Thursday, July 31, 2014

Childhood Homes in Willoughby-on-the-Lake

My Dad was born in Cleveland (near E. 87th, between St. Clair and Superior) and moved as a child to Willoughby-on-the-Lake, on Hayes Avenue, about a block from Lost Nation Boulevard and Lakeshore Boulevard. The history of the house is very interesting. I think it started as a lake cottage--there are many in North Willoughby. But then they dug a basement. They raised up the house and used horses in the excavation process. My Aunt Kay Coughlin's grandpa (if I remember correctly, a man named Gilmore) was the person in charge of the job. Also added to this cottage was a front porch and a second floor.When I was a kid in the 1950s, there were only 2 houses on the west side of Hayes Avenue (south of Lakeshore): my grandparents' house (below), and the Sullivan house.
Connie and Cora Coughlin's home, 1920s to 1960 (or so)
The other house on this side of the street belonged to Helen and Ed Sullivan. Ed was my Mom's uncle, my great uncle. Their children were Mary Ellen (my sister was named after her); Sally; John; and Mike. Today the house looks abandoned, maybe foreclosed. Here it is:

Sullivan House on Hayes Ave,
When my Mom and Dad married in 1947, they lived in a house a block away from Hayes Avenue, on Windermere. It was a tiny house. I lived there until I was 3, when we moved to Euclid. Here's the house:

Our Windermere House
Right near my parents' and grandparents' house was McKinley School. I enjoyed the playground there quite a lot. Also, just down the street, at Lakeshore and Lost Nation, was Ray's Tavern (probably not the official name). There was also a grocery store there and a store called Mannino's, which might have been a drugstore. I remember buying penny candy there. I spent a lot of time in the bar with my Uncle Jack and my Grampa. Here's the building from the Lakeshore Boulevard angle:

Ray's Tavern--Lakeshore and Lost Nation
I loved this little neighborhood of Willoughby. We moved after I turned three, soon after my mother accidentally ran over me on Windermere.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

where was the bar called the whistle stop?

View from the North Coast said...

Oh yes--I believe it's the same bar shown in the photo. But when I was a kid, I don't remember the name "whistle Stop." Grampa and Uncle Jack just called it "Ray's."

View from the North Coast said...

Oh yes--I believe it's the same bar shown in the photo. But when I was a kid, I don't remember the name "whistle Stop." Grampa and Uncle Jack just called it "Ray's."

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