Well, summer is over, even if the calendar doesn't quite say so. All the signs are there, at least to me; Dog 'n Suds is closed, as well as as Avon Dairy Treat. Traffic has quadrupled on the way to work, especially at the Colorado Avenue Route 611 interchange on I-90. Plus, you can feel the weather changing.
Speaking of the weather, I've got some whining to do and I might as well do it here, since my spouse is probably getting tired of hearing it. This has got to have been the rainiest summer in Northeast Ohio that I can remember. As of Tuesday, I've mowed my lawn 28 times since April – the darned thing never stopped growing, thanks to all that wet stuff!
It rained during our camping trip in August, during our trip to Cedar Point that same month and the weather was generally crummy on Labor Day at Put-in-Bay during our annual visit. (At least it wasn't hot.)
Courtesy www.americanplasticequipment.com
It's funny, but as a kid in the 1960's I remember rain being a lot more rare. (A rainy day usually meant one thing: playing inside, specifically indoor games such as Monopoly. We had a few of the other popular games, such as Operation and Candyland, and even a few that would be frowned upon today as being too connected to the occult, such as Ka-Bala ( a fortune telling game) and the creepy Ouija board.)
I remember as a kid being genuinely surprised that a big cub scout outing at Mill Hollow was rained out.
Nevertheless, I just don't remember summer consisting of days and days of rain and lousy weather like what we've just endured. Is it just my nostalgic way of looking at things?
I've been thinking about the announced end of the Paddlewheel Excursions ride at Cedar Point, so I dug out my old 1966 brochure. What I found kind of surprised me.
Above is an illustration from the brochure, showing the lagoon that the boat (then called the Western Cruise ride) traveled through. As you can see, the waterway winds around several islands.
Compare that with this the recent off-season Bing aerial view. (Click on either image for a super-sized view.)
Seeing how much smaller the waterway is now reminded me that the boat ride used to be much more elaborate and longer. In the old days, a few minutes into the trip you really felt that you had left Cedar Point far behind and were in that Western wilderness – unlike the later version of the ride, when you could never escape both the looming view and the intrusive noise of the amusement rides (which had been expanded into the western and jungle theme areas).
The last few times I had taken the cruise, it had become a parody of itself. The boat's captain recited groan-inducing corny jokes and putrid puns, and basically lampooned the whole ride, wrecking the whole pioneer fantasy world for the small fry. The elaborate paddlewheel boat had also been replaced by a smaller, cheesier version.
It's too bad that the popular Western theme was jettisoned as well.
Anyway, although the ride is no more, I still have my happy childhood memories of it.
For old time's sake, here's a few more looks at this ride in its heyday. (Some images courtesy of Ebay.)
Photo from the 1966 brochure
I still can't remember why the fort was firing on the ship!
Here's another one of those mid-1980's Lorain shots that were on Ebay for a while. Of course, this is the view looking west approaching the W. 21st Street Underpass, with the distinctive B&O Railroad logo and 1939 inscription. (Sorry, this photo isn't one you can click and enlarge too much!)
I guess my 'now' shot is kind of pointless.
The view really didn't change all that much except for the trees! The funny thing is, I was unable to exactly duplicate the exact same angle of shot. The same elements are all there (tower, billboard, traffic light sign, etc.) but they are not in the same position, except for the tower.
Sadly, the Underpass was the scene of the horrible July 2005 tragedy in which an elderly couple drowned in their car in 12 feet of water during a heavy rain.
Drew Penfield sent me this postcard image showing the 1924 Lorain Tornado damage to Young's Bakery, which was located at 215 Colorado Avenue (just a few hundred feet from E. Erie Ave).
Looking east
The building next to the damaged bakery looked kind of familiar to me, and sure enough I had posted a picture of it way back here. It's the building to the right of the interurban tracks in the photo at right.
It's a mystery as to why the interurban tracks aren't visible in the tornado damage picture, crossing Colorado Avenue from left to right. (Oh no, not another mystery!)
So, according to the City Directory, Young's Bakery must have rebuilt as it continued to be be at that location, adding the 217 Colorado Address as well in 1926. The 217 Colorado address eventually became the home of Paul's Auto Body (which has since been demolished).
An L-shaped building is now located where the interurban tracks ran.
Here is the current view of the tornado damage shot.
Here's the trailer for 13 Frightened Girls. Actually, it looks pretty good!
As for the Stooges, this was one of the features that was produced to cash in on their newfound TV popularity after their long-running Columbia short subject series had ended. Comedian Joe DeRita was pressed into service as the 'third stooge' for these movies (since Curly and Shemp were dead, and the last stooge from the series – Joe Besser – wasn't available).
