We associate various structures and places with our past. Places where we were born, where we've lived, gone to school, played, have fond memories or even some bad memories. Some of these places may no longer be standing. Or perhaps it may still stand, but not for the same purpose as it did when it was part of your life.

 

So tell us about -- or better yet, show us -- these places that were once physical markers of your lives and tell/show us what these addresses look like today.

 

 

I'll start. This was one of the first buildings in my life that was demolished:

 

Oakville Elementary School, on Oakville Road between Belrose and Mayfield Ridge roads, Mayfield Heights, OH (eastern suburb of Cleveland)

 

I found this 1983 film of Oakville Elementary School that was shot shortly before the school was demolished due to declining enrollment in the district. The Baby Boom was into adulthood and the Baby Boom Echo was just being born, so 1920s-era buildings like this weren't needed anymore when there were newer buildings to be used, like Mayfield Center School which is where I ended up. I went to school at Oakville in the first and second grades, from 1973-75. I kissed my first girl (Sheryl Raybold) during gym class here and I used jars to catch grasshoppers in the field north of the school and playground. My first-grade teacher was Miss Greene (she had beautiful blond long hair!), and I brought my new 45 rpm record of Locomotion by Grand Funk Railroad to the last day of class. I remember all the kids were dancing to it, but I wanted them to hear the part "I chug-a-chug-a-motion like a railroad train now"! My second-grade teacher was Mrs. Armstrong who I didn't like as much as Miss Greene. I was always getting into trouble and she was always there to catch me. I think I spent more time out in the hall for punishment than I did sitting in her classroom.

 

Here is the 1983 film (part 1).....

 

Video Tour of Oakville Elementary School, Mayfield Hts., OH - part 1 of 3!!

 

 

Here is what the site looks like today.....

 

Hell of a topic, KJP. I feel some eyes are gonna get watery at some point.

 

I don't have any pictures on me, but here's a few:

 

The Dairy Queen on Brainard/Mayfield. Before it was a Dairy Queen/Orange Julius, it used to be a tiny seasonal, summer-only Dairy Queen shack. I would walk with my parents down Brainard Rd on summer evenings, and see the mob of people, most of whom were getting out of Little League at Brainard Park, waiting in line or chilling outside this little DQ. Now it's just an ordinary, boring Dairy Queen diner, and has lost all of the magic from before it was rebuilt.

 

Severance: Since my dad worked at the medical building across the street, I would be by his office a lot and, often bored, would kill entire afternoons at the mall. Now it's a complete piece of $hit of epic proportions but back then, even when it was more the "black mall", it still had a lot of heart and was a lot of fun for a kid. I never had any problems and always felt it was an okay place to hang, even though it had a very different clientle than say Beachwood Place.

 

Russian Tea Room in Lyndhurst: Since my dad's patients were virtually all eastern European, he and I would occasionally go to the Tea Room, even though they really didn't want minors. I was very young when I went and don't remember much about it beyond it being very dark, ethnic, strange food options, and there being some unsavory, connected types there. The Russian Tea Room was empty for a number of years; now it's some kind of retail store (I was just walking around it a few weeks ago).

 

Geauga Lake: I don't even want to go there; that one still hurts today.

 

Cedar Center Bowing Alley (is that now a CVS?) and Eastgate Bowling Alley/video arcade (now a Costco): What the hell do kids do for birthday parties anymore? The Heights bowling alley was a lot of fun, and I went to a ton of parties at the Mayfield Heights one. Good times.

 

Borders all over the city, especially La Palace: see Geauga Lake. Another slap to the face.

 

 

 

My middle school, Appleseed Middle School in Mansfield, was torn down and I don't know when it happened (well, it was sometime in 2004, thank you Wikipedia). I don't go back THAT often, but I always drive by my old house to see if it's been torn down yet (it's condemned, which is also sad, but not demolished so not for this thread) and the school was just over the hill next to my house. I had such a sharp intake of breath the trip I came over that hill and saw nothing but a field of grass that I had to pull over and cry. There was a really, big ugly steel sculpture in front of the school. I competed in the contest in 8th grade to have your sculpture be the one that ends up on the lawn. I submitted 2 designs and one was in the top 10. We were all taken to a steel mill in mansfield and had our cardboard designs turned into miniature steel designs, and we got to help with welding and cool shit like that. There was a huge celebration and the Cleveland news came down the day we unveiled the sculpture, every class learned dance routines and performed them on the lawn and shit, it was a big deal. I just couldn't believe it was gone.

