Mid-century Reading Road (Cincinnati, Avon, Deer Park: tornado, to eat, designer)

[blockhead]

Having come a very confused Jewish family I can answer at least some of your questions. Near Rockdale and reading, the large synagog was Adath Israel. My parents belonged to that congregation, and I attended many services there. HOwever, for some reason (unknown to me) they sent me to attend services at Wise Temple (Reading and Crescent). My bar mitzvah was there, (although I wished it was at the downtown Wise temple).

[The Don]

Originally Posted by soozycue520

3025{?} Reading Rd.
If you put in 3023 or 3025 Reading Rd. Cincinnati, OH on Google Maps & hit street level, you can see the building.
Google Maps

Anybody remember what this used to be?

I am pretty sure it was a Frisch's coffee shop.

[The Don]

Originally Posted by goyguy

Reading Rd in Avondale and on into "town," much like Vine St in Carthage, used to be one of the places to shop for a new car too. Bennett Ford and Hocks Buick are the dealers whose names stick in my brain after all this time.

Ahh yes. Hocks Buick - my dad bought one or two of the six Buicks he owned there. The one I remember was an 1966 LeSabre -- a lot of iron in that thing. I learned to drive using that car.

There was also a Chevrolet dealer -- Avondale Chevrolet -- across the street from Hocks. My mother worked there right after the war.

Further north, near the intersection of Reading & Paddock was Lennox Motors. If I remember correctly, they were a Plymouth dealership.

[The Don]

Originally Posted by fhiudt

As I remember it some of the shops there were: the movie theater, Noimam's drug store, there was a 5 and dime later the library and then a linen shop. Berconi's was the pizza palor. Later an extra building was added. Tillie Niebalsky had a resturant there. My uncle set up a demo later for the Amberacres condos. I recall a barber shop and woman's clothes shop too. At the drug store when I attended Roselawn school you could get a hot dog and coke for fifteen cents. You would race other there for lunch and if all the seats at the fountain were taken you would stand behind someone and wait for them to finish. There were offices for rent upstairs, I knew of a car insurance company: Fishel or something like that. I also think Center Cab was located behind the shopping center.

I too remember buying a hot dog & coke (or flavored soda water) at the drug store - and yes it was packed at lunch time.

I remember a Kroger grocery store located at the west end of the strip center - it would pre-date the public library. There also was a ten cent store near Noiman's (nee Dow's); I believe it was something like "Work Easy"?
And of course there was the Valley Movie theater.

[BJLundy]

The first "super market" that I remember on Reading Road was the Pay n Take It located at the corner of Reading Road and Melish Avenue. I grew up in Avondale until I was a young teenager. I went to the movies every Saturday; usually a double feature and the shorts. I remember a green grocer at the corner of Reading and Union; Noiman's drug store was next to a butcher shop. The bowling alley was near the 5 and 10 cent store. Sears was a really big department store and I remember the flouroscope machines in the shoe department. There was an embalming college and an Eastern orthodox church. Fenton dry cleaners and a pony keg.
Was Tillie Niebalsky the same woman that owned a small deli-like store near Clinton Springs?
Also, the first colored (black) family I knew of lived across the street from Columbian School. There may have been some other families down on Whittier, but I didn't know much about that street.

Originally Posted by MiddleCincinnati

It wasn't by design - I think it's more a function of who is contributing to the thread. Besides the Alms Hotel and Cabana Club, somewhere near Wm. Howard Taft and the Sears, mentioned several times, it's true that there hasn't been much contributed.

There was a supermarket somewhere near Reading and Rockdale - most likely a Kroger's. Frisch's had a commissary at Lincoln and Stanton. It would be great if people could say more about the area.

[The Don]

This year the Woodward High School Founder's Day will be Friday, 06-Mar at 1:00 P.M. Do you still remember the alma mater? How about the hand signs?

[soozycue520]

Originally Posted by The Don

I am pretty sure it was a Frisch's coffee shop.

Thanks for the thumbnail, The Don!!! I think you may be right about the Frisch's Coffee Shop.

I love the retro look of the building, and cannot believe it hasn't been torn down, since it has stood vacant for many, many years. It would be cool if someone reopened it, with the retro look, but the neighborhood is questionable, and probably not worth it right now.

[jkgibb1]

Oh, Alma Mater, Woodward High
I pledge my true devotion. (We pledge our true devotion????)
Thy sons and daughters sing thy praise.
From oh-oh-cean to ocean.
Like those who through thy hundred years.
Thy light have carried onward.
I pledge my heart, my head, my hand
And bid thee Godspeed, Woodward.
I pledge my heart (hand over heart), my head (hand to head), my hand (raise hand),
And bid thee Godspeed (wave hand), Woodward.
Ahhhhhh-men, ahhhhh-men, ahhhhh-men, ahhhhh-men, etc.

Is that correct? I am relying on memory.

[Gerri Ann]

My family owned Porfidio's Wishing Well from 1953 until 1980. Yes, it was a "pale green" in later years but it was beautiful in it's time and quite hip at the time also, mind you! ;>

My Dad, Dick Porfidio, set up an advertising campaign with the "lousy waitresses, etc. and I have matches, lighters and other memorabilia with this logo on it.

My Dad, Dick Porfidio, died an untimely death in 1959 at the age of 48 and my Mom, Janie Porfidio, stepped in and ran it until 1980. Quite a feat in those days and she was something else. All dressed in designer couture from Giddings Jenny and the best designers had to offer at that time.

I can answer a lot of questions about the "Strip" if you have them. That was what Reading Road was called at that time, because it was the entertainment area of the day. The Carrousel Motel was fabulous and the bar and restaurant within had top name entertainment. Larry Kinley, who is still one of the best singers in Cincinnati, and Frank Vincent played there. And Sal Barresi, before he bought the Italian restaurant in Deer Park, was the bartender in the bar there!

But the Well, as the Wishing Well was called, was THE place to be!

[mike1003]

Originally Posted by MiddleCincinnati

The building that went up in the mid-1960's was an apartment
house from the get-go. I cannot recall what preceded it, though
Very early in the thread, though, someone remembered that a
welding shop was on that site before apartments went up.

Wasn't it the Essix House that lost all of it's brick veneer years ago?