Happy Birthday Euclid Square Mall!

Well, I guess in this era of Facebook and other super cringe social media, Happy Heavenly Birthday, Euclid Square mall, because they knocked it down over half a decade ago.

That's not gonna stop me from lighting the candles on what would have been Euclid Square mall's 48th birthday cake! All this month we'll feature articles and vintage advertisements from the grand opening of the mall in early March 1977.

Citizens for Euclid Square Mall

Euclid, Ohio, 1973.

It's short and to the point: Citizens for Euclid Square Mall. And it existed as a group that fought for the installation of the now long-gone Euclid Square mall. They were battling Carl Milstein and Milton Roemisch who really REALLY poo-pooed the whole idea.

Euclid Square Mall - The Death Knell!

I guess we can now officially call Euclid Square Mall what most of us have been calling it for years: a dead mall. I know because I saw it called that on Cleveland.com.

Now a firm in Georgia is interested in the property, to bulldoze the 1977 structure and badly dilapidated out-parcels and build new.

This comes just days after the news of Amazon renting space for 5 years here in Euclid.

Read: Euclid Square Mall, now dead, could be demolished for massive industrial project (photos)

Online Giant Amazon Leases Space in Euclid

Amazon.com is officially renting an 80,000 square foot space at Bluestone Business Center II, 26555 Bluestone Blvd. This is the development on the former PMX site.

They've listed daily on Craigslist Cleveland hiring part-time, seasonal jobs.

Euclid Square Mall Toys R Us: 10 Years Later

I have got to hand it to whomever designed the original brown roof, rainbow-striped building, because it looks as good now as it did 10 years ago.

Euclid Square Mall Toys R Us (1264 East 260th) in 2006.

Euclid Square Mall Toys R Us (1264 East 260th) in 2016.

Even the paint on the "wooden" planks hasn't aged that badly. Toys R Us in Euclid opened in September 1988, and closed in 2002.

September 15, 1988 "Now Open" Euclid Toys R Us ad. Nintendo AND California dream Barbie!

Toys R Us owned the property from 1988 until 2006. They sold it to MCM Don Fisher Manor Apartments, LTD in 2006 for $600,000.

In September 2014, it was sheriff deeded to Lakeview Holding (OH) llc., then sold to SNS Properties llc. in February 2015 for $125,000.

I think it would be nifty to own an old Toys R Us but I don't know if it'd be $125k nifty...

At any rate I know the place was used for overflow (furniture) storage in the last decade. In 2012, Euclid schools held an auction there. The pictures suck hard, but I snagged one where you can truly appreciate that inside, it still looks like a Toys R Us, too.

Euclid Toys R Us boarded-up store front

Many, many feels.

1979: Former Cleveland Indian Luscious "Luke" Easter Murdered

Luscious "Luke" Easter was a baseball player, playing with the St. Louis Titanium Giants and the Homestead Grays, both negro league teams before finding a spot on the Cleveland Indians in 1949. He was a power-hitter who performed well, and even though his major league career ended in 1954 due to injury and aging, he remained active in baseball and didn't retire completely until 1963, aged 48.

1937: Mayoral Election involving Charles Ely includes Shots Fired

You think elections are pure insanity nowadays, have a peek into yesteryear, when an employee of the local newspaper at that time (The Euclid Observer) claimed to have been shot at while distributing special editions of the paper.

Euclid Red Lobster (1278 E 260th St) Sold

So the Euclid Red Lobster at 1278 East 260th Street has been sold for $250,000 to an entity called AFE EUCLID LLC. To me this looks like it may be the name of an agent. It traces back to an attorney in Cleveland by the name of Ann Marie Hawkins.

Euclid Square Mall: House of Horrors

Halloween will be here in a little over two months. A thread on Facebook jogged a memory of a newspaper clipping loose that I wanted to post in either this blog or my Euclid Boo blog around Halloween.

It's a short piece advertising thrills at the Euclid Square Mall HOUSE OF HORRORS! Open Every night during the last week of October, 1978. A balloon-headed phantom leers at the camera frozen in time. Fun for the whole family, but the little ones should probably bring a parent along.

A couple dollars got you a few fun, cheap screams. I am certain to this day there is a memory of something that seemed truly terrible to a young kid still floating around in the darkness of a grown man's mind.

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