Elyria, Ohio - 1950's
Couldn't find any info at all on this old shopping center (wouldn't that make a great PBS show?), so I have no idea if it was a little strip mall type deal, or an actual enclosed shopping mall (I'm guessing strip mall, though), but I just dig this signage photo so much that I thought I'd ad it to the archive either way. I think it's pretty kitsch-tastic myself! Truly some classic '50s sign design there!
I love that picture. I shudder think how many old signs I missed back in the day because I didn't realize they were historic. :(
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me.... I'm heading down to the Chicago area late next week. They have many strip malls that still bear their old roadside pylon signs. I'll have to get pics.
ReplyDeleteNowadays, you have no signs at all, or just a simple peice of plastic at the roadside. Boring.
Even into the 1980s (before ordiances came about that pretty much eliminated signs that were too 'noisy' ie: too much flashing bulbs and neon), I still recall seeing quite a few old signs like this before they were taken down for cheap plastic.
Oh yeah...I see it, too, Cora! Hmmm, I think it says "oasis". I've magnified it and that's what it appears to be.
ReplyDeleteI miss those signs too. Would make for a nice PBS show if they talked about malls and shopping centers of the past. Rather they did a "This Old House" turn and just have them refurbish them to their virginal glory!
ReplyDeleteI really dig that retro '50s design. I'm sure back then, signs like those were all over the place.
ReplyDeleteI watch a lot of movies from the thirties, forties and fifties and a lot of the ones I do watch that are from the fifties always have some classic, vintage neon signs. I only started paying attention to things like this recently as I have gotten older and I really wished I had paid more attention long ago. I love this picture!!!!
ReplyDeleteI called my mom who moved to the area in the late 50s, she's pretty certain it was a small strip mall between the Elyria..it didn't house a lot of stuff, Woolworth, small card shop, small grocery store, and a fabric shop (at least to her memory and she liked to shop) per say but it did have a cool sign as you note! The car hop and strip mall are long gone as this area has been continually redeveloped. She thinks it left around the late 1970s early 1980s.
ReplyDeleteKeith, are you sure this shopping center was in Elyria? There appears to be a mountain range in the distance. I don't think there are any mountains in northern Ohio!
ReplyDeleteThat lakeside shopping center is not in Elyria Ohio. As a previously posted comment there are no mountain ranges in northern ohio
ReplyDeleteReally cool!
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