Lorain: Hockey Town?

Can you imagine an ice hockey arena attached to this building?

Here’s an interesting “What if?” article for local hockey fans (like me).

It appeared in the Lorain Journal back on December 20, 1968 and floated the possibility of an ice hockey arena being incorporated into the new proposed civic center.

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Lorain Arena Plan Draws Skepticism But Some Hope
By TOM McPHEETERS
Staff Writer

AN ARENA for ice hockey? For Lorain?

The first reaction by many City Councilmen to the idea, proposed Wednesday by the former owner of the Cleveland Barons Hockey Team, Paul I. Bright, was skepticism.

BUT INVESTIGATION reveals that council could include an arena in the proposed civic center as long as one condition was met. The city would have to be sure that it was a money-making proposition.

Bright talked with Mayor Woodrow W. Mathna about the possibility of getting a franchise in the International Hockey League for Lorain, and building an arena that could be used for many different types of events. It would be built on the first floor of the civic center building, to save construction costs, and must seat a minimum 5,000 customers.

He estimated that the arena could cost about $4 million. According to Community Development Director Walter Benedict, Lorain could probably get the same 25 percent credit for urban renewal that would apply to the rest of the civic center.

Squires, Sanders and Dempsey, the Cleveland law firm that is Lorain’s legislative and financial adviser, says it is possible to finance the arena portion of a civic center by selling reverse bonds, backed by the city’s credit but paid off from operation revenues.

BUT THERE would have to be a guarantee that the arena would make money, probably backed by a long-term lease to a promoter with a solid reputation.

“It’s not easy to make money, but it certainly is possible. It’s a matter of management, and of having the right equipment when you start,” said Andy Mulligan, general manager of the Sports Arena in Toledo and president of the International Hockey League.

Mulligan confirmed yesterday that Bright has already been in contact with him about the possibility of getting a new franchise in the league.

“GEOGRAPHICALLY Lorain would fit right into the league picture,” he observed. There are teams in Rochester, Buffalo, Cleveland and Toledo. But, he said, a hockey team in his league plays 30 to 40 home games a year, and an arena has to be producing revenue all the time.

Mathna and Bright, in their discussion Wednesday, worked on the assumption that the arena would be downtown, and Bright said the site seemed suitable to him. He offered to testify before City Council.

Councilman Michael Bulzomi said he would support the idea, but only if the arena was built at Long’s airport. “For the downtown, it would be a total flop,” he claimed. There is not enough parking or easy enough access, he said.

Most councilmen supported the idea without reservations for one site or another but some were clearly less than enthusiastic. “I think somebody’s pipe dreaming now,” said Councilman John Koscho. He added that he would like to see if it could be done.

“It is quite evident that the only way we’re going to get anything like that is to have some outsider coming in and prompting,” said Councilman Joseph Rulli.

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I don’t blame Lorain City Council for being skeptical.

Mr. Bright had sold the Cleveland Barons of the American Hockey League at that point. As popular as the Barons had been in the 1950s, it had been a tough go in the 1960s with dwindling attendance. And now he was pitching the idea of an International Hockey League team to Lorain.

I think I would have agreed with Councilman Bulzomi; build it out on the west side where there was plenty of room, and easy access to State Route 2 and the Ohio Turnpike. It just doesn’t seem like there would have been enough space for a full size arena downtown, even if the building had extended all the way to Wickens Place.

But it was a nice idea, and it would have given Lorain a major entertainment venue.

Kroger Bread Ad – January 1960

I couldn’t resist posting this ad for Kroger Enriched Bread, which ran in the Lorain Journal on January 27, 1960. Like the ad I posted yesterday, this ad features a simple theme and a great cartoon illustration to go with it. I really like this type of advertising; it’s simple and memorable.

Here’s a closer look at the bread wrapper shown in the ad, which features the Krogermaid mascot.  The wrapper is from the collection of Jason Liebig.

