work, sharing what we have with others, forgetting ourselves in working for some great cause, and by building character.

In wishing everyone in this community a happy new year, we do so in all sincerity, realizing that a happy citizen is generally one who has contributed greatly to the well-being of the community in which he lives."

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Here's hoping that all of you enjoy a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

A Grim Reminder from New Year's Eve 1969

It seems like for many years, every time a holiday rolled around – specifically those during which people celebrated boisterously – the Journal readers were treated to a creepy full-page ad starring the Grim Reaper (such as this one).

And here's another one (above). It's from Wednesday, December 31, 1969. I was fairly shocked to see that even in the late 1960's, these old-fashioned ads were still being produced. This one has particularly hair-raising ad copy: That "one for the road" may well take you all the way into eternity.

Yikes! I think I'll remember that on New Year's Eve. I guess that was the ad's intent!

Have a safe New Year's Eve!

First Lorain Baby of 1951 Contest

Gee, this blog is slowly turning into an extended commercial for our local electric power utility! (And this ad doesn't even feature Reddy Kilowatt!)

Detail from Modern Troy Laundry ad

The Ohio Edison ad above was part of a group of ads that ran right before New Year's Eve – December 30, 1950 – as part of a "First Lorain Baby of 1951" contest. The rules were that both Mother and Father had to be residents of The City of Lorain; the baby had to be born within Lorain City Limits; the hour, minute and date of birth had to be confirmed by the attending physician.

That lucky first baby was the recipient of a lot of goodies and prizes.

Besides the electric bottle warmer, the lucky tyke could look forward to a wool filled satin quilted comforter from Smith and Gerhart Inc. (see ad below), $10 in merchandise from Sylvester Drugs, a lovely baby blanket from Penney's, a baby scale from Kline's, two weeks of laundry service from Modern Troy Laundry, one can of baby food and one case of emergency milk from Steve Polansky, 100% wood bunting from Lad and Lasssie Shop, a pair of Baby's First Shoes from Art & Kiddie Shop and Invalid Carriage Service from Reidy Scanlan.

The proud Dad could look forward to a box of Student Prince Cigars from Geo. Canalos Inc.

I wonder if new dads still hand out cigars? Or has some new politically correct item replaced them?

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Speaking of First Babies of Lorain, my older brother Ken was Lorain's First Baby of 1958. Unfortunately by then, there was no big newspaper contest that year – so no freebies. In fact, while reading the account on microfilm recently, I noticed that the Lorain Journal managed to make it sound like a bad thing being the first baby – because my parents couldn't claim a $600 income tax deduction! The baby born before midnight was actually mentioned first in the article!

 Oh well. Happy Birthday in advance, Ken!!

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After all that, I forgot to mention the name of Lorain's first baby of 1951. It was a nine-pound, one-half ounce baby boy born to Mr. and Mrs. Pabon Julio Rentos.