Pic-Way Self-Serve Shoe Marts Easter Ad – 1964

Here's another Easter ad from 1964 – this time for Pic-Way Self-Serve Shoe Marts. The ad ran in the Journal on March 26, 1964.

I don't know about you, but this giant top-hatted bunny gives me the creeps. There's something oddly sinister about him. Maybe it's his razor-sharp incisors, and the way he seems to be hungrily eyeing the little boy. (The bunny is dressed for dinner, after all.) Or it could be his height, which would give the 6-foot tall Harvey a run for his money.

Anyway, Pic-Way Shoes first showed up in the Lorain City Directory at 3105 Grove in the 1959 edition. It continued to appear in the book all the way until the 1980 edition, when the address went vacant.

The address was later home to Frederick Heating and Air Conditioning in the late 1980s. Recent tenants include Ice Cream Heaven and Our Place Restaurant.

I'm sure most of the Lorainites who read this blog paid a visit to Pic-Way at some point of another. We did, although with all of the options available to us at O'Neil's and at Midway Mall (such as Nobil Shoes, Faflik Shoes, Thom McAn, etc., I'm not sure how often we went to Pic-Way as part of our regular shopping trips to South Lorain.

Here's what the 3105 Grove location looks like today (below).

Pic-Way Shoes Easter Ads

April 1, 1965

Getting new shoes for Easter used to be a big part of the preparation for the holiday. Consequently the Journal was full of shoe store ads beginning about a month before the big day.

Pic-Way Shoes out on Route 57 in South Lorain seemed to run a lot of Easter-themed ads over the years with great graphics. Above is an ad that ran in the Journal on April 1, 1965.

That's a great looking Easter Bunny (although he's not helping shoe sales by Easter-parading around barefoot).

Here's an ample sample of other Pic-Way ads from that era.

Two pairs for five bucks was a special that ran for several years. It's in this 1963 ad (below), which includes a bunny that looks like he's going to be needing a chiropractor eventually.

April 4, 1963

The five dollar special is in this 1964 ad as well. The rabbit (as I've noted previously) looks downright sinister. He's taller than an NBA basketball player, and flashing those razor-sharp incisors a little menacingly as he eyeballs those young, tender, well-dressed moppets. Could he be thinking revenge for all those hasenpfeffers?

March 26, 1964

The 1965 ad is at the top of this post, so we'll hop over it and get right to 1966. Surprisingly, the hair-raising hare is back – but now he's paired with the cartoon versions of the real-life kids from the 1964 ad. The whole effect is that he doesn't look quite so evil. And the 2 for $5 promo is still running.

April 7, 1966

This ad ran on March 9, 1967. There's still a great Easter Bunny. And some great clip-art of kids and Moms adorn the ad.

March 9, 1967

A second ad ran closer to the holiday on March 16, 1967 and downplayed the bunny. But there's some great clip-art kids on pogo sticks. I guess that 5 buck special was destined to run forever.

March 16, 1967

Later Pic-Way Easter ads going into the 1970s were still well-designed and fun to look at, with the usual great shoe renderings.

March 5, 1970

April 1, 1971

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Pic-Way eventually moved out of its original location down to a newer one further south on Route 57 near Lakeland Glass. It also opened an outlet in Amherst in the same shopping center as Blue Sky Restaurant.

It eventually became Payless Shoes.

Pic-Way Self Serve Shoe Mart Ad – October 25, 1962

With all of the mass shootings and gun violence in the United States these days, the mere mention of guns often arouses apoplexy among those who are against them, even when used in sport hunting.

But obviously that wasn't the case sixty years ago, when this ad for Pic-Way Self-Serve Shoe Marts ran in the Journal on October 25, 1962.

The theme is "On Target for Savings," and the ad does depict a few hunting boots. But half of the styles in the ad are regular dress shoes.

I like the illustration of the hunter and his dog, which I assume is some kind of pointer.

Anyway, Pic-Way Shoes has shown up on this blog a few times. It's yet another pleasant memory of my youth.

Pic-Way Shoes Easter Ad – 1971

Are there still Easter Parades?