(Jason has a terrific archive of new and vintage advertising (including rare packaging) at his flickr site, www.flickr.com/photos/jasonliebigstuff.)

It’s been a long time since anyone has done any Krogering in the Lorain area. The chain is still in Northeast Ohio, though. The one on E. Perkins in Sandusky is probably the closest.

You might even want to take a road trip out to Sandusky to pick up a fresh loaf of Kroger Enriched Bread. Unfortunately, there’s no updated Krogermaid on the wrapper.

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I’ve written about Kroger before, including a post about the chain’s first store in Lorain in 1936. There’s also a March 1957 ad featuring Top Value Stamps and Toppie the Elephant, another 1957 ad with Toppie, and one from 1958 with a great illustration.

Journal Full-Page Ad – January 7, 1960

Here's one from the "How Times Have Changed" Department.

It's a full-page ad that ran in the Lorain Journal on January 7, 1960 – 60 years ago today promoting the paper's Classified section. The ad's theme is 'horse sense' and consequently, a great, goofy cartoon horse is used to drive home the theme. It's practically a coloring page.

Looking back, the ad is quaint on two levels: the simplicity of building the ad around a corny pun, and the concept of selling things through the newspaper. Today, many people seem to want to use their smart phones for literally everything, including peddling their unwanted stuff.

Nevertheless, I like 1950s and early 60s advertising because of its bold, graphic nature, and use of attention-getting cartoon illustrations.

Unfortunately, even if this type of 1950s style advertising would become trendy again, newspapers – previously the best showcases for it – are just about gone.

Vermilion Route 6 Railroad Crossing Revisited

Back in December on my post about Ohio artist Kinley Shogren, I mentioned how my condo building in Vermilion overlooks a small lake, with railroad tracks running alongside its northern shore.

The tracks run under the U. S. Route 6 highway overpass, which is directly across from my windows that face north. It makes my condo a great place to do some serious trainspotting once the leaves have all fallen.

Here's a view of my condo building from the southern end of the lake looking north. You can see the Route 6 (Liberty Avenue) overpass in the background.

Believe it or not, the proximity to the tracks has not affected my sleep. (I do have a Douni Sound Machine that I use once in a while as a sleep aid. Ironically, one of the sound choices is called “Train.”)

Anyway, it's interesting to me that I live so close to what used to be a very dangerous railroad crossing before the overpass was built. Making it even worse was the fact that the Lakeshore Electric Railway crossed the highway in the same area, making it double trouble for Route 6 motorists.

I wrote about this dangerous crossing back here in 2010.

Here’s a vintage photo of it from that post (copied from the book Lake Shore Electric Railway by Thomas J. Patton with Dennis Lamont and Albert Doane). The view is looking east. My condo building would be on the hill to the right.

And here’s the “now” shot.

And here’s something I didn’t have when I did that 2010 post: a photo of the crossing looking west. The August 1927 photo was on Ebay a few years ago.

The caption pasted on the back of the photo  reads, “Railroad brakemen are accustomed to “ducking” when their head hits the ropes that dangle over a track near a low bridge. But on the road between Lorain and Vermilion, O., it is the autoist who takes notice. The suspended ropes tell him there is a railroad crossing near.”

And here’s a “now” view of the same area, a Pit’s-eye view of the Route 6 highway overpass looking west.

Speaking of the Pit, I’ll be doing a multi-part post on it very soon!

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UPDATE (Jan. 7, 2020)
Historian and archivist Dennis Lamont has informed me that indeed there was a quarry at that site. Here's a portion of an 1896 township map (courtesy of Dennis) showing the area south of the railroad crossing as being associated with the Cleveland Stone Company.

Giant Tiger Tales

A few of you (besides Alan Hopewell) may remember that Lorain used to have a Giant Tiger discount store on Elyria Avenue at 20th Street. The first outlet in our area was at 225 Broad Street in Elyria, followed by the one in Lorain.

I wrote about the Lorain store's 1967 Grand Opening here.

