History of the West Park
Neighborhood
Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio
Lorain Avenue
West 117th west to West 150th
THEN &
NOW
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(Note: in some cases,
information from early Cleveland directories may appear.)
West 117th to 130th Streets
West 130th to West 150th Streets
West 150th Street to Rocky River Drive
Rocky River Drive and westward
West 117th to 130th Streets
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Lorain Avenue & West 117th Street
(view to the southwest corner)
The Brighton Building at 11711 Lorain Avenue
7 July 1937
(Gary Swilik Collection)
22 June 2008
Guardian Trust Bank Building
Lorain-West 117th Street Branch
11718-26 Lorain Avenue
Photo c1961.
By Charles C. Chaney. April 2005.
Built in 1930, architect, Rowland M. Johnson. Sun Finance &
Loan Company (Branch), 111724 Lorain Avenue. 1961 photograph shows this
section after it was remodeled in 1956: 1st floor: Sun Finance Company, Arnold
Drug. 2nd Floor offices: Dr. McKay's office and a vacant office.
1936: 11726 Sanford A.
Neuman, dresses.
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The Variety Theater
11815 Lorain Avenue
c1930.
The Variety Theater is a Designated Cleveland Landmark
(c1927) Nicoli Petti, architect.
Click here
for more information
Comments
& memories
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Star Dry Cleaners
11926 Lorain Avenue
Photograph c1961
Photograph March 2007 by Gary Swilik
Star Dry Cleaners was built about 1933. The
star-shaped sign in the window consisted of bright neon that flashed
repeatedly in sequence from the small star outward in bands of red,
orange, and green, making this one of the brightest and most memorable
storefronts on Lorain Avenue.
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Fong's Chinese Laundry
12655 Lorain Avenue
Photo c1961.
Photograph by Charles C. Chaney. February 2005.
The space is now occupied by The Pryamid Coffee House.
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Roy Misener Auto Sales
12661 Lorain Avenue
Photo c1961.
Photograph by Charles C. Chaney. February 2005.
Used car office constructed c1940. Photo 1961. In
2005 it is Mreb Auto Sales.
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Loyda's Cafe
12703 Lorain Avenue
John P. Covano Real Estate
12705 Lorain Avenue
Photo c1961.
Photograph by Charles C. Chaney. February 2005.
The building was constructed in 1922. Now occupied by
Lion's Pub.
1936: 12703-12705
Rudolph J. Lyda, beer
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French Dry Cleaning and
Tailoring
12740 Lorain Avenue
garage and storage, to the right
Photo c1961.
Photograph by Charles C. Chaney. February 2005.
Now occupied by Assad's Bakery. Building constructed
circa 1924.
The garage and storage building was built in 1957.
1936: 12740 George
W. Evenden, restaurant
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Lunte Drug Store
12743 Lorain Avenue
The left half of the building, 12739, appears to have been
occupied by a HiFi equipment business.
Photo c1961.
Photograph by Charles C. Chaney. February 2005.
Both store fronts are occupied by Dr. David R. Glynn's
The Cleveland Animal Hospital.
His offices are in the eastern half while the former drugstore area now holds
the kennels.
1936: 12743 Frank
Bolles, drugs
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Flecktein's Deli, West Park Bowling Lanes,
Meister's
Hardware
12815-12831 Lorain Avenue
Photo c1960.
Photograph by Charles C. Chaney. December 2004.
Today Fleckstein’s Deli at
12815 Lorain, on the corner, is West Park Lawn Mower & Snow Blower.
West Park Bowling Lanes and Meister Hardware Company now house Holy
Land Imported Goods at 12831 Lorain.
1936: 12815
Palmer Markets, meat
12817
Great A&P Tea Co., gros.
12825-12827 Raymond Wilson, beer
12831
Meister Hardware & Elec. Company
Comments
& memories
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M & J
McCafferty Jewelry & Appliances
12845 Lorain Avenue
Photo c1961.
Photograph by Charles C. Chaney. February 2005.
Constructed in 1922.
1936:
John J. Perna, confectioner
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Mather
Auto Sales used cars
12921 Lorain Avenue
Photo c1961.