That’s a good question. It seems that the traditional Easter Parade – an Easter Sunday procession in which participants show off their Easter finery – is still something that occurs in a few major cities. 

My mother has long told me about Easter Parades in Lorain. Although I was skeptical at first, they are even mentioned in old articles (such as this 1954 one).

Anyway, ‘Easter Parade’ is the theme of this Pic-Way ad that ran in the Journal on April 1, 1971.

It’s an interesting ad in that it reminds us how black and white illustrations used to be sufficient to represent a store’s style selection to the consumer. The ad above has a nice layout that very cleanly communicates what is available.

I’ve written about Pic-Way before (such as this 1964 Easter ad), and how it was a pioneer in the self-serve shoe business. Now it’s hard to find an old-fashioned shoe store where someone fits you properly and waits on you hand and, er, foot to find a shoe you like (such as the service you received at Januzzi’s.

Routes 57 and 254 Collision Course – October 1953 & 1963

The intersection of State Routes 57 and 254 was in the news for the same thing – auto accidents – in both October 1953 and 1963.

In October 1953, the new State Route 57 had just officially opened on the first day of the month. The old Route 57 had followed Lake Avenue into Elyria. The new route extended along E. 28th Street to Grove Avenue, and then south on the new divided four-lane highway into Elyria.

And it was on the very first day that the new highway was open that the first accident occurred on it. 

The article below, which appeared in the Lorain Journal on October 2, 1953, noted "A car carrying two teen-agers was hit broadside at the intersection of newly opened Route 57 and Route 254 last night when it turned into the path of an oncoming automobile."

It was an inauspicious beginning for that intersection.

Exactly ten years later on October 1, 1963, the intersection was still in the news for the wrong reason. As the article below from the October 1, 1963 Journal noted, "Lorain county continues to have the dubious distinction of having the third most dangerous intersection in the state within its boundaries.

"The intersection, Rt. 254 and Rt. 57, midway between Elyria and Lorain, ranks third as far as total number of accidents is concerned and may rank higher as far as property damage is concerned," the article notes.

"Some of the county's most spectacular accidents occur at the heavily-traveled intersection.

"Despite the fact that the state is constantly bettering the traffic-light system at the intersection, the accident toll continues to climb at its present rate of about seven or eight accidents per week.

"One of the big reasons for the high collision toll is the tremendous amount of traffic carried by both Rt. 57 and Rt. 254.

"Route 254 offers the best route into Downtown Cleveland unless a motorist wants to take one of the other routes such as Rt. 20 or 10 which are packed with semi-trucks.

"Rt. 57 is the main route between Lorain and Elyria.

"Also adding to the problem is the number of business places which are located on Rt. 254. Two of the county's largest stores, O'Neil's and Ontario's, are both located on Rt. 254.

"Hills Department Store on Rt. 57 and Homewood Dr. in Lorain attracts large numbers of motorists from the south side of Rt. 254."

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State Route 57 going from Lorain to Elyria was a much-used road by my family while I was growing up in the 1960s. 

We followed it via E. 28th Street to South Lorain, because Hills Department Store was located on it. Kmart and Pic-Way Shoes were on Route 57 as well. 

We also took Route 57 to pick up the Ohio Turnpike in Elyria. And before the new limited-access State Route 2 from Route 57 to 58 was opened in the late 1960s, we had to take State Route 254 home after getting off the Turnpike. (That meant we got to see the "rocking man" sign on the E. H. Roberts building at the particular intersection of 254 and 57.) 

I also remember my father taking Route 254 when he took my brothers and me to Indian games in the 1960s and early 1970s. He made the connection with US Route 6 in Rocky River and then followed it the rest of the way into Cleveland.

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And here are some recent views – in sequence – of the intersection of Rt. 254 and Rt. 57, approaching it from the south while driving north on 57.

As you can see, every effort has been made to try and make things safer, with a concrete barrier separating the lanes and a sign alerting motorists to an impending traffic light. Note the billboard advertising E. H. Roberts, which for years was located at that intersection.

This shot (below) shows how there are now two left turning lanes for drivers wishing to head west on N. Ridge Road. Note that Route 254 no longer is marked as such going west.

