Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Clarkin's Department Store in Euclid - 26100 Euclid Avenue

Also see: A Brief History of Clarkin's Department Stores, Part I

In August 1971, the announcement of a new Clarkins opening in Cuyahoga Falls was published along with construction of the Bedford, Euclid, and Elyria locations being noted.

The Euclid, Ohio Clarkins location officially opened Wednesday, October 27, 1971.

Clarkins employee Edith Kreckal

Clarkins employee Joyce Ellis

And closed it's doors for good Saturday, December 29, 1973.


The Euclid Avenue Clarkins store was open 2 years and 2 months! How funny that to this very day (December 23, 2014) that the roof facade is still that of the original Clarkins.

Evidently, Unishops was having some financial troubles and shuttered some stores as a result.

Still, there was a 25 year agreement in place, and no one seemed too worried of what would become this behemoth on the hill because only 2 of those years had been fulfilled.


Clarkins as a whole came to an end in May 1981, as part of one of many restructuring efforts by its parent company.

Friday, December 12, 2014

Fazio's Stop N Shop and Pick N Pay


In late April 1963, Fazio's Stop N Shop opened at 22840 Lake Shore Blvd. It was a supermarket very similar to a modern supermarket of today. Besides food on the shelves, it had a bakery, butcher, and a huge produce department. It also made hot meals. The food was made ready to eat. It sold food made in Italy, Denmark, and England.

Peter Dichmann was a pastry chef from Copenhagen who ran the bakery department at Fazio's. He would make 1500 loaves of bread, cupcakes, donuts, and pies. They were especially known for their strawberry pies.


This was Fazio's 6th supermarket and the largest to date. It had a huge produce section. They had a cheese section with over 125 different types of cheeses. The butcher had a meat counter with a 160 feet of space. They had steaks, pork chops, veal, and chicken.




In 1964, the Pick and Pay located at the Euclid-Richmond Shopping Center remodeled the whole store. It expanded to 10,275 feet of space. Pick and Pay had been located at the same shopping center since 1952.

This Pick and Pay had a bakery department which was delivered from Pick and Pay's own bakery, a big frozen food department and butcher. It did not seem as large as the Fazio's on Lakeshore. My parents would take me shopping at this location when I was a kid. It closed sometime in the early 1990's. It was there about 40 or more years.

Big Boy at 263 Babbitt Road Says Goodbye

Andrew wrote a fantastic history of a little known restaurant by the name of Lawson's that turned into a Big Boy.

As a Euclid transplant, I don't have as many personal memories as others do, but I remember the last time I ate at Bob's Big Boy on Babbitt. After Homecoming, 1994 at Eastlake North High.

Courtesy of the Euclid Sun Journal, October 2000.

History Lesson: 22481 Shore Center Dr. Part III - Unique Thrift Store

22481 Shore Center - 1957 -1971
22481 Shore Center - 1972-1983

The third and final tenant at 22481 Shore Center Drive in Euclid, Ohio, was Unique Thrift store.
1983
My brother loves thrift stores, but I REALLY dug going to this place, from when I was a kiddo to my high school years. They had furniture, toys, movies, and a ton of clothes. I think half my 10th grade year outfit came from this store. It was the shangri-la of used crap. To this day, the best thrift shop ever, and way better than the Willowick location now.

They had a rocky couple of months after opening, though. For starters, in March of 1983 a guy met his girlfriend at her job at Unique and then went ahead and pulled a gun on her and well, kidnapped her.

Koren Hamula, the victim, got away, but then her gun-wielding beloved, Michael Imburgia, snuck into her basement later that night. Police found him hiding with a knife.



And they say all the good ones are taken. Two months later, there was a fatality when a woman crashed her car into the wall of the building.


Unique stayed at this location until the late 1990's. This building and couple others were razed.


The top is from 1970 - the bottom from 2006. Notice the green buildings on the left are still there. The large green building in 2006 is Dave's. The red outline in 1970 is 22481 Shore Center. The section with the darker roof, shaped like an "L" was Kroger's, Minnesota Fabrics, and Unique.


Thursday, December 11, 2014

History Lesson: 22481 Shore Center Dr. Part II - Minnesota Fabrics

Did you check out Part I of 22481 Shore Center Drive?

Here's one that I don't remember at -all- Minnesota Fabrics.

They became the name on the building at 22481 Shore Center Drive in 1972 - And stayed until 1983.

June 1972 - Now there are FOUR Minnesota Fabrics stores!
In 1976 there are seven stores, and it was Marlo Thomas week.. the whole damn week!!

I'm so happy that 1977 ushered in an official logo and font change. While not fantastic, at least it's better than stock Cooper, and adding a sew-through button seems natural enough.

But by 1980 the button's kind of gone again.

The last ad is from February 1983, and we have one final logo :)

Also they were advertising custom drapery, and calling themselves "Home Deco Center".

I can't say I know much about them, or recall ever hearing of them. I did a single Google search and didn't come up with anything.

Memories, anyone?

History Lesson: 22481 Shore Center Dr. Part I - Kroger's

Today, if you found yourself at 22481 Shore Center Dr. in Euclid, you would most likely be parking your car. The reason for that, is this location is now the parking lot for Dave's Supermarket.

However, if you found yourself back in, oh I don't know... the summer of 1957, you'd be ooh-ing and ahh-ing at the new Kroger grocery store.


Everyone loves the charm of these vintage ads - but this one is really something... I personally appreciate the mention of the "soft music" and "magic carpet doors".

