The Story Behind the Buildings – Part 3

While the Honecker Building is going to be renovated for use as a candy store, gift shop and 22-unit residence, the building next door at 436-440 Broadway (above) is not so lucky.

It's going to be torn down “to create parking and green space for 444 Broadway,” according to an article in the Morning Journal on April 17, 2018 that explained developer Jon Veard’s plans.

It’s unfortunate that the building has to be sacrificed, as it will create yet another major gap in the Broadway streetscape.

History-wise, it is difficult to determine how old the building is. It has no ‘name’ to be found in the city directories, and often it’s impossible to tell by the addresses which building they are associated with.

Nevertheless, the location next to the Honecker Building has been the home to many businesses through the decades, both in the street level storefronts and upstairs offices. Shoe stores seemed to be a popular use for the building.

The 436 Broadway storefront housed a variety of businesses, including  New York Waist Store (1921), Diamond Brothers (1931) a ladies wear store, and Cannon Shoe Store (1940-1960),

Beginning in the early 1920s, the 438 Broadway address was shared by several businesses, including Dr. Charles Isaac, a dentist. Another dentist, Dr. Irvin Glucksman, would become one of the building’s longest tenants (lasting from the early 1930s into the early 1970s).

The 440 Broadway storefront was home to several shoe companies, including Wiegand & Klingbeil (1921), Miller-Jones Co. Shoes (1940), Januzzi’s Downtown (late 1970s).

The 1960s brought new tenants to the building, including Faroh Candy (436 Broadway) and Public Finance (440 Broadway).

1960 Lorain Phone Book ad

Here’s a view of the building that I believe is from the 1970s, showing Faroh’s, Januzzi’s and the Svete Travel Bureau next door.

The 1970s brought a tenant that was well-known in the local music community: Alex Visci. Mr. Visci moved his music studio/repair shop there to the upstairs 438 Broadway address.

(In the early 1980s, yours truly applied white vinyl sign letters to the outside of two of his windows to promote his instrument repair shop. The letters are still there, but in sad shape.)

By 1985, Faroh Candy Shoppe was the only tenant in the building listed in the city directory. Both the 438 upstairs and 440 street address were vacant, coinciding with the decline of Downtown Lorain.

There have been other tenants in the building since then, but none with the iconic status of past businesses from Lorain’s glory days.

Today the building at 436-440 Broadway is vacant and awaiting demolition.

The Story Behind the Buildings – Part 2

William Honecker – the man whose last name graced the Honecker Building – passed away on August 12, 1928. The longtime Lorain druggist’s passing was noted prominently on the front page of the Lorain Times-Herald the next day.

The article announcing his death noted that he was a ‘pioneer resident’ of the city.

His funeral was widely attended, as noted in this article from August 15, 1928.

Despite William Honecker’s passing, his namesake pharmacy continued on for a few years. By the time of the 1929 city directory, the store – still listed as being affiliated with the Rexall chain – was being managed by J. H. Stone.

At the time of the 1931 city directory, the drug store was still in business. Note that the Elks are again listed as tenants.

By the time of the 1933 directory, the drug store was closed, and replaced at its location by Jacoby Brothers grocery.

As the years passed, a variety of businesses called the Honecker Building home, including Trimmer’s Jewelers and the Nicholl Stone Company.

1940 city directory listing

1950 city directory listing

By the early 1960s, Trimmer’s Jewelers and the Nicholl Stone Company were still listed as a tenants.

Going into the early 1970s, the building picked up another well-remembered Lorain firm as a tenant: Svete Travel Bureau.

Finally, here’s the building's listing from 1985, when Downtown Lorain was in the period of its biggest decline, having lost many of its most longtime, iconic stores.

Tomorrow: the building at 436-440 Broadway 

The Story Behind the Buildings – Part 1

Last month the Morning Journal featured an article by Richard Payerchin that outlined developer Jon Veard’s plans for several buildings on Broadway in Lorain.

One of the buildings being redeveloped– located on the southwest corner of Broadway and Fifth Street – was the longtime home of Lorain Hardware. (I wrote about the building here.)

But what about the other buildings? Were they ever home to any iconic Lorain businesses through the decades?

Here are the buildings in question: the Honecker Building on the northwest corner of Broadway and Fifth Street, and the flat, red-bricked building with two storefronts to the right of it.

Let’s sneak a peek at the city directories to see what roles they played in Downtown Lorain history.

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Unlike many Downtown Lorain buildings with an inscrutable name (such as the Thistle Building), the Honecker Building has an easy-to-research history. Its name corresponded with the man who ran a drug store at that location for many years: William Honecker.

William Honecker came to Lorain in 1889 to open a drug store after serving his apprenticeship in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. Along with his brother Charles, he opened the pharmacy on Broadway. The business became his own a year later when he bought out his brother.

(As Broadway’s downtown business district grew and evolved, business addresses often changed over the years, even though a store might not have moved. The 1905 Lorain city directory had "William Honecker - druggist” at 320 Broadway. By the time of the 1905 directory, the business was listed at 324 Broadway. Later, the Honecker drug store had an address in the 400 block, with the same neighbors as it did when it had an address in the 320’s.)

The 1912 directory was the first listing I could find for the Honecker Building, with a range of addresses of 446-448 Broadway. These addresses would change slightly through the years.

Here is that first 1912 listing (below). Note the many well-known Lorain businesses that were already established, including the Sam Klein Co., and Smith & Gerhart.