Speaking of E. H. Roberts, you can see the former home of the 'rocking man' on the right (east side) of the highway at the intersection.

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Lastly, here's part of a 1920s Cleveland Automobile Club map showing the old alignment of State Route  57 going into Elyria by way of Lake Avenue.

Roads shown as a solid line are "improved roads." Roads with an alternating white and black pattern are "gravel, slag or cinder roads." Roads that are depicted as an open line (neither solid nor the pattern) are "unimproved" roads.

Lorain County Moose Hunters in Canada – Oct. 11, 1962

Yesterday's post featured an October 1962 Pic-Way shoe ad with a hunting theme. Today's post looks back at the Lorain Journal's coverage of two moose hunts in the Great White North  – undertaken by Lorain County hunters – from that same period.

The article and photo below appeared in the Journal on October 11, 1962.

"There'll be moose on the table this winter in at least a half dozen Lorain County homes," the article begins.

"Frank Mate, 1026 Brownell Ave., and Kenneth Love, 4117 Talbot Lane, made their first hunting trip to the White River region in Ontario, Canada, two weeks ago and each bagged a moose on the first day.

"Each animal weighed about 1,200 pounds.

"Their game was flown out by White River Air Service which reportedly has been doing a booming business hauling animals."

"The other area group bringing back two moose included John Shullick, 1605 W. 30th St., Charles Endrizal, 2946 Park Dr., John Grasse, of Amherst, and Worth Mertz, of Elyria.

"Shullick made the "big" kill in the Algoma railroad and Oba River district in Canada. His 1,200-pounder had a rack measuring 60 inches.

"Endrizal bagged a moose cow weighing about 800 pounds.

****

This article was of interest to me for several reasons.

For one thing, I've spent a lot of time in Canada over the years, especially in the area around North Bay, Ontario (which is about a 3 1/2 hours drive north of Toronto). Although there are moose crossing signs along Highway 11 as ubiquitous as deer crossing signs in the States, I've seen a moose up close exactly once over the course of about 15 years. 

But the main reason I posted this article is because it features one of our neighbors when we lived at 1604 W. 30th Street in Lorain. 

The Shullicks lived right across the street from us, and were a nice family. The Shullicks' daughter Susan was our first babysitter, and I recall having a crush on her. I also remember that Mr. Shullick drove a jeep (which left a big impression on me as a kid) and picked us up from Charleston Elementary School one time when it was raining really hard and my parents only had one car.

Happy memories of being a kid on W. 30th St. in the early 1960s.

1972 Shoe Listings in Lorain Phone Book

I commented a few days ago about how so many of the shoe stores in Lorain and the surrounding cities had vanished in the past few decades – and then when I wanted to rattle off some of their names, I realized I had forgotten many of them!

So to refresh my memory and yours, here's a page from the 1972 Lorain Phone Book showing what stores were still around back then. (Click on it for a large size version.) There was quite a selection of stores to choose from.

Nobil Shoe Co. seems to be the one that I remember my family patronizing the most. We would usually head out to the O'Neil Sheffield Center. But we also went to Januzzi's, Faflik Shoes, Pic-Way Shoe Mart (in South Lorain) and Thom McAn Shoes.

The listing for Steve's Shoe Repair brings back lots of memories. I wonder if he ever repaired the mountainous piles of shoes that always seemed to be there? He definitely could have used some of those magical cobbler elves that come out at night in fairy tales.

Fellow blogger (and regular reader of this blog) Alan Hopewell mentioned in a posted comment that he remembers going to McKee's. They're on this page, but only in small print as the old name of Tots to Teens Shoes.

Lorain Creamery Easter Ad – 1964

Here's another top-hatted Easter bunny ad from 1964 – this time for the well-remembered Lorain Creamery (one of the favorite topics on this blog over the years). The ad ran in the Journal on March 17, 1964.

This bunny is a little less menacing than the giant that towered over the kids in the Pic-Way ad.

