Probst Ad – July 12, 1947

Summertime makes me think of ice cream, so it’s fitting to post this ad for Probst Corner. The ad ran in the Lorain Journal on July 12, 1947 – 70 years ago this month – and celebrates the First Anniversary of the business.

The ad provides a nice photo of the owners, Herman and Violet Probst, as well as the distinctive storefront. The ad reveals that the firm also sold baked goods, candy, snacks and even frozen Birdseye brand products.

I’ve written about Probst Corner before, including this post featuring an ad from 1954. Thomas Probst, the grandson of Herman and Violet, left a nice comment on that post about a vintage Probst Ice Cream scoop that he still uses.

Lorain was certainly fortunate to have so many family-owned ice cream shops to choose from over the years.

Although the oldest Lorain businesses are no more, it’s nice that Trish and Tom Harris have kept Lorain’s ice cream legacy alive with their K-Cream Korner and K-Cream Parlour.

Rainbow Golf Gardens Ad – July 4, 1930

During the summer, many people think of heading out to play a round of miniature golf – perhaps in Vermilion at Romp’s.

I had always thought that miniature golf (what we sometimes refer to as Putt-Putt) was something that first became big in the 1960s and 70s. Well, here’s an ad that shows that it was popular in Lorain much earlier than that.

The above ad for the Rainbow Golf Gardens ran in the Lorain Times-Herald on July 4, 1930.

According to this Wiki entry, miniature golf courses had become quite popular by the end of the 1920s, thanks to the development of suitable artificial greens. The sport became so popular that rooftop courses became very common.

In Lorain, the Rainbow Golf Gardens had two locations: 1520 West Erie (just east of Lakeview Park) and 710-14 Broadway.

The business was owned by Frederick A. Koegle and William Seher.

As the Wiki article indicated, the Depression wiped out most of the early miniature golf courses in the U. S. by the end of the 1930s. It looks like Lorain’s mini-golf courses were victims of bad economic times as well.

Available city directories at the Lorain Public Library indicate that the Rainbow Golf Gardens (at West Erie only) was still open in 1933, but had closed by the time of the 1937 edition.

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Speaking of miniature golf, I happened to drive by the former Putt-Putt on Route 57 near Route 2 recently. The sign is still in great shape, but it looks like windmills would be the least of a golfer’s problems on that course today.

Avon Lake – “Our Town” – July 1957

To close out the week, here’s a full-page photo spread that should be of interest to my Avon Lake readers. It ran in the Saturday, July 27, 1957 edition of the Lorain Journal.

There’s plenty of charming shots of subjects found around 1957 Avon Lake: the freight agent at the train station; the new 400-foot smokestack of the CEI plant; the new municipal building on Avon-Belden Road; the city’s first church; the city’s fully-equipped fire truck in front of the fire station on Lake Road; the roller ramps at the Avon Lake Boat Club docks; and of most interest to me, B.F. Goodrich (where my father worked for more than twenty years).

Gerry Vogel’s Avon Lake book in the Arcadia Images of America series includes some great photographs for comparison with their 1957 counterparts here, including this shot of the “first church building in Avon Lake” in 1896.

Lorain Lighthouse Historical Marker

A nice view of the Lighthouse from the Spitzer Marina
(Courtesy Matt Weisman)

I didn’t make it down to the ceremonial unveiling of the Ohio Historical Marker honoring the Lorain Lighthouse last Friday, but local historian and author Matt Weisman did – and generously shared his photos of the event with me. Thanks, Matt!

Here’s a nice one of Frank & Carolyn Sipkovsky of the Lorain Lighthouse Foundation Board of Trustees. (Frank is the Chairman of the Board.)

And here are a few more of Matt’s great photos.

Lorain Mayor Chase Ritenauer

Dave Kramer, Local lighthouse historian and
Lorain Lighthouse Foundation Board of Trustees member

I finally got a chance to check out the marker on Monday morning. I was somewhat surprised by the marker’s location; I originally thought it would be further down on the pier – maybe even at the end of it, where you could photograph it with the lighthouse nice and big in the background.

I guess the intention was to make the marker easily accessible – which works for me, as I was too pooped to walk to the end of the pier anyway.

Aut-O-Rama Drive-In Ad – July 2, 1965

Lorain County was a real hotbed for drive-in movie theaters.

