What used to be in that building?

Yeah, I know. It's no mystery that Forest City Auto Parts used to be in this building at 1803 Broadway. But what was in there before that?

I had a hunch that there would be an interesting variety of businesses located there through the years. But I was wrong. Since the very beginning, the building was associated with the automobile business.

The earliest listing for 1803 Broadway was in the 1926 Lorain City Directory. The Colgan Motor Sales Company was at that address.

The company distributed Studebakers. (You can see in the above photo where the Studebaker logo would have been mounted, right under the brick arch.) By 1929, the Erskine (a brand produced by Studebaker) was added. But by 1933, however, it was Studebakers and Packards.

1933 City Directory Ad

Colgan Motor Sales remained there all through the 1930's, even sharing the address with the Lorain Barbers Union Local No. 268 in the 1937 book.

By 1940, the company was selling Studebakers, Cadillacs and the LaSalle brand.

Strangely, the company disappeared in the 1942 book – and was replaced at that address by Atkinson & Williams automotive dealers. But Colgan was back in the 1945 book when Atkinson & Williams moved to 1735 Broadway.

Colgan Motor Sales remained at the 1803 address until 1959 – when it was replaced by another dealer, Denton Cadillac. But Denton wasn't in there very long; it was gone by 1961, when the building went vacant.

In 1964, however, the city directory listed Hageman Auto Parts at the 1803 Broadway address and they would remain there for a while.

Here's their Lorain phone book ad from 1968, featuring the long-necked, bespectacled cartoon mascot that we usually associate with Forest City Auto Parts.

1968 Lorain Phone Book ad

In the 1973 city directory, the listing did indeed change to Forest City Auto Parts. Here's their phone book ad from 1974.

1974 Lorain Phone Book ad

Forest City Auto parts remained at that address until around 2002, when the listing disappeared from the directory. I don't know much about the Forest City chain of stores, except that there used to be locations in Cleveland. It sure looks like in the beginning, there was a parent company that had all these individual local stores with their own names but using the same mascot and ad layouts; then, at some point, the stores were all rebranded under the Forest City name.

1969 Sohio Ad Featuring Forest City Auto Parts "Max"

I mentioned the other day how my original post on Ontario stores was one of my most visited ones over the years. Well, another topic that has proved extremely popular are my posts on the long-necked bespectacled mascot of the well-remembered Forest City Auto Parts chain of stores.

It seems a lot of people remember the guy, and are interested in the story behind him. Fortunately, several ex-Forest City Auto Parts employees took the time to post their reminisce about how he became the mascot and even what his name was: Max.

Which brings me to today's topic: a vintage ad that I found the other day featuring Max (seen at the top of this post). What's interesting is that the ad is for Super's Sohio on Oberlin Avenue in Lorain.

The ad ran in the 1969 edition of the Lorain phone book.

Max had appeared the year before in another Lorain phone book ad for Hageman Auto Parts (below).

It wasn't until a few years later that Max began to officially appear in phone book ads for the Lorain outlet of Forest City Auto Parts (which Hageman apparently became). By then, he had been redrawn and apparently registered as a trademark (judging by the ® by his bow tie).

Here he is in the 1974 phone book ad.

Google "Forest City Auto Parts" and you'll find long-gone photos of Max painted on the sides of the stores, as well as some vintage store printed materials. Here's one of Max that I found recently. It's slightly different from some of the others.

And here's one taken from a flyer, proving that his name is indeed Max.

By George, some enterprising novelty manufacturer should “stick their neck out” and market a retro-style bobblehead of Max – they'd clean up!

That Forest City Auto Parts Guy

While working on my post last week that mentioned Forest City Auto Parts, I saw a neat photo online of one of the former stores in Cleveland. In the photo, the building still had the well-remembered, long-necked mascot painted on the side that "freaked out" fellow blogger Lisa when she was a kid.

I know what she means. Although I'm usually a big fan of cartoon mascots, I never cared much for that guy. He kind of reminded me of a mutant version of the father in the Dennis the Menace comic strip.

I'd love to know the story behind his design. Was he a caricature of someone? I originally thought he was a piece of clip art, but there are subtle differences between the two versions of him in the ads I posted last week – which makes me think that an artist rendered him and then fine-tuned him a bit.

Anyway, those photos of the former Forest City Auto Parts store got me to wondering if it was still there. I had to find out. (Gee, don't I love to waste time?)