Courtesy Ebay

It's kind of a good deal in the ad: buy 2 dozen eggs (you're going to color a dozen of them anyway) and get an Easter bucket and a coloring kit for two dimes.

Although we weren't customers of Lorain Creamery's milk delivery service, we did have milk delivered by Home Dairy. Memories of the milk man coming to our house on Skyline Drive are still very clear.

We didn't have a little milk door at our house on Skyline (we did on W. 30th Street) so our milkman – Bill – used to open up the garage door and leave the milk carrier alongside the steps leading into the house.

Milk men are a funny memory, one that will surely die with the Baby Boomers.

Lorain's Puerto Rican Community – August 1951

If you grew up in Lorain on the West Side (like me), you pretty much knew that there were a lot of Puerto Ricans that lived in South Lorain. But except for when we went to that part of town to go to Hills, Pic-Way Shoes, etc., we didn't have a lot of contact with them. 

It was only when I got to Admiral King High School that I became more much aware of them. Joining a Puerto Rican salsa band (which I wrote about here) enabled me to become much more familiar and comfortable with the Puerto Rican community.

Many of us probably didn't know why there was such a big Puerto Rican population in South Lorain. How did they end up out there? The selection of articles below, from a series written by Richard J. Maloy that ran in the Journal in August 1951, explains it very well.

This first article from August 6, 1951 is sort of an introduction to the Puerto Rican colony in South Lorain.

This second article from August 7, 1951 explains how US Steel, working with the Puerto Rican government, recruited Puerto Ricans in 1947 to help stabilize their workforce. It tells how the first wave of workers lived in dormitories adjacent to National Tube (as the mill was known back then).

This third article from August 8, 1951 profiles the typical Puerto Rican worker and family. It notes the roles of social workers, the Catholic Church, businessmen and – gasp! – Communists in assisting the colony and helping it get established and assimilated.

Januzzi's Easter Ad – March 26, 1954

Januzzi's is one of those iconic Lorain businesses that longtime residents of the city, especially Baby Boomers, remember fondly. 

Above is an Easter-themed ad that ran in the Lorain Journal on March 26, 1954. I like the chicken and her cute chicks holding hands wings, a nice alternative to the omnipresent rabbits in Easter ads.

I've mentioned before that we shopped at all the shoes stores in the area, including those at Midway Mall, O'Neil – Sheffield Center, Pic-way in South Lorain and Januzzi's.

How long had Januzzi's been around? An article in the October 8, 1980 Journal noted, "Tomorrow marks the 55th year in business for Enrico Januzzi, founder of the Januzzi chain of shoe stores in Lorain and Elyria. Now 79 years young, he began in 1925 – before Lindberg crossed the Atlantic – by repairing shoes in the basement of his home at 506 W. 28th St., Lorain. He also worked in the then National Tube plant. He moved the business to Broadway and 29th in 1933 and in 1949 began selling new shoes. 

"Today there are three generations of Januzzis managing this family business.

"Today there are Januzzi stores on Broad Street in Elyria, in the Oakwood Shopping Center and the main "Professional Shoe Fitting" headquarters at 26th and Broadway, a location chosen in 1940."

The business eventually moved out to the Sheffield Center on Route 254 in 1981, becoming Januzzi's Select-A-Shoe with name brand footwear at budget prices, a "rack store with customers waiting on themselves," according to Carmen Januzzi at the time.

Today, the Januzzi brand lives on in Amherst at Januzzi's Footwear Solutions.

The former Januzzi's store on Broadway today

Easter Parade of Vintage Lorain Journal Ads

Easter’s only a few days away, so it’s a good time to post these ads. Most of them appeared in the Lorain Journal in early April 1963.

Many people go out to eat on Easter, and the same was true back in 1963. Howard Johnson’s offered a nice holiday menu in their ad of April 10, 1963, with a choice of sugar cured ham or roast turkey. There was a nice lineup of desserts too, ice cream, fudge cake, apple pie, coconut layer cake and gelatin. Hot Indian Pudding (to go with the turkey I guess) was also an option.

The Easter theme permeated most of the sales ads in the Journal around the holiday. Fisher Foods included a nice illustration of a cashier rabbit in their ad of April 8, 1963. (At least he’s ringing up a ham and not one of his own kind, since rabbit isn’t an Easter dish.)

