Pilot House to Go to the Auction House

Well, it was noted in the local news media recently that it's a done deal that the Wakefield mansion in Vermilion (as well as the rest of the former Inland Seas Maritime Museum) will be demolished. It’s too bad.

News reports also pointed out that the pilot house, attached to the former museum, will be auctioned off as it has been declared “an unwanted piece of city property."

Since it had been decades since I visited the museum, I wondered: what pilot house? None of the newspapers bothered to provide a photo, so I paid a visit to the site with my camera earlier this week to refresh my memory.

Oh, that pilot house. It’s pretty cool and I hope somebody buys it.

The Canopus in action
(courtesy of AbeBooks.com, which
has this photo for sale)

So what’s the story behind it? It's the original 1905 pilot house from the lake freighter Canopus. 

According to a 2016 article on Cleveland.com written by our friend Michael Sangiacomo of the Plain Dealer, the pilot house had been used as a playroom by its former owner before it was donated to the museum.

It was intended to be sold back in 2016, after the Museum had moved to Toledo, but apparently that didn’t happen.

A recent article in the Morning Journal said that for a little while, the plan was for Vermilion to hold on to it. But according to Mayor Jim Forthofer, it was going to cost too much money to move it and store it. 

In the end, the city will not have to pay for its removal from the former museum building, but will collect the money made from auctioning it off. Not a bad deal.

Anyway, here are a few more photos of the pilot house, before it is permanently set adrift in our collective memories.

Sand Pile Up at Harmon’s Beach – March 6, 1956

Although Harmon’s Beach has been closed for many years, many longtime Lorainites still have happy memories of it as a cozy place and one of the oldest beaches in the city.

I devoted a whole blog post to it back here. In that post, I presented a few Journal articles from September 1970 in which the beach’s closing (due to rowdy visitors) was being debated. In the end, the decision was made by Lorain City Council to close it to the public.

But back in 1956, Harmon’s Beach was still in its heyday. The article above, which appeared in the Lorain Journal on March 6, 1956, examines the issue of the excess sand that has accumulated at the beach, and the potential hazard it posed to boaters as well as swimmers.

The most interesting thing (of course) is the photo of the beach with the old B&O dock in the background.

St. Patrick’s Day Ads – 1971

It's St. Patrick’s Day! And to celebrate, here are a pair of local ads with that theme from the pages of the Journal in March 1971 – fifty years ago.

First up is an ad for Lorain Creamery that ran in the Journal on March 9, 1971.

Just like McDonald’s promotes its Shamrock Shake around St. Pat’s Day, the Creamery was similarly pushing its Green Mint Chip Ice Cream. (I’m not a fan of mint-flavored anything, although toothpaste is okay.)

The leprechaun illustration is nice, but he still looks vaguely gorilla-like (continuing that ‘Irishmen as Apes’ legacy, which I first wrote about back here). 

Next up is an ad for one of the Brady family’s favorite car dealers: Milad’s, in Amherst at 200 N. Leavitt Road.

The full-page ad ran in the Journal on March 16, 1971.

The psychedelic smoke coming from the clay pipe (what’s he smoking anyway?) spelling out “Shamrock Specials" gives the ad a real 1970s feel. The leprechaun art is kind of unusual; he’s not the usual cute type of wee folk, nor is he simian in appearance.

Our family sure bought a lot of cars from Milad’s over the years. Our favorite salesman there was Joe, and he always took good care of us. He sold my parents new cars, and also had a standing order to keep an eye out for used Cutlasses. At one point when all of the Brady Bunch family members were driving, our driveway on Skyline Drive looked like a used Oldsmobile car lot.

I wrote about our family’s love affair with the Cutlass here. I still get a funny yearning inside when I see one from the 60s or 70s that’s still on the road – especially if it’s green.

Zaffer’s & Ferben’s: We Hardly Knew Ye

While looking through old Journal microfilm from 50 years ago this month, I happened to come across ads for two local businesses that I’ve never heard of before. They were both restaurants, operating in March 1971 in areas that I admittedly didn’t get to very much.

The two restaurants weren’t around very long, and both disappeared from the city directory listings by the time of the 1972 edition. Perhaps you’ve heard of them, or have fond memories of eating there. 

