Local history: Remember that? Readers share random memories of Akron

I’m glad I’m not the only one.

We stirred up some memories with the column “Things I’m old enough to remember about Akron.” Readers flooded us with random recollections of places from long ago.

Clearly, they remember, too.

Many of these landmarks have been gone for decades, but they still hold special meaning in the hearts of local residents. Here are some things that readers will never forget.

Memories of Spicertown

Nancy Cuckler, who recognized most of the places mentioned in the Dec. 24 column, offered this narrative about growing up in Spicertown:

∎ My parents relocated to Akron and rented on Spicer Street.

∎ So I became a “Spicer Street Gal.”

∎ Before Sam’s Emporium, there was a drugstore at the corner of Spicer and Exchange. Was it Peoples? (Yes, it was)

∎ West of that was a theater: Spicer Theater, of course.

∎ On the southwest corner of Spicer and Exchange was a small arcade where Daddy would buy me a 1-cent Tootsie Roll, my favorite.

∎ Yes, Mom shopped at the A&P across the street.

∎ But also in that area was a beauty shop: my first perm attached to wires from a machine. (No, you wouldn’t remember that.)

∎ Trolley tracks on Exchange up to around Spicer. Then bus trolley wires, remember?

∎ We often walked to the farmers market on Beaver Street.

∎ As I grew up, tennis and ice skating at Mason Park, just a ballfield.

∎ Marriage found me one block north of Exchange. In front, on Exchange, a hamburger place owned by an elderly couple. My savior; a cook I was not.

∎ We both worked and rode the bus. Two buses for me. I had to transfer to go to Firestone.

∎ And East Akron, before I knew the word Middlebury. Did you shop at Hower’s department store?  I walked there and shopped.

∎ I may have seen Summit Beach Park once and rode the merry-go-round.

∎ Didn’t know it then: we were poor but we always had a meal and somehow Mom always had a new “outfit” for me for the first day of school.

“Good memories,” she noted. “My age? That’s for you to guess.”

Let’s add to the list

“I enjoyed your column about things remembered and for the fun of it have added some of my own,” wrote Dr. Fred Vigder, a retired dentist who is nearly 90.

“How about: Kaase’s, Garden Grille, Themely’s, Wonder Bar, Garners Drive-In, Embers, Chanticleer, Jack Horner’s, Mammy’s Kitchen, Egg Castle, Gareri’s, Nan Shuter’s, Highland Cafe, Wong’s, Diana Kimmerlee’s, Lou & Hy’s, Brown Derby, Kippy’s, Clark’s, O’Neil’s Georgian Room, Polsky’s Tea Room, Art’s Place and Marcel’s.”

Great list, Dr. Vigder. I enjoyed dining at several of those places. Others I recall my parents and grandparents mentioning.

Posting online, Larry W. added: Hoffman's Bakery, Maple Valley Drug soda fountain, Thacker’s, Kippy's, Martin's Market, Martini's Wonder Bar, Yeager’s, Pritchard's Pharmacy, Jack Horners, Workingman's Friend, Teaster’s Bar-B-Que, Wright's Ribs, Lyn Theater, Wildwood, Witt's Market, Hower High School, Thornton Junior High (nee South High School), Clark's, Hower's, Berbil’s, Ashe Sfard, Hamad's, Balaun's, Akron News Exchange, Mi-Jo’s House of Paprikash, All-Ohio Sports, Huston-Pugh Sporting Goods, Toddle House and West Akron YMCA.

Good stuff, Larry.

The Singing Bridge

“I know we are the same age and remember the same things,” Theresa Gilletly Mounts wrote. “We even went to the same high school together.”

That’s some compelling evidence, Theresa, but I still think we’re much too young to be this mature.

My former North High School classmate recalls when the North Hill Viaduct was torn down in the late 1970s and the All-America Bridge was built in the early 1980s.

