Miss Victory With Her Sword

Seeing as how I was talking about the Big V yesterday, I might as well stay in Victory Park for this post as well. Here's something I never thought I would see: a photo of Miss Victory with her sword!

The photo comes from the amazing photo archives of the Black River Historical Society. (If seeing this kind of thing interests you, please consider becoming a member! They would love to have new volunteers to help maintain their ever-growing collection of photos, research and memorabilia!)

I'm pretty sure this photo shows the winged statue after it was repaired by August Nabakowski in 1948. There were no trees at all behind the statue when it was dedicated in April 1922, judging by photos of the event. And a mere two years later, the sword and palm frond were lost in the 1924 Lorain Tornado.

Unfortunately, I understand that vandalism claimed the new sword and palm frond later.

You might be saying, "Palm frond? I thought that was an olive branch!" Well, a 1949 article from the Lorain Journal explained that it was a palm frond – a symbol of victory – as opposed to an olive branch, which is the symbol of peace.

And one look at this statue with her sword tells you that she's no peacenik!

Anyway, Lorain's winged victory monument isn't the only one from the 1920's that seems to be losing the battle against vandalism. Click here to read about a similar one from the same time period in Brooklyn, New York.

The Mystery of the Big V

One of my favorite movies is It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, and in it a group of treasure hunters are competing against each other on a quest to find a stash of loot that is buried under a "Big W."

Well, I've been on a quest for a few years now too, but instead of a "Big W", mine involves a "Big V." You know which one I'm talking about – it's down at Victory Park, at the intersection of West Erie (Route 6) and Fifth Street.

For a couple of years now, I've been trying to figure out when that sculpture was first installed at the park. It wasn't at the park's 1922 dedication. It wasn't at the big Lorain Victory celebration in 1945 (which I discussed here) either.

I've checked newspaper microfilm for many holidays since from the mid-1940's until the mid-1960's (Memorial Day, Veterans Day, etc.) and there is never any mention of the Big V being installed, dedicated or refurbished. I've bugged the fine people at the Black River Historical Society, the Lorain Public Library and several of the area's most knowledgeable historians – and nobody knows!

What we do know is that the V presently at the park is not the original. As fellow blogger Alan Hopewell pointed out in a blog comment (which the Black River Historical Society confirmed), the original V was damaged in a car accident – but we don't have a date for that either! Alan thinks it was the mid-1960's.

We do know – thanks to Frank Sipkovsky of the BRHS – that Baldo Campana is the person who generously constructed the present Big V. But who made the first one?

Why do I want to know? Well, because the structure is kind of like the Lakeview Park Easter Basket, the Lorain Lighthouse, or the Bascule Bridge. It's a symbol of Lorain that thousands of people recognize and remember. And I think it's important to get the story behind it on record while people who might know are still alive.

So if anyone has any sort of lead as to when the first Big V was first constructed and by whom, I'd be eternally grateful if you posted a comment!

Greetings from Lorain Postcard Update

A few weeks ago, it was discussed in this blog as to whether or not anyone still sells postcards that promote Lorain.

Well, it turns out at least one place still does: the Black River Historical Society! They have a nice selection, including their version of the classic 'Greetings' format shown above (in which they have craftily inserted the Moore House – their home) as well as others including one featuring the Lakeview Park Easter Basket.

The above postcard design is also available in their gift shop as a large jigsaw puzzle.

The coming weekend would be a great time to drop in at the BRHS. On Saturday, May 21st they are having a big 30th Anniversary Celebration. According to their website, the activities are from 1 pm until 6pm and include Trolley Tours for $1, a Scavenger Hunt, goodies for sale (popcorn, cotton candy, ice cream and soft drinks) as well as a "Through the Years" PowerPoint presentation.

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Incidentally, here's yet another "Greetings from Lorain" postcard variation that surfaced! It's a little on the generic side, though. And I'm a little skeptical that those are real Lorainites in that boat! 

Another Look at That Diner

Here's a neat photo from the archives of the Black River Historical Society. Although the little boy was obviously the subject of the undated photo, in the background we get a nice shot of the diner that used to be in front of and slightly east of the old Lorain City Hall.

Back here in this post, I mentioned that it was actually a Ward & Dickinson Dining Car, and if you look closely at the photo above the boy's head, you can see a wheel. By the time the diner became Helen's Diner (at left) in the late 1930's, the wheels had been covered up.

It's a little tricky trying to figure out the time frame for this photo. I can't quite make out the year in the license plate of the car behind the little boy, and I'm no good at identifying antique cars either.

