Mid-to-late 20th Century Vine St/Springfield Pike

[goyguy]

Seems to me there would've been. The Big Melon occupied over half the building, but the remainder was divided into two retail spaces as best as I can recall.

[mike1003]

Originally Posted by goyguy

Correct, it was a landmark on Galbraith Rd thanks to the wall of windows on the front of the building - which made quite a mess when the windows blew out during the 1969 tornado. At the center of the building's facade was a large light-blue panel with a silver "RP" logo.
Many are the Cincinnatians with Olan Mills photo portraits, but Rob Paris portraits are the mark of a true Cincinnatian. My parents have a wall full of Rob Paris pics depicting goyguy and his siblings in our earlier years. I used to hate photo sessions w/Rob Paris, lol...we always had to get all dressed up, and he'd use eye-burning flashbulbs and do a gazillion takes.

Rob did our wedding over 40 years ago (somehow he grabbed a wrong roll of film and group portrait was in B&W, Rob hand colored it just because it was the right thing to do!)

[mike1003]

Originally Posted by veteran observer

Cherokee Motors was owned by Irv Singer, who did his own commercials on live local TV. He wore and Indian headdress and used the name Chief Shomawk.

\
It's now called MotorTime

[Gerri Ann]

Originally Posted by goyguy

I have zero recollection of "Squire Jack's," but love me some Long John Silver's and always try to snag at least one meal there when I'm "back home." Another favorite, now gone, fish n' chips place was Arthur Treacher's. Frisch's used to turn out a tasty order of fish n' chips, too, with crinkle-cut fries and served in a cardboard container lined with "English newspaper."
Drifting over to Reading Rd for a sec, did anybody patronize Sweeney's during the ten or so years they were open at the former Meir's Place? Word had it that they were good for seafood.
Ms CF, I think it's high time that you take a "trip down memory lane" in person. I bet Hartwell Girl would jump at the chance to give a tour, LOL! You could start and/or stop the excursion at the Vogue Cafe. Other than Vine St's going to seed (and fast food and national-chain pharmacies) not much is different compared to even forty years ago.

We had crab legs at Sweeney's a month before my Mom died in May of 2000 - very tasty!!

[goyguy]

...within sight of the ol' Wishing Well, how appropriate was that?! (I like it.)
The name Sweeney has now vanished from Vine St just as it has from Reading Rd, now that the car dealership is out Montgomery way. Not a trace is left of all those garage bays, with the shamrock-shuttered upstairs windows, where "yet another" Walgreen's stands now. Even the entire Pontiac make of car is on the way out..

[nightrider127]

I remember when that Jake Sweeny at Galbraith & Vine opened. It was oruginally a Renault dealership. My dad had a small apartment in a house that they evenually took out to expand. Let me explain why my Dad had the apartment there. Daddy was one of the thousands of people who left the hills of Kentucky when jobs got scarce. He stayed up here, me and Mommy would come up for sumers and holidays. For some reason, Ohio didn't agree with me and I stayed sick a lot. That kind of thing happened to a lot of kids who relocated up here from my neck of the woods in Kentucky. One of our friends was literally told by an MD to get his daughter out of here or she would die for sure. Guess we just couldn't handle big city living. Happily, I grew out of that circumstance and have now lived here for most of my life. Anywho, I did want to explain that because some of you from the Cincinnati forum may have seen my rantings in the Kentucky forum and I didn't want people to think I was either a liar or some kind of nut case, LOL.

[goyguy]

No worries, I've seen plenty of your posts in this forum too. Your experience was shared by a WHOLE lot of people during the '40s to '70s. Some kids I grew up with had Kentuckian parents who'd learned their three R's - you know, Readin' Writin' and Route 25!
The Vine St corridor all the way from Elmwood Place to Woodlawn felt the impact of that big Appalachian migration. For a time it was said that more people from certain counties in KY were living in Carthage than in the counties themselves! I'd been hoping more folks from that era would've "spoken up" in this thread, so am glad you did.

[MiddleCincinnati]

Originally Posted by nightrider127

I remember when that Jake Sweeny at Galbraith & Vine opened. It was oruginally a Renault dealership. My dad had a small apartment in a house that they evenually took out to expand.

Do you happen to remember what years those were? I can remember Jake Sweeny's
maybe as far back as 1961, but not the Renault dealership or the apartment block
that preceded it.

Any chance you remember the old tavern a few blocks north, on the NW corner of
Compton and Vine? It was eventually torn down and the lot "improved" to house
the Burger Chef mentioned in other posts.

[Hartwell Girl]

Here is a picture from the 2nd story of Hartwell elem. which sits on the north east corner of Vine & Galbraith taken in June 1980. You can see the Sweeney lot and also all the green space where Krogers is now located...of course there is the old Hartwell pool house too which has since been replaced with a new Recreation Center and pool. Thought you all might enjoy the old pic!!!

[nightrider127]

Originally Posted by MiddleCincinnati

Do you happen to remember what years those were? I can remember Jake Sweeny's
maybe as far back as 1961, but not the Renault dealership or the apartment block
that preceded it.

Any chance you remember the old tavern a few blocks north, on the NW corner of
Compton and Vine? It was eventually torn down and the lot "improved" to house
the Burger Chef mentioned in other posts.

That lot opened as a Renault dealership but I can't remember it remaining a Renault dealership for long. I think it opened around 1959 or 60. I don't think it went over very good. You have to remember, those were the days of the big cars. There wasn't an apartment block there, there was some places that had been converted to apartments but most of the places were private houses. I can only remember the house we were in and the house next door to us being rental housing but I could be mistaken about that.

Try as I might, I can't remember any tavern on that corner where Burger Chef stood. But I was a kid then so it was likely that I paid no attention to any tavern. The only tavern I remember is the Vogue, which is still there.

Does anyone remember a dress shop that was torn down when they put in that small strip mall that housed the Big Melon? It really bugs me that I can't remember the name of the place.