People used to dress up for Easter, so it’s only natural that Pic-Way Self-Serve Shoes would have an ad with an Easter theme. The ad below with the long hare ran in the Journal on April 4, 1963.

And of course, what would Easter in Lorain be without Faroh’s Candy? This ad (below) for the iconic Lorain candy maker ran in the paper on April 2, 1963.

In my mind’s eye, I can still see the showroom in the former store on Henderson Drive, with tables stocked high with Easter candy and other goodies. It was an incredible selection.

Here’s one last Faroh’s Candy ad to put you in the Easter spirit. It was almost a full page when it ran in the Lorain Journal on April 2, 1968 – 50 years ago.

That’s a good-looking Easter Bunny illustration. He’s designed just realistic enough to make the idea of a large rabbit going around and delivering candy seem almost plausible.

Happy Easter!

Ostrov's Shoes Buster Brown Ad – March 15, 1956

The well-remembered rendering of Buster Brown and his dog, Tige

Remember shopping for shoes as a kid?

I don't have fond memories of it. Shopping for shoes wasn't interesting to me (it still isn't). But we had to do it. The worst part was that if Mom did take my siblings and me shoe shopping, then she probably was buying them for all of us – meaning a marathon session in the stores. 

I've written before how Lorain used to have a lot of shoe stores – Downtown, in South Lorain (Pic-Way), out at O'Neil-Sheffield Center and later, at Midway Mall. Sometimes Mom had to drag us to several of them on the same night. 

Back then you had your own personal shoe salesman, who fitted you with his measuring tool and then proceeded to bring out as many styles and sizes as you requested. I remember how the man used to crush your toe with his thumb when he was trying to see how much room you had. I also recall how it was somewhat embarrassing to have to march around the store to see if the shoe slipped. 

Isn't it odd now that people buy shoes online without trying them on?

Anyway, one of the weird things I remember about children's shoes back then was that Buster Brown was a major brand, and he always appeared prominently on signs in the stores. I didn't quite understand who he was; it wasn't until much later that I learned that he was a comic strip character from early 1900s. He was somewhat otherworldly, with his hat not unlike that of Donald Duck. And his bulldog – with his shark-like teeth – was a little creepy.

Below is an ad featuring the sailor hat-wearing tyke and his namesake shoes for Ostrov's – a shoe store with outlets in Lorain and Elyria. The ad appeared in the Lorain Journal on March 15, 1956.

The ad mentions that kids could win big prizes in Buster Brown's "Paste-Up Pet Contest" and that a free comic book with all the details was available in the stores. What was that all about?

Fortunately, several copies of the Buster Brown comic book from March 1956  are on eBay right now. 

That's Western star and comedy sidekick Andy Devine on the cover along with the characters from the Andy's Gang TV show (including Froggy the Gremlin – who a few decades later would tease the Ghoul on his late night horror show on Cleveland television).

And here's the spread from the book showing the contest entry.

The idea was that kids would cut out the various pieces (designated as eyes, noses, ears, etc.) and glue them down on the entry blank to create their own 'pet' (or nightmarish freak of nature as the case may be).

Much like Snap, Crackle and Pop being redesigned to appeal to kids, Buster Brown was also rendered in a more modern style in some ad appearances.

An ad detail from a 1957 Christmas magazine ad

And here he is as depicted on two birthday cards. That's Captain Kangaroo himself in the top one.

And here's a vintage commercial. I had forgotten about the Buster Brown logo printed inside the shoe where your heel goes.

Today, Buster Brown shoes supposedly exist as a brand, but are nowhere to be found on the website of the company that owns them. Hope Buster and Tige are still around!

Super Kream Grand Opening – June 26, 1954

June 25, 1954 Lorain Journal ad

As a Lorain West Sider, I didn't get out to South Lorain too muc, except for when my mother took us shopping at Hill's Department Store or Pic-way Shoe Mart. But I'm sure you old-timers from that part of town will remember the store in the ad above: Super Kream.