What amused me about the discount chain was that in many of its late 1960s Journal newspaper ads, none other than Tony the Tiger of Kellogg’s Sugar Frosted Flakes cereal fame is used as the Giant Tiger advertising mascot (which I wrote about here). Whether this was done with or without Kellogg’s consent I’m not sure. Nevertheless, this tiger poaching went on for several years.

It wasn’t until recently however that I discovered that another tiger did indeed prowl the Giant Tiger newspaper ads before Tony. Below is the logo block from a Giant Tiger ad that ran in the Journal on December 10, 1959, promoting the Elyria store. The tiger looks downright menacing, like he should be chasing Mowgli around the jungle.

By the mid-to-late 1960s, however, Tony had replaced the generic tiger. Below is a logo from an October 24, 1968 ad.

A month later, the logo type had been updated – but Tony remained.

By June of 1969, Gaylord’s National Corporation had acquired 82 percent of Giant Tiger stock and changed the name of the 15-store chain to Gaylord’s Giant Tiger (which I wrote about here). 

Here's the logo that was used in late February 1970 combining both names.

Eventually the Giant Tiger portion of the name was dropped.

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Meanwhile, up in the Great White North...

A Canadian discount store chain named Giant Tiger (with no connection or relation to the American chain) has been in business since 1961. There are more than 250 stores across Canada.

The Canadian Giant Tiger stores have had the same tiger mascot since the early days. His name? Friendly. Here are a few of his early appearances in ads.

A portion of a December 1966 ad

A logo block from a December 1970 ad

Recently, Friendly has been downplayed in the ads, but he still makes public appearances at company-sponsored events.

Courtesy Giant Tiger

Courtesy Giant Tiger

First Babies of 1970

Fifty years ago today, the headline of the Lorain Journal screamed "4-Foot Snow Isolates Dakota’s Black Hills.” The article stated, “The BLACK HILLS of South Dakota were buried under four feet of snow today with more falling at the rate of 1 1/2 inches an hour.

“The South Dakota Highway Patrol said all roads in the Lead-Deadwood area were blocked and there was “no travel possible.””

Also on the front page, the Journal identified all of the ‘first babies’ of 1970.

As noted in the article below, a Vermilion couple – Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Bohl – had the honor of being the parents of Ohio’s first baby (John Lee Bohl)  of the new year and the new decade. John Lee was born at Amherst Hospital.

But as for the Journal’s contest, the first baby born at St. Joseph Hospital in Lorain was the one that would get all the neat prizes. And that baby was Robert Wheeler – son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Wheeler of 4431 Stoney Ridge Road, Avon. Mr. Wheeler was in the Navy and stationed in Jacksonville, Florida.

Even back then, the Journal covered a wide area of Northeast Ohio and thus included the first babies at Elyria Hospital (Terri Lynn, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Curtis Hampton of Strongsville), Fisher-Titus Hospital in Norwalk (a daughter born to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Johannsen), Huron County (a daughter born to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Montgomery of North Fairfield) and Erie County (Margo Renee Powers, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Michael Powers of Castalia).

Hopefully all of the above celebrity babies are enjoying their 50th birthdays today. Happy Birthday and Happy New Year to all of them!

Happy New Year!

Here’s wishing all of you a safe, happy and healthy 2020!

As usual, I’d like to wish my older brother Ken (Lorain’s First Baby of 1958) a Happy Birthday! I’ve featured Ken as a birthday toddler on this blog several times, including here and here.

Anyway, above is the full-page ad announcing all the goodies that Lorain’s First Baby of 1970 was going to get. The ad ran on New Year’s Eve 1969.

There’s plenty of well-remembered Lorain firms providing the swag for the first bébé, including Meyer Goldberg Supermarkets, Kline’s, Rigbee’s, Januzzi’s and Jupiter Discount Store. I still think it’s funny that Lorain had both a Mars and Jupiter store.

Tomorrow I’ll do the big reveal.