Photograph by Charles C. Chaney. February 2005.
Used car office constructed in 1946.
1936: Thomas J.
Spilker, filling station
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West 130th to West 150th Streets
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Lorain Grill
13000 Lorain Avenue
Sun-Lite Laundromat
13002 Lorain Avenue
Jacob's Bakery
13004 Lorain Avenue
The building was built c1922. Today
the building is occupied by Caffe Roma, 13000 Lorain
and Psychic Readings by Ann occupies 13004.
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Spencer Beauty
Shoppe
13320 Lorain Avenue
John M.
Allen Co. Hardware
13322 Lorain Avenue
Photo cNovember 1961
Photograph by Gary Swilik. June 2008.
The building,
constructed about 1951, now houses the Living Water Church of
Christ at 13320 Lorain Avenue.
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Nick & Emma's Candy Shoppe
13334 Lorain Avenue
Photo March 1951
Photograph by Gary Swilik. June 2008.
Nick & Emma's Candy Shoppe, as it
looked in 1951, with the West Park Bakery next door to the west. In June
2008, Nick & Emma's Shoppe is the Blarney Stone tavern. The West Park Bakery
is part of DiFiore's Music House.
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Reliable Drug
Store
13437 Lorain Avenue
Photo c1961.
Photograph by Charles C. Chaney. November 2004.
Reliable Drug, one of the few stores in the area that stayed
open to midnight. As a result, it was quite a busy place,
especially on Friday and Saturday nights.
1936: Fisher
Bros. Co., groceries
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Windy's Beverage
13531 Lorain Avenue
Today this site is Vinny's Beverage
although the appearance is quite different because the building was
replaced with a new structure in 1963. Click
here for history of Windy's Beverage & Vinny's Beverage
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Fairwood Shopping Center
13600
block of Lorain Avenue (south side)
The original stores, from east to west, were Swift's Dry Cleaning,
Wagenman's Paint Store, Fisher Brothers grocery, Skall's Haberdasher
(men's clothes), Irwin's Store for Children, Hough Bakery, Red Robin
(women's clothes), Carter Lee Shoes, Woolworth's, Kroger's grocery,
and Gray's Drugs.
Gray's Drug's included a lunch counter with tables and a counter
with stools. It was a popular place for high school kids to hang
out. The ceiling in the lunch room was always festooned with
drinking straw wrappers. The technique, as anyone who was a teenager
at the time can tell you, was to dip the end of the straw wrapper in
something sticky like ice cream, then shoot it toward the ceiling by
blowing on one end of the straw, like a blowgun.
The gooey straw wrapper would stick to the ceiling, hanging down
like an icicle.
The straw manufacturers finally figured out how to stop this by
placing small air holes in the straw wrapper preventing it being
turned into a missile – to the relief of the poor lunch counter
employees who constantly had to
clean wrappers off the ceiling.----by
Gary Swilik
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Rustic Bar
13813 Lorain Avenue
Photo c1960.
Photograph by Charles C. Chaney. October 2004.
In the 1960 photo (black and
white), looking
south toward the southwest corner of W. 138th Street & Lorain Avenue, Christ
Methodist Church is visible at the left edge of the photo behind the
trees. Next to the church,
is a glimpse of the huge Moses Cleaveland Tree that stood there for
so long. The Rustic Bar was built in the 1930s. In October 2004,
the building housed The Closing Room bar.
1936: Mrs.
Marion Templeton, restaurant
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Southwest corner at Lorain Avenue and West 140th Street
c1960
February 1938
2009 photo by Gary Swilik
Frank Naegele insurance office
a SW corner of Lorain Avenue & West 140th Street. Built circa 1932.
It was originally a diner run by Mrs. Ethel McKee. In the early
1940s it was the real estate office of Henry Riedthaler. By
1950 it was Frank Naegele's insurance office. The little store at
the side of the building, on West 140th, was a shoe repair shop, a
pipe shop, and a pet shop at various times. Note the corner step of
the building is an old grind stone. The building was demolished
circa 1969 and became the site of a gas station. Today, the
site is part of the Wendy's parking lot.