Although there are no mentions of improvements from the following ad in Spring 1963, Kroger on Shore Center decided to throw a grand re-opening. How serendipitous for people who live for grocery store openings!

This Kroger grocery closed sometime in 1971, give or take a few months.


Above, a shot taken for the Cleveland press in 1957, showcasing the produce department of the new Kroger.

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

History Lesson: 263 Babbitt Rd. - Lawson's Restaurant - Manners Big Boy


I was looking through the Euclid News Journal and found this picture. It was from June 10, 1971 talking about a new restaurant named Lawson's. I grew up in Euclid and had never heard of a restaurant named Lawson's. Growing up, the only Lawson's I had known of was the Convenient store. They sold bread, milk, and other food. They were most famous for their French Onion dip and chipped chop ham. They had a commercial in the 1970's talking about the freshness of their orange juice. This was before refrigerated trucks.

This help wanted ad for Lawson's in October 1972 lists the address of the restaurant as 263 Babbitt Road. The Lawson's Convenient store was only about 10 feet around the corner from the restaurant.



"LAWSON'S RESTAURANT & MOTELS 16201 Euclid Avenue Cleveland, Ohio 44112, Phone 216-851-2600; Restaurants and Motels in Ohio, Motels in Stow, Montrose, North Canton, Amherst and Macedonia. Swimming pools; Color T.V. and phones in all rooms." According to this postcard from the Cleveland Memory project 4 locations had Lawson Hotel-Restaurants.

By January 1973 the Lawson's at 263 Babbitt had become a Manners Big Boy restaurant. In 3 months the Babbitt location had changed names. Manners-Big Boy was founded by Robert Manners. Manners and his wife in the late 1930's had the first Drive-In in Cleveland. A Drive-In was a restaurant were you would park your car and a waitress would come and take your order. You would never get out of your car. When the food was done, a tray would be placed and attached to your window. You would never go inside which was a revolutionary idea back then. Manners-Big Boy was known for its double-decker hamburger and milkshakes.


In 1956 Manners bought 7 new restaurants. This brought the number of restaurants that Manners owned up to 38.



In 1968, Robert Manners sold his 38 restaurants plus 2 being built to Consolidated Foods of Chicago. Consolidated Foods of Chicago also owned Lawson's Milk Company which ran Lawson's Convenient store. This explains why the quick transition was made in only 3 months from Lawson's restaurant to Manners-Big Boy. The Manners name was dropped from the Big Boys in Northeast Ohio sometime in the late 1970's.

In 1995 Robert Manners died at the age of 90. Today there are only a few Big-Boys left in Northeast Ohio.

Friday, December 5, 2014

History Lesson: Save A Lot at 27591 Euclid Ave - Manners + Bob's Big Boy

Today at 27591 Euclid Ave., stands a Save A Lot grocery store. The store itself was built as a Save A Lot. Remember what was there before?


Well, the land was sold to SVH Realty in October of 2000 from Manner's, you know, Big Boy.

I wonder if it's the norm to give a new building the same exact address as the old. Maybe? Interesting.

 Above is an October 10th, 1963 ad promoting Manners, home of the Big Boy, turning 30, and also announcing the restaurant opening at Euclid Ave. and E. 276th St. Features included electronic car service and covered canopies. Neat!


And as if things couldn't get better, you also get a dollar off Manners carryout barn of "country cousin" chicken. This just sounds weird and probably delicious.

In December 1963, Judy Doll (Miss Teenage America) made a stop in Cleveland and checked out the new Manners. Her trip was uneventful, but in a good way. They tried to give her egg nog but only skim milk is allowed on her never-gonna-get-fat-diet. Also pictured are Orange high students Ellen Jacobs and Chris Manners.

Here's a snapshot of Leslie Rubenstein and Sandy Ruggiero, hard at work in 1965. 
August 22, 1965
1967 - More Country Cousin Chicken Madness!


  A want ad from May 26, 1969 looking for waitresses and a car hostess.


Look at all these locations. Manners Hot Line advertisement from January 22, 1971



The following ad for Manners on Euclid Avenue was looking for waitresses and car hostesses again. Readers, did any of you work for a Manners restaurant? I'd be curious to know just how outstanding the company benefits were.

Also something to note: It's called "Manners Big Boy". May 17, 1973



Still called Manners Big Boy in this want ad that includes several other area restaurants. September 29, 1976



I was born in 1980 and we used to hit Bob's Big Boy quite a bit. Both Euclid locations, the Willoughby location, and I'm sure some West side of Cleveland, too.

I suppose "drive-in" was an old fashioned concept, so it was replaced with drive-thru. This ad and Bob's Big Boy coupon are from May 11, 1979.

The last ad I could find was from Spring of 1986. I'm not sure when Manners California Style Restaurant/Manners Family Restaurant/Manners Big Boy/Bob's Big Boy closed, but the map below, from top to bottom, shows 1970, 1994, and 2001.

In 1970 there are cars in the parking lot, and all three canopies can be seen.

In 1994, the parking lot looks very tired, and although the restaurant is there, the three canopies are gone.

By 2001, the Save-A-Lot grocery store had taken Big Boy's place at 27591 Euclid Avenue.

Monday, December 1, 2014

Palisades Bowl - Bowling Alley - Euclid

Palisade's (Freeway Lane of Euclid) closed just a couple of months after I moved to Euclid. I never had a chance to go there while it was open.

Confession: My highest bowling score ever was 81.

Palisades' grand opening at 1331 East 260th Street in August 1962