But comparing it to the above photo of Helen's Diner, as well as a 1937 photo (at right) confirms to me at least that this photo predates the other two. There is no visible shrubbery as in the two photos, and no billboard above it either. Plus the diner has a slightly rundown look to it, as opposed to the neat appearance it had as Helen's. So I'm guessing it's from the early 1930's.

Anyway, it's still strange to think that the diner ended its career as the Dew Drop Inn (below) decades later, and that its location is roughly the same as that of the steps to the current Lorain City Hall.

Don't Forget Dog 'n Suds!

A few days ago I was blogging about A&W Drive-ins and I realized that I hadn't made any mention of Dog 'n Suds yet this year! (If you use the 'search' box at the top of this blog and type in 'Dog 'n Suds', you'll see by the number of archived posts that pop up that, along with Bob's Donuts, it's been one of my favorite topics since this blog began!)

So here is my annual reminder that if you like the idea of an old-time drive-in with carhops, be sure to support our own local icon, Ilene's Dog 'n Suds on North Ridge Road. I was out there this week to pick up a jug of root beer (I already had the hot dogs at home – leftovers from a Mother's Day cookout).

Current ads say that the drive-in is celebrating their 50th Anniversary with specials that run May 9 - 21st. The surprising thing is that they have a lot of interesting menu items, including a kielbasa & kraut dinner and even rice and beans!

So here's hoping Ilene's Dog 'n Suds is around for another fifty years!

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For those of you that were wondering on Friday morning – "Hey, where's the usual Friday post?" – Blogger (the whole website that so many of us use to create these blogs) was down beginning Thursday night and all day Friday, so I couldn't even log in or anything! Click here for details.

The Ashland-Wooster Drive-in

If after reading yesterday's blog post you have a hankering to visit an A&W Restaurant, they're still around. The A&W website has a locator search engine, and it turns out there are still A&W's out there. Locations in Ohio include Kent, Tallmadge, Ravenna, East Liverpool and Orwell.

But if you'd like to experience the next best thing to a real vintage A&W Drive-in, why not take a nice drive down to Ashland and visit the Ashland-Wooster Drive-in? It was still a bona-fide old-time A&W Drive-in while I was in college, and every once in a while I would detour over to Ashland on the way home from Ohio State to get a chili dog for the last lap of the drive to Lorain.

According to their website, they've been there on US 250 since 1957, and were a franchised A&W until 1985 when the current owners took over. They still have carhop service (as well as drive-through service if you're in a hurry).

The drive down there is just a little over an hour.

And on the way home, don't forget a side-trip to Grandpa's Cheese Barn, as well as Fin, Feather & Fur Outfitters. They're both on US 250 as well, and only a few minutes from State Route 89, which you can take north to join up with State Route 58 again,

The photo of the Ashland-Wooster Drive-in above is from a flickr® site featuring great vintage sign photos, as well as other cool sets, by a photographer named Scott, who shot them all right here in Ohio. Click here to visit it!

Remember A&W Root Beer Stands?

1962 ad for the Vermilion A&W

Now that it's finally nice out, my thoughts automatically turn to the old drive-ins that my family used to go to back in the 1960's. One of them that I remember is the A&W Drive-in out in Vermilion on US Route 6 (back then it also included State Route 2 – thus it was 6 & 2).

It was a real treat to go there, and it's probably where I started my lifelong love of chili dogs. If I remember correctly, the Vermilion drive-in had those speakers that you spoke into to place your order. When it was ready, the carhop brought it out to you.

Here's a 1965 ad for the A&W Drive-ins. I don't remember the Vermilion carhops wearing stewardess uniforms, though!

1965 ad from the book Drive-in Deluxe by Michael Karl Witzel

Today the Vermilion A&W is long-gone; in its place at 4372 E. Liberty is a Wendy's restaurant.

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Strangely enough, there was an A&W stand in Lorain on US 6 that I don't remember it at all. It was located at 2600 W. Erie Avenue and first appeared in the city directory in 1960. It was right where Madison Avenue intersects with W. Erie Avenue.

I probably don't remember it because my father always took W. 21st to get to West Erie if he was going west, bypassing that area entirely.  Most likely, my family went to the Vermilion one because it was a nice drive and something to do. If other families thought the same way, maybe it had something to do with the Lorain restaurant disappearing from the city directory in 1969.

Anyway, here's a May 29, 1965 newspaper ad for the Lorain A&W.

And here's an ad from the Journal from a few years earlier that's probably a little politically incorrect!

August 20, 1963 ad from the Journal