Downtown Lorain Fisher-Fazio Closes – Nov. 1968

Fisher Foods was a Downtown Lorain mainstay for decades. The neon sign for the store near the Loop even showed up on a few vintage postcards.

The store even survived right into the 1960s.

Store logo circa 1963

Mid-1960s view of the store

That's why it was particularly sad when it was announced in November 1968 that the store – now operated by the merged Fisher-Fazio organization – was going to close.

The store still did a good business. But its location (right across from the Broadway Building) was right in the city block that was the proposed location for the new civic center.

Fisher-Fazio denied that the store was closing because of the potential loss of it to the civic center. You can read all about it in the story below, which appeared in the Lorain Journal on November 1, 1968.

He Cut Edison’s Hair

Every once in a while, the paths of common citizens from our area crossed with those of famous historical figures.

I like those types of stories and have featured a few on my blog. You might remember my post entitled, “The Woman Who Saw Lincoln Twice” and “They Both Saw Lincoln.”

Well, here’s another instance of the same kind of occurrence. Read all about Milton H. Austin from Berlin Heights, the man who once cut Thomas Edison’s hair, in the article below. It appeared in the Lorain Journal on November 4, 1968. (Give it a click for a larger version.)

Election Day 1968

Well, it’s Election Day 2018. And none too soon, if you’re exhausted (like me) from watching the endless political commercials on TV. (Although I’ve got to admit, some of the commercials were quite clever and creative.)

Fifty years ago today, the country election Richard M. Nixon as its next President.

Locally, during that same election, Democrat Don Pease unseated Republican Henry Schriver to become the state representative from the 75th District. And Harvey Holcomb, Republican, defeated incumbent Eugene Roberts, Democrat, to become the county engineer. Those were the two big surprises in Lorain County. The Lorain Journal had endorsed both of the winners.

Anyway, I’m sure the cartoon above by the great Hugh Haynie – which ran on the Page of Opinion in the Journal on November 6, 1968 – is as appropriate today as it was fifty years ago.

Fall Calvacade of Color

It’s been a glorious autumn up here near the lake, if you enjoy watching the leaves change color as I do. After a slow start, the brilliant colors really started to appear in the last week and a half in the Vermilion area.

It’s a tradition here on the blog for me to some post photos of the fall foliage, so I headed out this weekend a few times to see what was going on color-wise in some of my favorite places.

Saturday was kind of cloudy, with the sun playing hide and seek, but I paid a late afternoon visit to Mill Hollow.

On Sunday, I started out on Baumhart Road, with side trips down Cooper Foster Park Road, Whittlesey Road, Sunnyside Road and North Ridge Road. Then I jogged over to Route 60 and checked out Sperry Road and Gore Orphanage Road before ending up in Vermilion’s Historic District.

At the corner of Baumhart and Cooper Foster Park Road looking north

Looking east on Whittlesey Road

Along North Ridge Road

Looking north on Sunnyside Road

Brownhelm Cemetery

Just off Sunnyside Road

Maple Grove Cemetery on Mason Road

Gore Orphanage Road

Someone once observed that if the autumn season – with its spectacular color show – only came once in our lifetime, we would appreciate its beauty a lot more.

I believe it.

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.

Tower Trouble

Avon Lake Water Tower (Courtesy Google Maps)

Sometimes a good idea turns out to be a towering disappointment.

Let me explain. Back in September, I had read that the old Avon Lake water tower on Walker Road was going to be torn down soon.

Coincidentally, after a late afternoon haircut in Avon Lake last week, I happened to be within a stone’s throw of the soon-to-be-demolished tower. With Walker Road closed, and police cars all around, I figured it must be coming down that night – and soon.

It was a good opportunity to get a shot of the tower falling. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera with me. So I hoped I could get something blog-worthy with my lowly Tracfone.

My problem? Finding a good vantage point. At first, I dawdled behind the office building on Walker, watching and waiting.

But after a while, I decided to give up and go home. I had no idea what time the thing was scheduled to come down anyway.

So I got in my car and headed south on Moore Road. But I couldn’t resist pulling into the parking lot of the credit union to watch from a distance. (I’m a member there anyway.)

Deciding to try to get a photo after all, I stood outside my car, with my phone pointed at the tower. I took a few random shots, hoping that I would get lucky and that the thing would drop while I was focused on it. But no such luck.

After waiting for what seemed like an eternity, I decided to go online and see if I could find out what time it was supposed to come down.

You know what happened next. As soon as I sat down in my car, I looked up and saw the tower slowly teeter and crash to the ground.

I had to settle for a drive-by shot of the toppled tower a few minutes later.

Frankly, I was impressed that the thing hadn’t flattened a police car or knocked down some power lines.

Anyway, for professional coverage of the demolition by Richard Payerchin of the Morning Journal, click here.

Halloween at McGarvey’s - 1968

Well, it’s Halloween. And since I’ve spent most of October looking back at 1968, let’s end this month with a Halloween ad for McGarvey’s Restaurant from that year.

The stylish ad for the beloved Vermilion eatery ran in the Lorain Journal on October 18, 1968 – giving the newspaper’s readers plenty of time to plan to attend.

If they did attend, it looks like it was a good time, with a costume contest, as well as dancing music provided by Jim Perrino.

Jim Perrino was very popular locally. You can find many online mentions of the organist's gigs right into the early 1980s, at places such as the Tiffany's Steakhouse & Lounge, and Libra Capri.

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In case you're wondering why I didn't do a look back at what kind of Halloween costumes the kids were wearing in 1968, there's a good reason: I already did it!

Yup, if you do a blog long enough, you start using up the material.

But in case you are curious about what Lorain trick-or-treaters were wearing in 1968, you can see my blog posts with local Halloween ads from that year for Kmart, Hills, and Giant Tiger.