Alex Visci Quartet at Three Sisters Restaurant – Nov. 1963

 

1970s promotional cartoon
of the Alex Visci Quartet
by Bob Lynch

I've written a few times about Alex Visci – the talented musician and popular local bandleader who gave trumpet lessons to so many local kids (including my brothers and me) and made it fun and memorable.

Well, here he is in an ad that ran on November 1, 1963 in the Lorain Journal announcing an appearance at Three Sisters restaurant on Broadway in Lorain.

I almost didn't recognize Mr. Visci in the photo, because his hair is combed way back off his forehead! But he still had his trademark mustache.

I had never heard of Three Sisters restaurant either, and had to consult the city directories to see exactly where it was. Its address was 1942 Broadway, putting it right next to the former location of the main branch of First Federal Savings and Loan.

Tedder's Steakhouse
steak markers
(courtesy Paula Shorf)

What was in that building before Three Sisters?

Well, the brick building at 1942 Broadway has an "1894" inscription at the top so it's been around a while.

Although the address was 'vacant' in the 1912 book, the 1915-1916 book listed the address as the home of People's Cash Market. By the 1919-20 book, the Jacoby Brothers Grocery Company was the tenant.

By 1937, Thomas Grill was listed at the 1942 address – and would continue until about the late-1950s when Tedder's Steakhouse moved in. Three Sisters Steak House took over the address sometime in the early 1960s.

Perhaps some helpful reader (Alan?) can help me with what businesses were in there after that.

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Thanks, Rae for your help – your comment jogged my memory a little (I banked at the First Federal Savings branch next door too) and prompted me to hit the books again.

Three Sisters remained in the city directories listed at that address until the 1970 edition, when the address went vacant. It would be a few years until the Ted Cap Inn showed up, beginning in the 1975 book.

The Ted Cap Inn continued to be listed at that address until around 1986 or 87. After that, the address was vacant again and not even listed in the early 1990s books.

There may have been some businesses after that.

Great Lakes Storm of 1913

Here's another anniversary, but of a more serious nature than yesterday's Ghoulardi event. This Saturday is the 100th anniversary of the Great Lakes Storm of 1913, the deadliest natural disaster ever to hit the lakes.

It had a Lorain angle too, as you will see when you read the story below, which appeared in The Lorain Journal on Nov. 7, 1963.

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Lorainite Recalls Raging Lake Storm of '13
By RALPH NEUMEYER

Ex-Seamen Alfred Hacke, (L)
'Ernie' Williams Recall Disaster

Just 50 years ago this Saturday the worst storm in Great Lakes history took a toll of more than 30 ships and 254 seamen.

Great Lake sailors still shudder at the terrible wintry "blow" of 1913.

Alfred Hacke, 821 13th St., now 79, was one who survived for four days in a ship foundering on the storm-battered shore of Lake Superior.

He took a train home and has never sailed since.

Hacke and his long-time friend, A. E. "Ernie" Williams, 1413 S. Lakeview Blvd., often talk over the lakes' greatest disaster.

Williams, who was also on the lakes at the time and is a shipping hobbyist, had just reached port in Lake Erie when the storm broke.

Of the 10 bigger ships listed by the World's Almanac as victims of the storm with a loss of 20 to 30 seamen in each case, five were built in the Lorain shipyards.

The World's Almanac, in its laconic, unemotional style, gives the blunt facts:

"Nov. 9, 1913 – Storm destroyed on Lake Superior, Henry B. Smith 26 (lives lost), Leafield 18; on Lake Huron, John A. McGean 23, Charles Price 28, Isaac M. Scott 26, Hydrus 24, Argus 24, James Carothers 22, Regina 25, Wexford 24."

The toll of dead from these ships alone adds up to 240. But there were many more.

The McGean, Price, Scott, Hydrus and Argus were Lorain-built ships.

The storm roared the length of the lakes for five days, but concentrated its fury particularly in Lake Superior and in the southern end of Lake Huron.

One vessel, the G. J. Grammer, was driven ashore off Century Park in Lorain. The crew was rescued.

As 1913 Great Lakes Storm
Battered Foundering L. C. Waldo

In spite of a rough four-day ordeal for the 26-man crew, Hacke feels that his own ship, the L. C. Waldo, was one of the more fortunate. Hacke was an oiler on the ship.

A day out of Two Harbors, Minn., with a load of ore, the Waldo was hit suddenly by 90 to 100-mile winds and a snow and ice storm.

With the shoe and rudder lost, it drifted aimlessly and pounded ashore at Manitou Island, near the west end of Lake Superior.

High waves split the ship at the middle and smashed the rear of the boat. Aboard were the cook's wife and mother and "Capt. Henry Duddleson's dog" in addition to the crew.

The location was an isolated point many miles from any habitation.

The 26 people on board huddled in an ice-coated cubicle of living compartments in the forepart of the ship and tried to stay alive, Hacke relates.

To keep warm a stove was improvised from an iron tub, a metal stack was devised and the wainscoting from the captain's quarters was chopped up and used as fuel.