Looking online, it was fairly easy to figure out that the particular photogenic store was at 2001 Clarke Ave. So during lunch on Monday, I took a short drive down W. 25th Street in Cleveland to Clark to see if it was still there.

Alas, the outside of the whole brick building had been painted over, including Mr. Longneck.

However, thanks to Google's mapping feature, for now you can still 'drive by' the building as it looked before it was painted over. (Click on each for a closer look.)

Today, the store is part of the Federated Auto Parts chain.

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Click here to access all of the blog posts that I’ve written about this well-remembered chain! One post shows the evolution of Max through the years.

I sincerely appreciate all of the wonderful reminisces left by former FCAP employees.

Another view of the Clarke Avenue store
(Courtesy Yellowpages.com)

From the E-Mail Bag #11

I'm still getting lots of comments and emails on old posts from years past. I really appreciate it when someone takes the time to post a comment on an old post, but I feel bad that readers may never see it unless they poke around in the archives. Thus, from time to time I like to feature a few of them in a new post. Keep those comments coming – and thanks!

Courtesy 

A reader named Ted left some great comments on my post from last April about Kutza's Pharmacy. He wrote, "Here is some history of that building that may add a bit to your efforts.  A doctor had his offices upstairs of the Kutza Pharmacy. His name was Doctor A. J. Novello, at 1236 Broadway. He was the father of Don Novello, "Father Guido Sarducci" of Saturday Night Live notoriety.
 I also used to buy comics there in the very late fifties and early sixties. I wish I still had them, some of them were the original Spider Man and other Marvel Comics.
"

Ted had some other interesting tidbits about the area. He noted, "Here is another bit of local history of that vicinity: just to the north across the street and a bit to the west was a small business called Popa's Poultry. This place had live chickens they would slaughter and pluck for you, as well as fresh eggs. I last walked there in the eighties (I live in Cleveland now) and there was only the foundation of Popa's Poultry left. Just to the south on the other side of the alley behind Kutza's behind where the fire station is now (it used to be Joe's Barber Shop; we lived upstairs) there used to be a barn with a horse. This was as recent as 1960-62."

Thanks for sharing, Ted!

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Max

My February 2012 posts (here and here) about the Forest City Auto Parts long-necked advertising mascot continues to generate comments. I guess he must have been a memorable guy to a lot of people.

Two former managers of Forest City Auto Parts left comments revealing the name and origin of the bespectacled mascot.

One wrote, "As a former Manager of FCAP in Toledo area, I know exactly how the long neck fellow you refer to came to be. His name is Max, and the idea was pitched to the two original brothers that owned the company– Stan & Arn – from a yellow page add with the caption "stop looking we have what you need."

He added, "The rest is pretty much history.  The ad was very successful, just like the chain of auto parts store were."

Another former manager confirmed his story. "As a former manager of FCAP on Culver Road in Rochester, NY., I also know the story behind "MAX." He pointed out that the other manager was "correct about Stan and Arn and the yellow pages ad."

As Paul Harvey used to say: "Now you know the rest of the story." Thanks, gentlemen!

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One post that seems to just keep on going is the one from Feb. 2011 on Ontario department store. It's up to 19 comments and I'm sure if I wait long enough they'll be more. The comments are about stores in other cities in Ohio, but they're interesting just the same.

A gentleman named Howard worked in management at the Ontario stores in Columbus, Ohio from 1971 to 1973. He wrote, "The original ONTARIO store was on the Alum Creek Drive in Columbus, and started by a Jewish gentleman named Fred Silverstein who purchased a trailer load of Sherwin-Williams paint, and sold it at a discounted price. Ontario was one of the first true discount stores in the country. The rest is history! For the most part, I enjoyed working for Ontario, which was a division of Cook United, Inc. located in Cleveland, Ohio. At some point in time, Cook United owned in excess of 100 stores. It could have (and should have) become what Wal*Mart is today. Cook United didn't keep up with its competition. Such a shame!"

Another gentleman worked at the Ontario in Springfield, Ohio. He commented, "My dad was the store manager for the Ontario in Springfield in the late 60's until his death in 1971. I was pretty young then but what I remember most was that they used to have live advertisements in the store. My brother was actually Mr. Peanut (Planters Peanuts) and my sister dressed up as the Little Dutch Boy for Dutch Boy Paints, and they would have to stand at the displays for those products in the store."

Thanks to both of these ex-Ontario employees for sharing their stories about the well-remembered, popular store chain.