She also remembers the High Level Bridge, which connects North Main Street in Akron with State Road in Cuyahoga Falls. For decades, it was nicknamed “The Singing Bridge” because its steel grate surface made a distinctive humming sound as vehicles crossed the Gorge.

When riding in cars, kids rolled down windows, stuck their heads out and gazed through the grate to view the sparkling waters of the Cuyahoga River far below.

The singing stopped when workers installed a concrete deck in 1993.

“So many memories,” Mounts wrote. “Watching the viaduct come down and the Y-Bridge go up. Learning to drive over the high level ‘singing’ bridge at 16 and then standing in my front yard as a young, married mother watching them cover it with concrete, thinking how my children would never know the ‘excitement’ of looking out the window to the river below.”

Cavalcade of nostalgia

Online reader Susan K. has deduced that she and I are from the same generation. Here are some of the things she remembers about Akron.

∎ The elevators that looked like bird cages at Polsky’s downtown.

∎ My grade school, Annunciation, in East Akron. (By the way, our school’s name was part of our spelling tests!)

∎ Thunder snow during the Blizzard of 1978, which was pretty creepy. My dad worked for the city of Akron Highway Maintenance. We didn’t see him for a week, and he and the other drivers slept in their trucks in the garage.

∎ Popping tar bubbles after the road crews patched the road.

∎ Christmas decorations at Goodyear, with ornaments the size of basketballs on the trees.

∎ Fresh-cut, enormous Christmas trees at St. Bernard (which has not been permitted by AFD for decades because of the fire hazard).

∎ Christmas windows at Polsky’s and O’Neil’s.

∎ The Georgian Room at O’Neil’s, where the waiters treated teenaged girls like me like ladies, addressed us as “miss,” held the chair out for us, and no one called us “guys.”

∎ The Agora Room.

∎ The Acme-Click Game, and the thrill of having my high school (Ellet) football team play at the Rubber Bowl.

∎ “Huggie’s Heroes.” Bob Huggins’ fans when he coached at Akron U.

∎ Herb Score.

∎ “American Bandstand” (yes, I know it was on network TV, but I miss it.)

∎ The Non-Skid, which was the Firestone employee newsletter, published monthly.

∎ Woolworth’s in Eastgate Plaza, and Brownie’s at the corner of Canton Road and East Market Street.

“I am sure I can remember more, but I have taken up too much space already!” she wrote “Thanks for the memories, Mark!”

A flashback to the 1970s

Like, wow, man. Joan Moke reminded us of two groovy places at Spicertown in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The Turtle, The Duck and Cynthia, which could only have been named during the hippie era, was a psychedelic, incense-burning boutique that specialized in clothing, jewelry and accessories. Located at 457 E. Exchange St., it was painted yellow on the outside and purple inside.

Cheap Thrills, the record store next door, was named after an album by Big Brother and The Holding Company.

“There's  probably no place like Cheap Thrills anymore!” Moke wrote. “You could buy any LP that you wanted there.  Boxes and boxes of vinyl.”

Other stops on the Spicertown strip included Rosy Cheeks, Legendary Leather, Levitation, The Beanery, The Pearl, the Upstairs Book Shop, DeMarinis Lounge, Amy Joy Donuts, F-Stop Camera, Cops & Robbers, The Berth, Corbin Hardware, Jan Dees, Don Drumm’s Foundry and the chartreuse-painted Green Gas House.

“What fun places we used to have,” Moke mused.

Quick thoughts

∎ “I loved going down memory lane,” Juanita Livingston wrote. “I still watch reruns of Big Chuck & Lil’ John on TV-8 on Sunday night.  I could never forget O’Neil’s and Polsky’s, especially at Christmas time, with the beautiful decorations. Some of my childhood stores were Click, A&P, and Fazio’s later in life. Budd's Bakery had the best cakes.  I could go on and on. I was really sad when Rolling Acres and Chapel Hill malls closed. Thank you for writing this feel-good article.  I’ll treasure these memories of ‘the way we were’ forever.”