By the time of the 1915 directory, the drug store would be listed as being affiliated with the Rexall chain.

The Honecker Building was home to several fraternal organizations over the years. The 1921-22 city directory listed the Elks Club as one of the tenants. And the 1928 listing (below) notes that the Masonic Hall was located on the third floor.

Jay's New Sparkle Market Grand Opening – May 1962

Over the years, I’ve written a lot about how Oberlin Avenue’s commercial strip slowly evolved on Lorain’s West Side, beginning in the early 1950s, thanks to business pioneers like Frank “Jay” Jursinski.

Back on this post, I featured the March 1952 Grand Opening of Jay's IGA Foodliner.

Originally the store was all by its lonesome self on the southwest corner of Oberlin Avenue and Meister Road (right where Whalen Drugs would later be located in the same building).

Slowly, a small shopping center grew around Jay’s with the addition of an early version of Willow Hardware. By April 1955, Jay moved his grocery store – now called Jay’s Food Center – within the growing shopping center to a larger space.

And by 1962, it was time for Jay to move his popular store to a larger space and change its brand affiliation again.

Jay built a beautiful new store for his business, now called Jay’s Sparkle Market, near 38th Street and Oberlin Avenue.

From the April 29, 1962 Lorain Journal

And here’s the Grand Opening ad for the new store, which ran in the Lorain Journal on May 3, 1962.

Jay was ahead of his time with many innovative ideas that would be right at home in today’s supermarkets: a deli department with home cooked foods and salads all prepared and ready to take home; a sea food section with fresh fish; home made pies and donuts made in-house; imported wines and beers; a gourmet food section. All available in Jay’s air-conditioned store with a U. S. Postal Sub Station right next door as part of the complex.

I’m not sure what happened, but by May 1964, Jay’s Sparkle had become part of the growing Meyer Goldberg grocery empire, which longtime Lorainites still remember today.

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I’ve written a lot about Jay’s, including its changeover from Food Center to Sparkle, as well as when Aunt Jemima dropped by.

House Demolition – May 2, 1968

The well-remembered
caricature of Bob Beck,
used in his ads

Although the demolition of old buildings and homes in Lorain today is often done quietly and without fanfare (perhaps to minimize controversy), this type of thing used to be news – and worthy of a photo.

That’s the case here, with the demolition of a home at the intersection of E. 21st Street and Elyria Avenue. The photo and accompanying caption appeared on the front page of the Lorain Journal back on May 2, 1968.

According to the caption, the house and another one in the same block were being removed for Bob Beck of Bob Beck Chevrolet, which was located nearby at 2147 Broadway.

Perhaps the houses were removed to create additional storage space for the dealership. But whatever the purpose, it doesn’t appear that the plans came to fruition.

Today that corner looks like much of Lorain does: an empty, grassy lot.

Midway Mall Bridge – May 2, 1968

Fifty years ago today, the photo above appeared on page 44 of in the Lorain Journal, offering a preview of the new Midway Mall access bridge over State Route 57. The bridge was designed to relieve some of the traffic congestion at the highway’s intersection with Griswold Road.

Back on this blog post, I featured an article from October 1966 that described the mind-numbing traffic jams that had become routine at that intersection, often resulting in a delay of 15 to 30 minutes.

Of course, the same bridge – known as the 49th Street bridge – was removed in the fall of 2015 in an effort to improve traffic flow.

Two and a half years later, I remain unconvinced that it was a good idea. It seems more frustrating than ever to go to Midway Mall (or Elyria, for that matter) via Route 57 with traffic lights seemingly every few hundred feet. The result? I tend to avoid that whole interchange – the exact opposite of what was supposed to happen when the improvements were completed.

A wavy Google Maps view of roughly the same area today

A Reminder from Rover

No, I don’t mean the Rover on the radio. I mean the chef-hatted mascot of Ilene’s Dog ’N Suds (above), who wants you to pay a visit to the classic Lorain County drive-in out on North Ridge Road near Route 57.

At least Ilene's is off to a good start this year. Every time I go by it out there in Elyria Township, it seems to be pretty busy. The carhops have confirmed this to me.

The scene out at Ilene’s about a week ago

I’m doing my bit to help. It’s only the first of May – and I’ve already eaten at Dog ’N Suds twice.

Actually, I carried out both times; I don’t eat there unless I have a newspaper or something to read in the car. Plus, one of the days was truly too wretched weather-wise to have the window open with the tray hanging on it.

Since coney dogs are always in rotation on the Brady menu at home, at Dog ’N Suds I tend to order the Texas Burger: a double-decker charco-broiled hamburger that comes with the signature coney sauce as one of the toppings. It’s kind of messy and it’s probably better that I eat it at home, where I can scrub up afterwards. Both of my sandwiches were great.

The menu boards at Dog ’n Suds are down this year, so the carhops have to do more ‘splaining to the drive-in customers to go over the menu. So as a public service, here’s the current Dog ’N Suds menu. (I couldn’t resist adding the classic Rover graphic.)

Anyway, there are only 14 Dog ’N Suds still in operation in the U. S., making Ilene’s outlet on North Ridge Road rather special just for surviving this long. 

So, if you want to enjoy some good food, and the nostalgia of having a carhop serve you, head on out to Ilene’s Dog ’N Suds.

A seagull was playing “King of the Hill” during my last visit