There was the very first one in the county, the Lorain Drive-in Theatre on Route 6, which opened in June 1946; the Carlisle Drive-in Theater on Route 20 (1949);  the Tower Drive-in (May 1950); and the Aut-O-Rama on Route 10 out in North Ridgeville (1965).

Today, only the Aut-O-Rama – the very last to open – remains. Here’s the link to its website.

The ad shown above in from that inaugural 1965 season and ran in the Lorain Journal on July 2, 1965. The double feature was a good one with lots of star power: Mister Moses (with Robert Mitchum and Carroll Baker) and The Rounders (featuring Glenn Ford and Henry Fonda).

I love the great caricatures in the ad of Baker and Mitchum by Al Hirschfeld, although they didn't make it onto the official movie poster.

The Ford-Fonda flick looks like a lot of fun, and more like typical drive-in fare than the Mitchum movie.

After all, any movie with Doodles Weaver, Chill Wills and Edgar Buchanan can’t be all bad!

Happy Fourth of July!

Well, it’s July 4th – and it’s hard to believe the year is half over already.

If you were preparing for a holiday feast in Lorain 60 years ago, you might have consulted this Kroger ad that ran in the Lorain Journal on July 1, 1957.

Note the appearance of our old pal Toppie, the Top Value Stamp elephant, at the top of the ad, appropriately enough.

Some of the food brands listed in the ad are kind of interesting.

‘Clover Valley Pork & Beans’ are featured. I recognize the Clover Valley brand from shopping trips to Dollar General; sure enough, after checking online, I see that while Kroger was the original registrant of the brand, Dollar General is now the trademark owner.

Note Swift’s Premium “wafer-sliced’ meats – exclusive to Kroger – including hard salami, bologna, cooked ham, cooked specialty, hot-o-collo and spiced luncheon meat (sounds like it might be Dutch Loaf). Swift’s history goes back to 1855; the company is still around, although it was purchased by a Brazilian company in 2007.

I like the brand name of the margarine listed in the ad: Eatmore Margarine. (It kind of reminds me of the character in the classic Monty Python Travel Agent sketch, with the name: Mr. Smoke-too-much.)

Planning Lakeview Park – July 1916

In case you might be heading down to Lakeview Park for the holiday, this might be of interest.

Back when Lakeview Park was being developed, there were a lot of decisions to be made about what it was going to look like. The article above, which ran in the Lorain Daily News on July 25, 1916, sheds some light on the planning process.

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PLAN MANY FEATURES FOR NEW
CITY PARK ON WEST SHORE

Municipal Bathhouse as Proposed by Server Horn 
Would Be of “Double Deck” Type Similar to 
Structure at Edgewater Park, Cleveland.

Drainage work preliminary to the general improvement of the site of what is to be Lakeview park on W. Erie avenue, recently optioned by the city from the heirs of the W. S. Chamberlain estate at a purchase of about $53,000, is soon to be begun, Service Director A. J. Horn announced today.

With the drainage work under way, City Engineer C. M. Osborne is to begin the preparation of an estimate of the cost of carrying out plans prepared by H. M. Horvath, Cleveland landscape architect for the improvement of the park site.

Horvath’s plans include the routes of drives, footpaths, the location of a proposed big municipal bathhouse and of recreational fields.

The lake-front included in the park, according to tentative plans of city officials, would be protected by the construction of four jetties, extending into the lake and providing landing places for small boats.

The municipal bathhouse, as proposed by Director Horn, would be of the “double-deck” type, similar to the structure recently completed in Edgewater park in Cleveland, with the lower floor occupied by dressing rooms, lockers and other bathing facilities and the upper floor given over to an “observation” deck.

Recreation fields, which would include baseball diamonds, tennis courts and possibly a soccer field, would be located in the section of the park lying south of West Erie avenue, according to Horvath’s plans.

Improve Other Parks

While the preparation of plans for the improvement of Lakeview park are in progress, city officials are improving other parks. Service Director A. J. Horn today ordered 76 new park benches to be divided between Oakwood park in the steel plant district and the parks in the central and northern districts of the city.

Service department workmen are engaged in grading work on Riverside park on the lower East Side. Director Horn says this park, the improvement of which had never been completed, will be sown with grass seed next fall.

Horn today was considering plans for the erection of a diving platform in the lake at the city bathing beach on the lakefront at Water Works park.

Bids are to be received in Horn’s office tomorrow for the refreshment concession at Oakwood park for the season. The concession will carry with it the exclusive right to sell refreshments in the park.