∎ “After reading your column today, I wanted to say that I’m older than you (by the fact that I’m retired and you’re not) and I recall many of the items you mentioned although I never stepped foot in Akron until I was 18,” Jm Lee wrote. “I will mention that although I may not have experienced these items, I was well aware of them. Also at least a couple that you didn’t mention: the deli lunch counter at Peoples Drug Store and the Flatiron Building. Thanks for a trip of nostalgia.”

∎ “Great list but you forgot the Wildwood,” attorney George Farris reminded us. His father, Louis G. Farris, operated the popular cafe at 304 Wildwood Ave., which was famous for good food, live entertainment and living up to its name. “You must have heard stories,” Farris wrote. “It was a wild time.”

∎ “I loved this column!” wrote Bill Marting of Akron. “I read it very slowly and allowed the joy of those memories to sweep over me. Made my day. Some other things: Manners Big Boy, Atomic Fireballs candy.  Themely’s Restaurant and Mr. R. on WMMS, the morning astrology report. Close personal friend of mine. The list could go on.”

∎ “How about Austin Carr as a Cavaliers rookie playing home games at the Cleveland Arena, home of the Cleveland Barons hockey team?” Greg Santos wrote. “The Force playing at the Coliseum, Terry Francona’s dad Tito playing for the then-Indians along with Vic Power and Rocky Colavito, Woodie Held and Early Wynn just to name a few. Old enough to remember.”

∎ “Thanks (as always) for the memories, Mark,” Brian Thomas wrote. “Being your age, and forever of Akron, I remember nearly everything you listed today. I also fondly remember Fred Anthony’s booming voice announcing school closings on WAKR, and Billy Soule spinning platters later on in the lineup.”

∎ “You didn’t mention Helen Waterhouse! Does that mean I am older than you?” Sharon Gandee wrote. “Or Fran Murphey!” (Well, Sharon, I’m fortunate that I got to work with legendary reporter Frances B. Murphey when I started at the Beacon Journal in 1997. Equally legendary Helen Waterhouse, who interviewed everyone from Amelia Earhart to Winston Churchill, died in 1965. My family adored her.)

∎ Charles Smart, a former bowler at Colonial Lanes on Waterloo Road, was pleased to see the neighborhood landmark get a mention.  “A few friends and I recently reminisced about how many of us had met our wives at the lanes,” Smart noted.

∎ “I was born in Bath in 1948 and lived there until 1976 so I remember all of the places you mentioned in your wonderful story,” Vicky Bogus noted. “Hard to believe so many of them are just memories now!”

∎ “We are in the same age bracket,” Terrance C. posted online. “I ride around town and remember what was in certain areas. Barnhill’s was always a treat, I had my first tin-roof sundae there. In fact, I have a sign that I purchased there in my home to this day.”

∎ “Thanks for the memories,” Rebecca M. posted online. “I recall most, not all, of the things you mentioned, but your column triggered the memory of the music lessons broadcast over the radio and PA system at Lawndale Elementary in the late 1950s. Ralph Gillman hosted the lessons and broadened our knowledge of music in American society. Our first-rate music teacher, Alice Flaksman, made sure we tuned in.”

∎ “As a senior (ha) 65-year-old, I remembered almost all the places you mentioned,” Rick Schneider wrote. “And I’m sure I can add some to the list. I even remember going to Polsky’s downtown when I was about 8 years old and they had wooden escalators! I’m sure everyone that grew up in Akron remembers the favorite places they went to..”

∎ “Those were the golden years of the area,” wrote George Dean, a transplanted Californian who has lived in Ohio since 1963. “So many venues are gone.”

∎ “Geez … way to make an old man feel even older!” Tony Bisesi noted.

∎ “Thanks for the trip down memory lane!” wrote Kim and Mark Snyder. “Ah, we miss those days.”

Mark J. Price can be reached at mprice@thebeaconjournal.com.

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This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Remember that? Readers share random memories of Akron