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Akron demolishes memorable Kenmore landmark
By Mark J. Price
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 11:26 a.m. EST, Feb 17, 2009
Memories are stronger than bricks and mortar. A building is gone, a corner is empty, but no one can demolish its history.
Older Kenmore residents were saddened but not necessarily surprised to see the razing of a 90-year-old storefront at Manchester Road and Kenmore Boulevard in Akron.
Once the center of a vibrant business district, the boarded-up Watters Building had been deteriorating for decades. The city tore it down last week, and motorists are doing double-takes as they drive past.
''You get sentimental about something that was there your whole life, and then all of a sudden, it's just a big pit,'' said Joe Ostervich, 62, of Kenmore.
The Cozy Corner is no more. Of course, it hadn't been the Cozy Corner for nearly 50 years.
William J. Watters built the two-story landmark around 1918 as the Watters Grocery Co., dealers in groceries and provisions. He soon turned it over to Samuel Smulo, whose confectionery was a popular hangout from the 1920s to 1950s.
''That's the original Halo business district,'' said David Bersnak, 60, president of the Kenmore Historical Society. ''Before Kenmore, there was Halo, just a little community that sprang up along the railroad tracks and streetcar line, which is now Kenmore Boulevard.''
Before the store was built, the name Cozy Corners applied to the entire intersection at Manchester and Kenmore. There are competing theories about the origin. One is that it was a close-knit community. The other is that it was a red-light district.
''So people can accept their own version of how it got its nickname Cozy Corners,'' Bersnak said.
The store known as Cozy Corner was a family-friendly business. Smulo, a Romanian immigrant, lived in an upstairs apartment with his wife, Rebecca, and daughter, Ella.
The business at 1962 Manchester Road included a pharmacy, soda fountain, newsstand, tobacco shop, photo booth, toy section, perfume counter and glass cases filled with novelties. The tin ceiling had revolving fans and old-fashioned lights.
Olga Korora, 82, a lifelong resident of Sixth Street, remembers hanging out as a girl at the Cozy Corner soda fountain, which was known for milkshakes, banana splits and cherry, vanilla and chocolate Cokes.
''At that time, they had those ice cream cones that had the two dips,'' she said. ''Sometimes they'd have a special and they'd have two dips on each side. Oh, they were good.''
When she was around 4 years old, she would amuse her sister and friends with the way she pronounced ''Cozy Corner.''
''I used to say it real fast:cozycornercozycorner,'' she said. ''It fascinated me. I didn't even know what cozy meant.''
Ostervich recalls buying comic books, baseball cards and plastic models at the store when he was a boy. He said his mother, Sophie Ostervich, and her sister, Bess George, enjoyed going there in the 1940s, and they related stories about World War II.
A bulletin board on the red-brick pillar at the front entrance kept track of where local soldiers were stationed. Enlistees sometimes climbed up to the tin ceiling to write their names. Happy reunions and sad departures took place at the Cozy Corner.
''One such occurrence was one of my mother's classmates at Kenmore High School,'' Ostervich said. ''An Italian boy named Joe, on his last night of leave before going overseas in the Air Corps, told everyone, 'We will meet here when I come back.'
''He never returned. His P-38 fighter was shot down over the Mediterranean Sea a few weeks later. He was never found.''
Ostervich's cousin Georgina George, 72, of Tallmadge, has fond memories of tagging along as a little girl with her Aunt Sophie to the Cozy Corner while her mother, Bess, worked.
''It was just a fun place,'' she said. ''I looked forward to going. I was young and I sat with my aunt and her friends. . . . I thought, 'Oh, wow. Someday when I'm older, I'm going to hang out here, too.' ''
The former Kenmore resident remembers walking with her aunt from Fifth Street to the Cozy Corner and enjoying treats while everyone socialized.
''These people that hung out there at the Cozy Corner were absolutely fun people,'' she said.
Patrol boys from Colonial Elementary School used to grab a quick snack before reporting to duty. Summit Beach Park visitors stopped by the soda fountain after the amusement park closed.
''Once in a while, I even have a dream about that place,'' Korora said. ''But in my dream, it's kind of transported back.''
In those years, the intersection was jammed with commerce. Across the street was Manchester Pharmacy, better known as Fred's Pharmacy because Fred Crouch owned it.
Nearby businesses included Zimmerly Bros., Cook's Grocery, Simon's Beverage, A&P Tea Co., Britton Hardware, Emich's Market, Kenmore Bakery, Jacob's Bar & Grill, Friendly Bar, Earl's Grill, Manchester Poultry, Manchester Cleaners, Jean's Beauty Salon and Houser's Supply.
