Considering the positive response I got from the first set of photos I posted, I thought I'd include these as well. These provide a good follow-up to the whole positive/negative changes in downtown over the past 25-30 years debate, especially when you look at the warehouse district. I also included a shot of the Bing Co. on Prospect (although from a clipping) for those who don't remember it.

 

More awesomeness!  Ugh, I forgot about the Bing Co. building- man did lower Prospect get worked over in the 80s and 90s.

wow thanks for these! I do think there are positives and negatives. I did notice a few street scenes where it looks much cleaner. Many days there is garbage everywhere. I admit some of the types of businesses are pretty low brow, but I guess we have worse on w.25th. Some of those scapes look similar to the lower east side (NY). If I had a time machine I would go to the falafel place.  :laugh:

Oh my Gawd!  Clutch my pearls!  I am soooooooooooooooo verklempted - The Rusty Scupper!  Higbees!  Capitol Clothes!

Whoa at that funky mural.

What's up with the Warner Bros PIctures building?? As in, the movie studio? Anyone have more info on that?

they had a Rusty Scupper in DC in the 80's too. Maybe they closed b/c they served teenagers.

What's up with the Warner Bros PIctures building?? As in, the movie studio? Anyone have more info on that?

Along Payne Ave. starting at the Film Bldg. (extant) at 21st St. were several studio film distribution buildings, including Warner Bros & Universal Studios. Each had a building to themselves and were both in an art deco style. Many other distributors were also in the neighborhood, but simply rented within one of these. Also along Payne were a great collection of oddly quaint art deco union halls that combined with the CC Criminal CH made for one of the largest concentrations of deco architecture in the midwest.

Wow .. do you know when these film studios left the city?

Wow .. do you know when these film studios left the city?

 

Don't you just love google?

I love that mural!!  Thanks again!!

I seem to remember that mural in the early 90's, but not the building on the corner.  That is where the Wyndham Hotel is now....right? 

 

These pics are awesome btw....thanks for digging them up.

Also along Payne were a great collection of oddly quaint art deco union halls that combined with the CC Criminal CH made for one of the largest concentrations of deco architecture in the midwest.

 

Knocking down that Criminal Courts building was such a mistake.  Makes me sick.

 

Previously lamented here: http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,9853.0.html

These pictures remind me how gritty the warehouse district was back then. It got worse before it got better, I remember the boarded up store fronts and lots of broken windows in the mid 80's.

 

Thank you for posting the Bing Company photo.

Thanks for another set of fascinating photos!

 

Do you know when that picture of the Buckeye Building was taken?  [edit] just noticed the background, it must have been during the 95-96ish redevelopment of the building

 

Where was the Bing Building along Prospect?

Also along Payne were a great collection of oddly quaint art deco union halls that combined with the CC Criminal CH made for one of the largest concentrations of deco architecture in the midwest.

 

Knocking down that Criminal Courts building was such a mistake.  Makes me sick.

 

Previously lamented here: http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,9853.0.html

 

that criminal courts building was eerily similar to NYC's Manhattan Criminal Courts building. Must have been the same "architect":

Where was the Bing Building along Prospect?

 

Pretty Much right across the street from the sincere building / colonial arcade.

Barney Boy, thanks again! These are fascinating.

Hey, by any chance - do you have any photos of Cleveland neighborhoods (outside downtown) from this time? Don't want to look a gift horse in the mouth but can't hurt to ask!

Where was the Bing Building along Prospect?

 

Pretty Much right across the street from the sincere building / colonial arcade.

 

Thanks!

super duper man.

Awesome Pictures. I love to see the difference

How did I miss this set the first time around?!?!? So many memories! I let out a loud "wow" when I saw the Rusty Scupper and of course, Capitol Clothes, which actually upgraded their storefront prior to moving out to accommodate the renovations.

 

As for the funky mural, previously in the 1970s it was a huge mural of Batman and Robin scaling the side of the building! I used to look at it from my dentist's office, which was in the Hanna Building. Yet despite all the improvements around Playhouse Square since then, I am surprised there were so many more pedestrian then as compared to now.

 

Sad memories about the Criminal Courts Building, but I wonder how it could be reused today. But the 10-story Bing building would have made a wonderful rehab into housing. Those are the buildings that won't get replaced. We don't build 50-feet-wide 10-story buildings anymore.