Bob’s Donuts Revisited

Two of the very first posts on this blog back in the first week of April 2009 dealt with Lorain’s beloved Bob’s Donuts. On one post, I featured my photo above of the large ‘Bob’s Donut’s’ sign painted on the side of the building facing south.

It may very well be the only existing photo of that sign.

People really miss Bob’s Donuts, even almost seventeen years after it closed in December 2002. I know I do, after stopping in there every Saturday morning for years as part of my weekly ritual.

Recently while digging around in a box of my old 35mm photographs, I found the original, uncropped photo. It provides a nice view of the signs on the pole in front of the store, as well as a glimpse of the surrounding neighborhood.

And here’s the inevitable depressing ‘now’ shot.

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Hey, did you click on the uncropped, vintage photo and take a good look at it? Off in the distance you can see the sign down the street for Forest City Auto Parts, featuring the one, the only, the long-necked... Max!

Max has been featured on this blog many times over the years. On one post, several Forest City Auto Parts employees left some great comments about how Max got his name.

Phantom Signs

Last week I mentioned Forest City Auto Parts in a post, and after seeing some great photos on the internet of a shuttered Forest City outlet in Cleveland (featuring the long necked mascot), I wondered if maybe he was on the side of the building on the Lorain store.

I didn't find him on the side of the building, but I found something else. On the back of the building facing the alley was a nice 'ghost' sign revealing the location's heritage as a Studebaker dealer.

And while returning to my car, I noticed another indicator of what kind of brand of car Colgan Motor Sales sold there.

You see this kind of thing in Cleveland all the time. Here's a link to a Philco sign that was discovered back in 2008.

What Are My Most Visited Blog Posts?

One of the fun things about writing a blog for more than 15 years (!) is discovering which posts are the most popular – or at least, the most visited. I monitor this statistic every once in a while, and I'm always a little surprised at what I find.

Here's the latest rankings, as of yesterday.

As you can see, the all-time champ is my post about the American flag painted on the old quarry rock overlooking Route 2.

Number 2, strangely enough, is the post about the building at 1242 Colorado Avenue that was once home to a Canada Dry bottling plant, and later, The Corner Store model railroad store.

The "little bar on Lake Road" in Avon Lake was next, followed by my comparison of Kellogg's Corn Flakes and Post Toasties.

The well-remembered Ontario department store rounded out the top five. That post has 71 comments!

Next were posts about Travelodge's Sleepy Bear, our local beloved Dog 'N Suds, and Max, the freakishly long-necked Forest City Auto Parts mascot. Max has generated 45 interesting comments, mainly by ex-Forest City employees.

Finishing up the top ten were my posts about Yes-Yes Cookies (which as of this date has 33 comments by people like me who remembered the tasty treat) and "Visions of Cedar Point 1966 Part 3."

The next posts, in order, include Anson Titus House in Avon Lake, Donald Duck Orange Juice being discontinued, Cedar Point's Chaussee and Causeway Part 2, and Joseph Ule's windmill on Kolbe Road.

And there you have it. As you can see, there is a nice mix of local and national items of interest.

Sorry, Reddy! Maybe one of your 61 electrifying posts will make the Top Ten next time.

Colgan Motors Then & Now

Back here, I talked about the building at 1803 Broadway that started out as the home of Colgan Motors in the 1920's, and ended up as an outlet for Forest City Auto Parts.

Well, a couple of days ago I was happy to find this photo, as well as some information about the company. It was all part of an ad for Colgan Motors that ran in the June 21, 1955 Lorain Journal. The caption read, "James F. Colgan came to Lorain from Elyria, Ohio, April 2, 1922, and started the Studebaker agency in a small frame house with just enough room for one car at 1797 Broadway under the name Colgan Motors. In 1924, Colgan built his present sales room and repair department, and at that time, took on the Packard agency along with Studebaker. In 1934, he started the Cadillac agency along with Studebaker, and he still operates the Cadillac agency. In May, 1954, Colgan Motors terminated its contract with the Studebaker Corporation after a period of 32 years."

It was quite a handsome building in its original form, with the Studebaker sign right where I thought it would be.

And here's the 'now' shot.

Lastly, here's an article that appeared in the Journal on January 15th, 1958 upon Mr. Colgan's retirement.

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By the way, if you want to see another former Studebaker agency – but with its original sign intact – head over to 1290 W. 117th Street on the Lakewood/Cleveland border. I've driven by this for years, and always thought it was pretty cool. As you can see, the building (below) has certain similarities to the one at 1803 Broadway in Lorain.

February 2012 Photo

Today the building is the home for Air Rite Service.