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Dailey's Bar & Grill
14222 Lorain Avenue
photo c1960
photograph Gary Swilik. August 2007
Built 1928.
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New York Central Railroad
Crossing
near West 143rd Street and Lorain Avenue
Left: NYCRR crossing near W. 143rd &
Lorain as it looked in May, 1936, before the underpass was
built. Traffic crossed the tracks at street level.
The view is to the south and slightly west. The cars are
on Lorain Avenue traveling east. At left is the Lorain
Street Lumber Company at 14335 Lorain Avenue.
Right: The same scene in June, 2008, just south o f
the West Park Rapid Station. The tracks are at the same
level but Lorain Avenue now passes below them. A bridge,
barely visible, carries the tracks over Lorain. The Lorain
Street Lumber Company, long vacant, burned down in a spectacular
blaze in the 1960s. The West Terrace apartment building,
visible to the left just beyond the "Magic 105.7" sign, now
stands on the former lumber company site. From this angle
it is hard to believe that busy Lorain Avenue is just out of
side below the tracks.
Left: Looking north and slightly
east, May 1936. Right: RR crossing at Lorain
Avenue near West 143rd Street. Looking east down Lorain
Avenue. This crossing was eliminated by the construction
of the an underpass at this location. May 1936.
All photographs from the Gary Swilik Collection.
For more about the crossing go to The
Perilous Railroad Crossing at Lorain and West 143rd
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14550 Lorain. Residence:
Moved to 15100 Lorain in 1946.
Bartter Family houses, farm, and greenhouse
14574, 14600, 14616, 14638, &
14648 Lorain Avenue
3631 West 147th Street
The Bartter family owned
the houses at 14374, 14600, 14616, 14638 and 14648 Lorain Avenue. The
house at 3631 West 147th Street was also on the Bartter property but
just around the corner and behind all the other Bartter houses on Lorain Avenue.
All were razed in 1963.
The site where the houses, farm,
and greenhouse were once located is now occupied by the Kamden Village
apartment complex which was built in 1963. Bartter Avenue, running
behind the apartment buildings parallel to Lorain Avenue, is the only
reminder this busy section of Lorain Avenue was once a family farm.
Photograph by Gary Swilik. August 2007.
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Marquard
Apartments
14741 Lorain Avenue.
Photo taken in March 1939.
Photograph by Charles C. Chaney. November
2004.
Philip Marquard, owner of the Marquard Sash and Door Manufacturing
Company that was founded in about 1890, the company operated for many
years at 14735 Lorain Avenue. Nearby, Mr. Marquard constructed the
Marquard Apartments building.
1936:
Marquard Apartments
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Corrigan-DiCicco
Funeral Home
(The Kinkelaar Farm)
14768
Lorain Avenue
Circa early 1920s photo courtesy of Raymond J. Kinkelaar.
Photo by Gary Swilik. March 2008.
For many years the former Kinkelaar farmhouse has served as
the Corrigan-DiCicco Funeral Home. The original house is hidden beneath many
additions.
Go to an article
by Gary Swilik about the history of the Kinkelaar Farm.
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Lorain Avenue
and West 150th Street
looking west from several yards from the
intersection.
23 May 1967
30 August 2008. Photograph by Gary Swilik
Looking west on Lorain Avenue toward the
intersection with West 150th Street. Photo taken 23 May 1967.
The heavily forested grounds of Trailer Gardens, residential
trailer park, can be seen at left. Trailer Gardens covered the
entire site at the southeast corner of Lorain Avenue and West
150th
Street where K-Mart stands today. (Surprisingly a few
residential trailer still occupy the industrial development
for behind K-Mart at the extreme southeast corner of the
property, right up against the railroad tracks. A small lot
directly behind K-Mart includes a stand of beautiful trees, a
remnant of the old trailer park.) At one time, there was a
trailer sales business on the southeast corning of the
intersection.
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Go to West 150th Street to Rocky River Drive
Return to top of page: W117th -W 150th
Return to top of page: W150th and westward
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Go to Diners and
Restaurants of Old West Park
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Email Charles
Chaney and Gary Swilik
Created by:
Charles C. Chaney
08 August 2010