The ice cream stand was located on the northeast corner of Grove Ave. (Route 57) and E. 31st Street, and had its Grand Opening exactly 59 years ago today.

According to the city directories, it seemed to survive at 3029 Grove Avenue until around 1966, when it apparently became Hanna's Drive-in. But the following year, it appears that a brand new Lawson's replaced it.

The Lawson's store and a Sohio service station co-existed on that corner until the 1990s. By then, the Lawson's had become a Dairy Mart. But the Dairy Mart disappeared from the directory after its address was listed as a 'no return' in 1992 and as 'not verified' in the 1993 book.

Today a massive BP station and store sit on the spot with no evidence that Super Kream ever was there. But I'm sure Super Kream lives on in the memories of the neighborhood kids who enjoyed the refreshing treats served up there from 1954 to 1965 or so.

I'm guessing Super Kream was located just north of the current BP station at Grove and E. 31st 

Willow Hardware "Hunting" Ad – Sept. 18, 1953

Do we have any hunters out there – mighty or otherwise?

If you're the hunting type, then you'd probably like the ad for Willow Hardware below, which ran in the Lorain Journal back on September 19, 1953. It has a pleasantly nostalgic hunting theme, with a man holding two pheasants, while his female companion (touting her own rifle) looks on. Both are sporting nifty Fuddsian caps.

Willow Hardware, which was still in its early days back then, apparently could outfit the hunter with everything needed, including guns, shells, gun cleaning rod sets, hunting knives, as well as the shell & game vest – and the hunting license too.

The ad notes that Double Owl Stamps were available on Friday & Saturday, perhaps triggering (no pun intended) thoughts of blasting away at the nocturnal, hooting birds of prey.

We never had any hunters in our family - just fisherman, including Grandpa (Mom's father) and my own Dad. No one even owned a gun.

I don't hunt or own a gun either, but I subscribe to American Hunter as part of my NRA membership. The magazine is always interesting, despite the fact that I don't think I could ever shoot anything – not even a squirrel. 

However, one of my good friends (that I met in college) has been a hunter all his life. His family built a small cabin on some wooded acreage they own south of Akron, and he hunts there sometimes. It's his little oasis, a place to get away to once in a while.

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As a parting shot, here are some more 'hunting'-themed ads and articles that I've posted over the years: this 1946 ad for Spaid's Sportsmen's Shop in Lorain; this matchbook cover for Grandview Motel; a 1958 for Welch's Sports; this 1962 article about Lorain County moose hunters in Canada; and this 1962 ad for Pic-Way Shoes.

Back to School Ads – 1966

Although school has been in session for many school systems for several weeks now, many of my readers remember fondly when school did not start until the first week of September. It made for a nice, clean transition from August to September.

And with school starting later back then, the back-to-school ads didn't begin to appear until the end of August. Many (if not most) of them seemed to focus on school clothes, specifically shoes. 

We never wore our 'gym shoes' to school when we were little – it would have been unthinkable. (Remember bringing them to school in a gym bag along with a towel and gym shorts?) Nope, we wore shoes that had to be polished and tied. I don't remember a lot of slip-ons.

Anyway, here's a not-too-ample sample of ads from 1966 with a back to school theme. This first ad for Gray Drug Stores has a neat transistor radio giveaway.

Aug. 31, 1966

Amazingly, some of those radios have survived. You can see one on the radio museum website. Here are a few poached pictures courtesy of that website.

Hills usually had some great clip art in their ads, but the illustration in this one is a little odd. I'm not sure what you would call the young boy's hairdo. Maybe he was a Cesar Romero fan.

Sept. 1, 1966

And as I mentioned, there were tons of shoe ads. I like the little dog illustration in the Hageman Shoes ad.

Sept. 2, 1966

I've never heard of Lazy Bones Shoes, but apparently they were popular enough to run four color ads in magazines well into the 1970s. And the cute dog mascot was featured prominently, which is doggone nice.

1977 ad

1978 ad

Other shoe ads featured the old Brady favorites: Nobil's and Pic-Way.

Sept. 1, 1966

Sept. 1, 1966