Food was a more difficult problem. Hacke and a fellow crew member crawled to the rear and found two big tins of food that had not been washed away.

The label had been washed from the tins, but it was decided that whatever was in the tins would be put together as a mulligan stew. In the tins were peaches and peas.

With no means of communication with the outside world, the crew did not know how or when they would be found. But on the fourth day a tug showed up, rescued all 26 on board, took the group to Houghton, Mich., and put them on a train heading south.

The Waldo held together long enough to be patched up and towed to Lorain, where it was repaired at the Lorain shipyards. At last report, it was still sailing the lakes as the Mohawk Deer, for the Upper St. Lawrence Navigation Co.

As for Hacke, he became a stationary engineer at the Bessemer Power House at the Lorain National Tube Division, Lorain Works. He retired from the plant in 1954 after about 32 years of service.

The storm was blamed on the collision of two mighty hurricanes, one rolling out of the south seas across Lake Michigan to meet the second, roaring north above Lake Superior.

The "graveyard" of ships was in the 100 miles above Port Huron, where the hurricanes met for the second time and consumed, according to Detroit historians, 13 of the finest and newest steel-hulled freighters.

Even new steel-hulled freighters were no match for the 80-90 mile winds and waves whose crests were often 70 feet high.

Ghoulardi at Meyer Goldberg's – Nov. 7, 1963

Today's a big day in local pop culture history. It was November 7, 1963 – 50 years ago today – that Ghoulardi  made live appearances in Lorain at the two Meyer Goldberg supermarkets.

Ghoulardi, of course, was the popular late night TV movie host character played by Ernie Anderson on WJW Channel 8 in Cleveland from 1963 to 1966.

(Here's a link to a great article written by John Petkovic of The Plain Dealer about the 50th anniversary celebrated earlier this year of Ghoulardi going on the air, complete with some great clips.)

What was Ghoulardi's visit to Lorain like? Here's how The Journal reported it the next day on November 8, 1963.

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Ghoulardi 'Knifs' His Way Through Thousands In City

Ghoulardi visited Lorain last night and had to "knif" his way through the crowds that turned out to meet him.

The Pied Piper of TV reportedly met an estimated crowd of 10,000 at the Meyer Goldberg Supermarket in the Oakwood Plaza Shopping Center and another 5,000 at the Meyer Goldberg Supermarket on S. Broadway.

Youngsters climbed on every available step and even hung from the tops of cars to get a look at one of the hottest personalities in the entertainment field in this area.

The situation got so hot that even Ghouldardi was unable to "cool it with the boom-boom" and Lorain police, sheriff's department units and state patrol cars were called out to help control traffic.

Goldberg reported that all autographed photographs of Ghoulardi were used up. More copies will be available to parents next week at Goldberg's stores, he said. He also said efforts will be made to bring Ghoulardi back for a return engagement.

Although the crowd was generally well-behaved, two persons reported damage to their cars and youngsters even climbed on a Lorain police cruiser to get a look at Ghoulardi. The cruiser was also damaged.

Charles A. Dalton, 30, of 4504 Maple Rd., and Larry L. Cordova, 18, of 1620 E. 29th St., reported dents and scratches in the roofs of their cars made by children climbing on them.

One of the cars had its front license and the radio aerial torn off.

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Courtesy Cleveland.com

Being born in 1959, I don't remember Ghoulardi; instead, my brothers and I watched and enjoyed the Ghoul on Channel 61 in the early 1970s– which was basically Ghoulardi as performed by Ron Sweed, Ernie Anderson's intern. I had no idea that that Ghoulardi even existed until my older brother told me about him.

(Click here to visit the Ghoul's website.)

And of course we watched Hoolihan and Big Chuck (at left), the successor show to Ghoulardi. If you've never read "Big Chuck" Schodowski's book– Big Chuck! My Favorite Stories from 47 Years on Cleveland TV – be sure to read it. It's a terrific, fun book and a must-have for fans of the show.

Memorial Forest Shrine at Mohican – Then and Now

Vintage postcard

This past weekend the spouse and I spent the weekend down at Mohican State Park Lodge, one of my favorite places not only in Ohio but just about anywhere. Just like last time (here), I paid a visit to the beautiful Mohican Forest Shrine, which is dedicated to the memory of 20,000 Ohioans killed in World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Persian Gulf War.

It was formally dedicated on April 27, 1947.

Here's my shot of the Shrine from this past weekend. What a difference 66 years makes!

Mathna vs Urban for Mayor – November 1963

Full-page ad that ran November 4, 1963 in the Journal

Back on Election Day 1963, Republican Mayor Woodrow W. Mathna was battling his opponent, Thomas J. Urban. Mathna was seeking re-election to a second term, and Urban was a former city treasurer.

What was interesting was that both men resided in the same neighborhood and voted in the same precinct – 4-G, in the predominantly Democratic Fourth Ward.