Kenmore residents Wayne Hurd, 87, and his wife, Luella, 84, used to live on Fifth Street, only five doors from the boulevard, and could walk to every store.
''They had all kind of businesses there,'' Wayne said.
It was especially handy for Luella, who never drove a car.
''It's just hard to believe that there was so much stuff down in Kenmore at that time,'' she said. ''You could go down and get material, get thread, get anything you wanted.''
She pushed her children in a buggy to a get-well clinic in the neighborhood. Dr. Theodore Krutky also had an office on Manchester Road.
''He delivered all four of my kids, so I could walk right up around the corner down to my doctor,'' she said.
The demise of the business district can be summarized in one word: bypass.
In the late 1950s, there was bumper-to-bumper traffic in the business district — especially when trains were crossing Manchester Road. Several motorists were killed at the tracks.
Officials eliminated the hazard by building a bridge over the rails. Manchester Road was rerouted so traffic passed over Kenmore Boulevard. The $3 million span opened in 1960.
''That bridge did save a lot of lives, but it did kill the businesses,'' Bersnak said.
''It choked off everything,'' George said. ''It ruined that whole place.''
The Cozy Corner closed before the concrete was dry. Many other businesses followed suit.
For more than 30 years, the storefront housed the Ace Glass & Paint Co. while its upstairs apartments were rented out. The ownership changed hands several times. After the glass store relocated around the corner, the five-unit building stood vacant.
The city acquired the shuttered structure last August as part of Akron's land-banking project. The old store didn't put up a fight when the wrecking crews went to work last week.
''I was just amazed when I came off the ramp the other day at Manchester Road and I glanced over to my right,'' Ostervich said. ''I looked and I said, 'Oh, my goodness. That's the Cozy Corner they tore down.' ''
Korora also was flabbergasted when her son-in-law broke the news. She hurried to the scene to take one last look.
''It saddens me to see that building gone because it was a part of the area all of my life,'' Korora said.
Mark J. Price is a Beacon Journal copy editor. He can be reached at 330-996-3850 or mjprice@thebeaconjournal.com.
Memories are stronger than bricks and mortar. A building is gone, a corner is empty, but no one can demolish its history.
Older Kenmore residents were saddened but not necessarily surprised to see the razing of a 90-year-old storefront at Manchester Road and Kenmore Boulevard in Akron.
Once the center of a vibrant business district, the boarded-up Watters Building had been deteriorating for decades. The city tore it down last week, and motorists are doing double-takes as they drive past.
''You get sentimental about something that was there your whole life, and then all of a sudden, it's just a big pit,'' said Joe Ostervich, 62, of Kenmore.
The Cozy Corner is no more. Of course, it hadn't been the Cozy Corner for nearly 50 years.
William J. Watters built the two-story landmark around 1918 as the Watters Grocery Co., dealers in groceries and provisions. He soon turned it over to Samuel Smulo, whose confectionery was a popular hangout from the 1920s to 1950s.
''That's the original Halo business district,'' said David Bersnak, 60, president of the Kenmore Historical Society. ''Before Kenmore, there was Halo, just a little community that sprang up along the railroad tracks and streetcar line, which is now Kenmore Boulevard.''
Before the store was built, the name Cozy Corners applied to the entire intersection at Manchester and Kenmore. There are competing theories about the origin. One is that it was a close-knit community. The other is that it was a red-light district.
''So people can accept their own version of how it got its nickname Cozy Corners,'' Bersnak said.
The store known as Cozy Corner was a family-friendly business. Smulo, a Romanian immigrant, lived in an upstairs apartment with his wife, Rebecca, and daughter, Ella.
The business at 1962 Manchester Road included a pharmacy, soda fountain, newsstand, tobacco shop, photo booth, toy section, perfume counter and glass cases filled with novelties. The tin ceiling had revolving fans and old-fashioned lights.
Olga Korora, 82, a lifelong resident of Sixth Street, remembers hanging out as a girl at the Cozy Corner soda fountain, which was known for milkshakes, banana splits and cherry, vanilla and chocolate Cokes.
''At that time, they had those ice cream cones that had the two dips,'' she said. ''Sometimes they'd have a special and they'd have two dips on each side. Oh, they were good.''
When she was around 4 years old, she would amuse her sister and friends with the way she pronounced ''Cozy Corner.''
''I used to say it real fast:cozycornercozycorner,'' she said. ''It fascinated me. I didn't even know what cozy meant.''
Ostervich recalls buying comic books, baseball cards and plastic models at the store when he was a boy. He said his mother, Sophie Ostervich, and her sister, Bess George, enjoyed going there in the 1940s, and they related stories about World War II.