 

I won the school wide poetry contest when I was in the 7th grade. I wrote a modern day version of the Inferno (one page prose) and I remember referencing Nixon being in one of the circles of hell.

 

What was worse was when I collected myself, I drove back down the street to go to the back of the school, where the pool was at the bottom of a big hill. This was where I was on the swimming and diving team every summer for about 10 years, where I had my first teenaged romances, where a lot of drama played out and a lot of fun was had. Grass field. Yeah, it was a sad day.

 

I do not have, nor can I find on the internet, any pictures of Appleseed, the school or the pool. But I still remember them vividly.

Mt. Sinai Hospital Can't Get A Recent Picture Though

Mt. Sinai Hospital Can't Get A Recent Picture Though

 

Try Google for a Streetview or birdseye view. Were you born there? Worked there? Why is it part of your past?

Mt. Sinai Hospital Can't Get A Recent Picture Though

 

Try Google for a Streetview or birdseye view. Were you born there? Worked there? Why is it part of your past?

I was born there its tragic that its gone

I grew up in the suburb of Perry Heights, so there isn't a lot that I grew up with (that I have fond memories of, anyway) that is gone.  All of my schools were built in the 50s-70s, and are still in use.  None of the houses I remember living in have been demolished. (unfortunately, in some cases)

 

I guess this might count:  My parents met while working at McDonalds.  It was a classic McDonalds that looked kind of like this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/georgie56/5936938422/# except that it had been remodeled so that the eating area was enclosed.  We went here a lot when I was a kid.  I remember the day, when I was about 5, that chicken McNuggets were introduced; they had a big banner across the front announcing the news.  But, back in the late 80s/early 90s, it was replaced by a Pizza Oven restaurant.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Perry+Heights,+OH&hl=en&ll=40.796771,-81.483278&spn=0.004264,0.009645&sll=41.094482,-80.639547&sspn=0.142047,0.308647&oq=perry+hei&t=h&hnear=Perry+Heights,+Stark,+Ohio&z=17&layer=c&cbll=40.796842,-81.483649&panoid=gk9QIMb_eDxIP4lNdLJ16A&cbp=12,150.53,,0,-1.8

The hospital in which I was born, Lake East in Painesville (known as Lake Co. Memorial Hosp. back in the day—there’s a Lake West in Willoughby) was demolished last year. It’s not that there isn’t a new one (called Tri-Point Medical Center—miles out of town in neighboring Concord Township). Never mind that it’s inconvenient to many of the poorer people who make up the population of P’ville and might not have cars—they don’t count. And never mind that this is in a town that’s desperately trying to revive its downtown. And of course the city officials claim to have fought hard to save it  :roll:. Never mind that a hospital stood on this site for over a hundred years (approx. the time of my birth). And never mind that the planned housing (I think that’s what it is) for this site will not begin to match the impact of having a hospital with hundreds of employees contributing to the local economy…

 

 

 

The hospital in which I was born, Lake East in Painesville (known as Lake Co. Memorial Hosp. back in the day—there’s a Lake West in Willoughby) was demolished last year. It’s not that there isn’t a new one (called Tri-Point Medical Center—miles out of town in neighboring Concord Township). Never mind that it’s inconvenient to many of the poorer people who make up the population of P’ville and might not have cars—they don’t count. And never mind that this is in a town that’s desperately trying to revive its downtown. And of course the city officials claim to have fought hard to save it  :roll:. Never mind that a hospital stood on this site for over a hundred years (approx. the time of my birth). And never mind that the planned housing (I think that’s what it is) for this site will not begin to match the impact of having a hospital with hundreds of employees contributing to the local economy…

 

 

 

 

Wow, you almost sounded like a bleeding heart liberal! :) But seriously, sorry for your loss.

The only things I can think of are:

Municipal Stadium - CBS

Central Market - Gateway Complex

Old Shaker Rapid - Newer Shaker Rapid

Higbee's - Casino

Higbee's - Shaker Square

 

My Elementary School is closed.  My Junior High has been renamed. ::)

Wow, great topic, I'll have to agree with some of the things already mentioned:

 

-Sea World: I worked here the final year it was a standalone park.

-Geauga Lake: Spent many a great summer day here with friends.

-Municipal Stadium: Oddly enough I only saw Indians' games here, but that was the first sports team I learned to love.

-Cedar Center North: The old movie theater, the coin shop (which had baseball cards), the old video store, etc., etc.