Nov. 6, 1963 Journal

When the smoke cleared, Mathna prevailed. As the Journal put it the next day, "The 50-year old former three-term Fourth Ward councilman rolled in on a record wave of 21,433 votes in an off-year election to hand his Democratic opponent, Thomas J. Urban, a shellacking by a 1,688 vote margins. The 21,433 voters in the election represented 75.8 percent of the city's 28,264 voters."

Mathna won a majority of the votes in the First, Second, Fourth, Seventh and Eight wards. He lost the Fifth Ward by a 1,272 to 921 margin, which according to the Journal was not a surprise, since it was a Democratic stronghold where Joseph A. Ujhelyi, chairman of the Lorain County Democratic Party, had lived most of his life.

The Journal noted, "A tireless campaigner, Mathan tramped door-to-door and shook thousands of hands in his quest for a second term." (In 1961, Mathna had become the city's first GOP mayor in 16 years.)

The newspaper summed up Mathna's 1963 re-election as follows: "The Mathna victory was the most sensational since November 1939, when former GOP Mayor Harry G. Van Wagnen defeated the Democratic incumbent, Albert R. Matuszak, now Lorain postmaster, by a 1,448-vote margin."

Journal ad of November 9, 1963

When VP Humphrey Came to Lorain – October 1968

From the Journal of Oct. 26, 1968

Inger Stevens

Did you know that Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey came to Lorain during the 1968 presidential campaign – and was reported to have brought the Farmer's Daughter and the Six Million Dollar Man with him?

That's right. Humphrey came to Lorain on Monday, October 28, 1968 to give a campaign speech at Admiral King High School, and was set to get some help from TV stars Inger Stevens,  Lee Majors and Patricia Morrow, as well as Fabulous Farquahr.

(Click on the above article for a larger, readable version.)

(Courtesy Humphreyfellowship.org)

Humphrey was the first Vice President ever to come to Lorain while in office, and his visit was quite an event.

The Journal gave him a nice welcome on the editorial page. It noted, "As Democratic nominee for the highest office in the land, President of the United States, you are in friendly territory. On the basis of voter registration, Lorain is about two-to-one Democratic. You have many friends and admirers here. But this isn't a political greeting. Rather it is a warm and friendly "howdy" for a man – yourself – who has attained one of the top positions of leadership in our great country."

Vice President Humphrey received a lot of support during his speech, in which he delivered a blistering attack on Richard Nixon, his opponent. He never mentioned Nixon by name, referring to him only as "Mr. Republican."

As The Journal reported the next day, "Lorain yesterday gave Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey one of the warmest welcomes he has received in his presidential campaign. More than 4,000 enthusiastic supporters – many of them young people – jammed Admiral King High School gymnasium to lend Humphrey further confidence of victory in Tuesday's election."

The paper also noted "The Lorain crowd was the largest and most enthusiastic to greet Humphrey in his swing through northern Ohio."

Being a Republican, I was never a Humphrey fan – but it was obvious he was a passionate advocate of what he believed in, unlike most of today's mealy-mouthed politicians. It was very tragic when it was revealed he had terminal cancer, and it was great to see the outpouring of affection and respect he received as one of his party's great leaders and elder statesmen.

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But what about Inger Stevens and Lee Majors and the other entertainers?

I couldn't find any mention of any of them in any of the extensive coverage of Humphrey's campaign stop, so I'm not sure if they were indeed part of the festivities. I guess we'll never know for sure unless someone who was at the rally posts a comment.

The only celebrity mentioned in the Journal as being at Humphrey's speech was Chubby Checker. As the Journal reported, "The large crowd at Admiral King chanted "We want Humphrey" and sang a Humphrey campaign song to stirring guitar music led by Chubby Checker, recording artist and television personality."

Vintage Journal Time Change Reminders

It's time to "fall back" again.

In the old days, that meant that the Journal would run a special reminder on the front page, usually consisting of a photo and accompanying article, or maybe a special cartoon.

Here's the 1957 version (below) that ran on Saturday, September 28.

TIME CHECK – Journal receptionist Mary Jane

Pozega checks her watch against the Journal

clock as she prepares for the change from

Daylight Savings time to Eastern Standard time.

The change will take place at 2 a.m. tomorrow 

when clocks will be moved back an hour.

Strangely, Daylight Savings Time ended in Lorain County on the last Sunday in September that year. An accompanying article noted that, "However, many areas, generally in the northern and eastern sections of the country, will not return to standard time until Oct. 27."

It sounds like it was a real mess back then when it came to coordinating the time change, with states deciding for themselves when to do it.

Here's another one of the Journal's time change reminders (below), this one from 1968. It ran on Saturday, October 26 and includes an amusing cartoon from the late great Gene Patrick.

Note that it makes reference to the Union Time Act of 1966, the federal law that hoped to "promote the adoption and observance of uniform time within the standard time zones."

Click here for a history of Daylight Savings Time in the United States.

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By the way, the pretty receptionist in the Journal photo – the former Mary Jane Pozega – and her late husband Jack Snodgrass celebrated her 50th wedding anniversary back in 2010. Click here to see the online Morning Journal announcement.