The first one was called Zaffer’s Coney Island. It was located at 2625 W. Erie Avenue, having apparently taken over the building that had originally been home to Taco Boy. John Zaffer was the manager. Here’s the ad which appeared in the Journal on March 12, 1971.

(As you can see, someone in the Journal art department goofed, as the restaurant address was supposed to be 2625 W. Erie Avenue.)

It was appropriate for a restaurant to be selling coney dogs at that location, since for many years there was a root beer stand (at one time Stewart’s, later A&W) on West Erie right right next door to the east (across Madison).

The other blink-and-you-might-have-missed it restaurant was called Ferben’s. It was located at 1390 North Ridge Road, across from the Sheffield Shopping Center, in the small building that was originally home to Kelly’s Jet System Hamburgers, and later, Casey’s Drive-in.

Here’s the March 12, 1971 Journal ad for Ferben’s. It’s kinda cool. I love the Western motif, especially the typography. And I’m betting that well-known local cartoonist Bob Lynch did the cowboy illustration.

I wonder if they sold Wild West Sarsaparilla there?

Anyway, both the Zaffer’s and Ferben’s addresses were listed as ‘vacant’ in the next directories. But you have to admire their proprietors, who at least had the guts to take a chance and try to make something work at locations that had previously failed with multi-outlet franchise operations.

Just the Facts, Ma’am: Dragnet, 1905 Lorain-Style

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know I like to post 100-year-old (or older) newspaper articles from the front page of the Lorain Times-Herald, showing all of the mayhem going on at that time. 

No, sir –no front page stories about cupcake stores and other squishy-soft news items like those found in today’s Morning Journal; these news stories from the early years of the 20th Century always seem to be loaded with all sorts of outrageous happenings and criminal mischief, culminating in paddy wagons loaded with Lorainites bound for the hoosegow.

A good example is the large chunk of articles shown above from the front page of the March 2, 1905 Lorain Times-Herald. Being a huge Jack Webb fan, I was naturally interested in the lead story with the heading, DRAGNET SCOOPS IN MANY MORE OFFENDERS.

“Lorain’s crusade against vice proceeds with added momentum as the days and nights go by,” the article began. “Last evening some five or more ‘joints’ were raided and as a result a score or more offenders were raked into the police net.

“Last night’s prizes were on a somewhat higher order – as such things go – than those of the previous evening. The famous Snyder house disgorged a couple of prosperous looking middle-aged damsels upon whose backs were garments that the proudest aristocrat in town could scarcely afford to wear.

“Barnes’ notorious dive was shut up when the officers bobbed in that immediate vicinity. It takes more than a dark front and a locked door, however, to scare out the blue-coats when trouble is afoot. Entrance was effected through a rear door and three or more of the naughty ones were corralled and hauled in to the calaboose.”

The article is somewhat outrageous (by today’s standards) in its reporting of the court proceedings, especially in its description of the women being charged. “Maud Gray, whose peaked face and squinty eyes have many times faced a police judge, was up on the charge of running a dive,” it noted.

"Silks and fine satin arrayed the comely form of the next girl up. Her name was given as Mamie Van Till and she pleaded guilty to the charge of being an inmate to a house of ill-fame. A fine of $15 and costs was assessed.

“Others in the same boat and tagged with the same fine were Anna Jones, a timid one, Rubie La Well, a corpulent blonde, Bessie Williams, uninteresting relic of better days, Anna Myers, a woman, Anna Marshall, Any More? – each $15 and costs.

“Viola Stewart, an old habitue, with blondined blond tresses, formed the first hitch in the proceedings. She claimed to have been “only” working for Mrs. Barnes and entered a plea of not guilty.

“In the “Green Front” establishment run by Rudy Richards, at 114 West Erie avenue, Anna Johnson was captured. She protested innocence, however, and will be tried later.”

Ah, but leave us draw the curtain of charity on those unhappy proceedings and move on to another crime, albeit one you don’t hear too much about these days: stealing chickens.