 

 

And for some of my originals:

-May's on the Heights: Got all of my back-to-school clothing here.  It's now the location of Target and the failed University Square venture.

-The JCC in Cleveland Heights: I went here after school for a few years during elementary school years.  I believe this is now the location of the Coral townhouse development.

-Greenbrier Ice Rink (Parma Heights) and Oberlin College Ice Rink: I played hockey games at these rinks growing up and both are now gone.

 

This is a great topic, when I'm out and about later today I'll surely think of some other things.

Wow, great topic, I'll have to agree with some of the things already mentioned:

 

-Sea World: I worked here the final year it was a standalone park.

-Geauga Lake: Spent many a great summer day here with friends.

-Municipal Stadium: Oddly enough I only saw Indians' games here, but that was the first sports team I learned to love.

-Cedar Center North: The old movie theater, the coin shop (which had baseball cards), the old video store, etc., etc.

 

 

And for some of my originals:

-May's on the Heights: Got all of my back-to-school clothing here.  It's now the location of Target and the failed University Square venture.

-The JCC in Cleveland Heights: I went here after school for a few years during elementary school years.  I believe this is now the location of the Coral townhouse development.

-Greenbrier Ice Rink (Parma Heights) and Oberlin College Ice Rink: I played hockey games at these rinks growing up and both are now gone.

 

This is a great topic, when I'm out and about later today I'll surely think of some other things.

 

Good ones!!

 

I totally forgot about Geauga Lake parks.  You're May's on the Heights made me think about Higbee's Shaker Square, Severance and that big as parking lot on Public Square.  The buildings being torn down for BP.  I remember what the "red light" district the Warehouse district was before turning into a neighborhood.

 

I can say I remember the Old Mall and Hanna Fountains, the "update" and now finally the new convention center.

 

Halle's Downtown - Offices

Top of the Town. - closed

Stouffers Shaker Square - to Pier East - to Pacific Rim - to Joseph Beth now CVS

arabica coffee Shaker Square (not to mention Coventry and other locations) - Became Fire, food & drink

Shaker Square Florist - Sergios

Halle's Shaker Square - office space

Shaker Sq. Beverages

Heiniens Shaker Square

Dewey's - Ball Jewelers (The Harry Winston of Cleveland)

 

 

 

The Way We Were - single version 1973

 

I'm sure I'll think of more later.

Ooh, that reminds me, the original Silver Grille and that shop inside of Tower City where for Christmas they let kids go in and buy gifts for their parents (I think Mr. Jingeling had something to do with this, too).

 

Incidentally I believe all of this space is still around, it's just used much differently than it was back then.

Got something that was even more specifically part of your past, and why was it so? Share some memories or even some pictures.

Hough Bakery - Jakes Public Square

Record Rendezvous - Dollar Bank

Dominoes Bar - Nick's Bar

Key's Night Club - Empty store front (Carter Manor)

Isis Club - Nauti Mermaid or Starbucks

Club Petraca = empty field

 

Got something that was even more specifically part of your past, and why was it so? Share some memories or even some pictures.

All the places I've listed are places I've frequented.  I mean I've been riding the Shaker Rapid since 1970, I've watched it change.  I've lived on Shaker Square since the early 90's, I've watched it change. 

 

KJP..I'm a little verklempt.  Now talk amongst yourselves.  I'll give you a topic - Shaker Square.  It's neither a Shaker nor a Square.  Discuss!

 

 

Not mine, but great images of big parts of my youth:

 

 

KJP, how many elementary schools did Mayfield City Schools have at its peak?

 

Also I'm surprised no one mentioned the Flats?  I only have vague memories of doing some of the more kid-friendly things there as a youth, but it's still a really cool piece of Cleveland lore that in a lot of ways I still wish was around.

KJP, how many elementary schools did Mayfield City Schools have at its peak?

 

 

I may miss one or two, but I remember Oakville (razed), Millridge, Mayfield Road (razed), Center, Lander and Gates Mills. The first to be demolished was Mayfield Road, as some of their students ended up with me at Center in my final year in Mayfield in 1978. I found a listing of demolished Cuyahoga County schools on the net and it showed that Mayfield Road School was razed in 1978, so they didn't waste any time. It was built in 1922, so it was older than Oakville which was built in 1926. Interestingly, the same site that showed this info also noted that Mayfield Road school was bombed around the the same time it probably opened (Sept 1922). I suspect this was labor or mob violence, but it could have also been anarchists who were derailing trains, bombing Wall Street and assassinating presidents back then.