In these movies, DeRita was known as 'Curly Joe,' which sounded right since he kind of looked like the original Curly. But I don't think any kids were fooled.
Although I don't remember seeing any of these 1960's Stooges efforts at the theater, I'm sure I saw some of them on one of those all-day TV extravaganzas for kids that used to take place on the day after Thanksgiving. (The cartoons started early Friday and ran until the afternoon, when movies such as this or some crappy cartoon feature like Gay Purr-ee was shown.
Anyway, here's a short sample of the 1960's Stooge chemistry in The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze.
One last note – I noticed that Moe, Curly Joe and Larry have kind of strange expressions on their faces in the Tivoli ad. Then I found this small, similar color version (below).
It sure looks like the black and white ad is the optional (and poorly retouched) 'happy expression' version of the color ad!
I thought I'd done about a complete a history (here) as I could of the building that houses my favorite Saturday night eatery – Mutt & Jeff's – until I found this great article. It's by well-known Journal Staff Writer Hank Kozloski, and ran in the newspaper on April 2, 1989.
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Oberlin Avenue Tavern has colorful past
By Hank Kozloski
Except for the sign in front of 3700 Oberlin Ave., and maybe an occasional change in paint color, the building now known as Mutt & Jeff's hasn't changed much over the years.
But the building has a colorful and sometimes notorious past.
Today Mutt & Jeff's is a popular weekend haunt. To oldtimers, it will always be known as the Airport Tavern.
But during the Great Depression, when the building was still in Black River Township, it was called Penny Morgan's Place and was the site of a famous Lorain County scandal.
Lorain County Sheriff William F. Grall,who served three two-year terms as Lorain mayor (1920-24 and 1926-27), went to prison in late 1938 for accepting bribes in a sensational grand jury probe of a slot machine and vice racket which operated out of Penny Morgan's Place. Five other Lorain County men were also sent to prison for running the racket and giving bribes to Grall for allowing them to operate.
Grall, who was paroled from prison in 1941, moved from Lorain after being paroled to become editor of the Lake Union Herald, a weekly magazine published by the Lake Union conference of Seventh-Day Adventists at Berrien Springs, Mich.
Former Lorain builder Vlad Nickoloff, now living on Key Largo, Florida, recalled delivering newspapers to Penny Morgan's Place during the early 1930's.
"All the politicians went there," Nickoloff said.
He said Carl Finnegan, who replaced Grall as sheriff, put Penny Morgan's Place out of business.
The list of people who owned a building at that site dates back to 1928 when Celia Florence Chovik acquired it, then lost it to Cleveland Trust Co. in 1936. Gus Gailus Sr. bought it in 1937 and sold it to Alex Hormanski in 1943.
It was Hormanski who named it Airport Tavern, after Mills Airport located on Meister Road. When Hormanski was killed in a car accident, Nettie Sroka took over Airport Tavern in 1954. She later sold it to Bruno Dombroski, a local professional wrestler, in 1959.
The name Airport Tavern disappeared from the building when ownership changed five times since 1959.
Wilma George, the next owner after Dombroski, changed the name to Sherwood Inn. Then former County Commissioner Fred Ritenauer became the owner. He called it The Trademark. It wasn't long after that it became Scardi's under Guy Scardami's stewardship. And now, Mutt & Jeff's under Klaus J. Grm.
Whatever it is called, it will always be a part of Lorain history and Oberlin Avenue history.
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Hey, speaking of Mutt & Jeff's, here's a nice look at how it is today. After watching this, you'll understand why my wife and I are Saturday night regulars. (The only problem with the short video? It doesn't have Brenda, our favorite waitress in it. But it does feature her twin sister Becky.)
This is kind of sad. It's the end of the line for Cedar Point's Paddlewheel Excursions ride. It's being replaced next season by the new attraction Dinosaurs Alive!
You can read the story here on the Sandusky Register website (there's some great comments) and here on the WKYC Cleveland website.
Doggone it, the paddlewheel ride was one that we didn't squeeze in this year, due to rain and exhaustion. Oh well. I'm not too surprised that one of the last old-time 1960's attractions is going away.
See ya, Trapper Dan! Thanks for all the tips about 'trouble up the river' through the years! Dan was talking about moonshiners at the end, but I'm pretty sure it used to be Indians on the warpath back in the 1960's. (I guess it's okay to make fun of trigger-happy hillbillies, as opposed to Native Americans!)
See ya, beavers! Hope you got that tree cut down finally!
Haven't been on the ride for a while? Click here to take the trip one last time.