Under the heading POLICE ARE AFTER CHICKEN THIEVES, the article notes, “Chicken thieves have been operating in the South Lorain district for some time and many people have had their hen roosts robbed. One night, about a week ago, thieves visited the premises of Dan Danewich, who keeps a boarding house on the steel plant premises, and stole from his shed 31 chickens and two ducks.”

Gee, it was always kinda funny when Snuffy Smith was doing it in the comics!

Elsewhere on the page, there's an article about a car crashing into a horse-drawn street car, with the result that the cab driver ended up airborne (for either 20 or 200 feet). The description is pretty colorful, as the article notes, “Horses sprawling on their ears, a hack on its back and a driver, under the ungentle boosts of a street car dash board, flying through the air towards a soft spot near the curb gave to Broadway, between Sixth and Seventh avenues, somewhat the appearance of a two ring circus at half-past eight this morning.”

There’s also an article about the Sherman House, one of the ‘worst resorts in the city,’ going out of business thanks to the ongoing campaign against vice, as well as the account of an Austrian being extradited from Johnstown, Pa., to face charges of running out on some debts he ran up in South Lorain.

Just another day in Lorain, Ohio – March 2, 1905.

Midway Mall Shows – Feb. & March 1971

Fifty years ago, Midway Mall was still in its early days – and very much committed to attracting new shoppers. One technique that the Mall’s owners used to increase traffic there was to sponsor shows.  

Above is the ad for a camping show, which appeared in the Journal on Feb. 10, 1971.

It’s an odd ad. I get the feeling that the newspaper's art department just didn’t have any clip art of happy campers roasting marshmallows or curled up in sleeping bags. Thus the clip art of a guy with a bow tie holding a tape measure.

I can’t remember if the Brady’s went to this camping show or not. We were slowly winding down our camping days about this time, and would sell our pop-up Bethany camper within a year or two.

The ad for the Midway Mall Boat Show was much more conventional. No 1950s beer commercial guys in this ad, which ran in the Journal on March 5, 1971.

There’s been rumors for years about the current Midway Mall ending up repurposed as a medical facility. Hopefully the current Mall owners will do something ambitious to try and get local shoppers out there again.

After all, you can’t have a boat show at Crocker Park in winter.

Hialeah Cabins on the Move – Feb. 9, 1961

One of my favorite topics on this blog has been the old tourist cabins that dotted the U. S. 6 landscape west of Lorain in the 1940s and 50s. These Mom and Pop lodging businesses predated the motel era, and consisted of individual structures collectively called a tourist court. 

If the owners stayed in business long enough, they often connected the small cottages or cabins under one roof to give them the appearance of a modern motel. (A good example of this would be the old Grandview Court, which evolved into the Grandview Motel.)

Sometimes, however, the tourist court business might not survive due to changes in road alignments. Green Lantern Camp apparently was put out of business thanks to the widening of Lake Road. And Hialeah Tourist Court ended up stranded on a bypassed piece of the highway.

I’ve been curious about Hialeah Tourist Court for some time, since there are still a few cabins there that somehow have survived to this day. I wondered: what happened to the other cabins?

Well, it took some time, but I have my answer: the other cabins were moved – to Mill Hollow!

As the small clipping from the Feb. 9, 1961 Lorain Journal notes, “Five tourist cottages have been donated to the Mill Hollow Reservation of the Lorain Metropolitan Park District by County Commissioner Ludwig M. Pincura, owner of Hialeah Tourist Court, 4015 W. Erie Ave.

“Two cottages will be used as information centers, two others will be used as shelters and the fifth will be used as a nature lodge.”

It would be interesting to know how long the cabins were used, and if any survive to this day, perhaps as a forgotten park tool shed.

****

UPDATE 

The Arcadia Publishing book Lorain County Metro Parks: The First 50 Years (by Gary S. Gerrone) includes a photo of one of the repurposed cottages being used as a small picnic shelter.

The photo caption reads, “Five 12-by-16-foot summer cottage homes were donated to the Lorain County Metro Parks in 1960. Three of these were turned into small picnic shelters, like the one shown here. One was turned into the park’s first version of a nature center. The last one was turned into an information center, and although long closed, it greeted visitors to Mill Hollow’s “B” side well into the 1990s."