A bulletin board on the red-brick pillar at the front entrance kept track of where local soldiers were stationed. Enlistees sometimes climbed up to the tin ceiling to write their names. Happy reunions and sad departures took place at the Cozy Corner.
''One such occurrence was one of my mother's classmates at Kenmore High School,'' Ostervich said. ''An Italian boy named Joe, on his last night of leave before going overseas in the Air Corps, told everyone, 'We will meet here when I come back.'
''He never returned. His P-38 fighter was shot down over the Mediterranean Sea a few weeks later. He was never found.''
Ostervich's cousin Georgina George, 72, of Tallmadge, has fond memories of tagging along as a little girl with her Aunt Sophie to the Cozy Corner while her mother, Bess, worked.
''It was just a fun place,'' she said. ''I looked forward to going. I was young and I sat with my aunt and her friends. . . . I thought, 'Oh, wow. Someday when I'm older, I'm going to hang out here, too.' ''
The former Kenmore resident remembers walking with her aunt from Fifth Street to the Cozy Corner and enjoying treats while everyone socialized.
''These people that hung out there at the Cozy Corner were absolutely fun people,'' she said.
Patrol boys from Colonial Elementary School used to grab a quick snack before reporting to duty. Summit Beach Park visitors stopped by the soda fountain after the amusement park closed.
''Once in a while, I even have a dream about that place,'' Korora said. ''But in my dream, it's kind of transported back.''
In those years, the intersection was jammed with commerce. Across the street was Manchester Pharmacy, better known as Fred's Pharmacy because Fred Crouch owned it.
Nearby businesses included Zimmerly Bros., Cook's Grocery, Simon's Beverage, A&P Tea Co., Britton Hardware, Emich's Market, Kenmore Bakery, Jacob's Bar & Grill, Friendly Bar, Earl's Grill, Manchester Poultry, Manchester Cleaners, Jean's Beauty Salon and Houser's Supply.
Kenmore residents Wayne Hurd, 87, and his wife, Luella, 84, used to live on Fifth Street, only five doors from the boulevard, and could walk to every store.
''They had all kind of businesses there,'' Wayne said.
It was especially handy for Luella, who never drove a car.
''It's just hard to believe that there was so much stuff down in Kenmore at that time,'' she said. ''You could go down and get material, get thread, get anything you wanted.''
She pushed her children in a buggy to a get-well clinic in the neighborhood. Dr. Theodore Krutky also had an office on Manchester Road.
''He delivered all four of my kids, so I could walk right up around the corner down to my doctor,'' she said.
The demise of the business district can be summarized in one word: bypass.
In the late 1950s, there was bumper-to-bumper traffic in the business district — especially when trains were crossing Manchester Road. Several motorists were killed at the tracks.
Officials eliminated the hazard by building a bridge over the rails. Manchester Road was rerouted so traffic passed over Kenmore Boulevard. The $3 million span opened in 1960.
''That bridge did save a lot of lives, but it did kill the businesses,'' Bersnak said.
''It choked off everything,'' George said. ''It ruined that whole place.''
The Cozy Corner closed before the concrete was dry. Many other businesses followed suit.
For more than 30 years, the storefront housed the Ace Glass & Paint Co. while its upstairs apartments were rented out. The ownership changed hands several times. After the glass store relocated around the corner, the five-unit building stood vacant.
The city acquired the shuttered structure last August as part of Akron's land-banking project. The old store didn't put up a fight when the wrecking crews went to work last week.
''I was just amazed when I came off the ramp the other day at Manchester Road and I glanced over to my right,'' Ostervich said. ''I looked and I said, 'Oh, my goodness. That's the Cozy Corner they tore down.' ''
Korora also was flabbergasted when her son-in-law broke the news. She hurried to the scene to take one last look.
''It saddens me to see that building gone because it was a part of the area all of my life,'' Korora said.
Mark J. Price is a Beacon Journal copy editor. He can be reached at 330-996-3850 or mjprice@thebeaconjournal.com.
Comments
Click here to post your comments
Akron, OH
Posted 11:53 AM, 02/17/2009
And now, 50 years later, the bypass bridge is largely unnecessary.
Uniontown, OH
Posted 12:22 PM, 02/17/2009
ironic isn't it
Posted 01:04 PM, 02/17/2009
this article reminds you simplier times when people cared about people and you didn't worry about being mugged if you went out when it was dark. I wasn't born in Ohio and am too young to remember such a place. But I do remember the woolworth that was by my house. How they had a soda fountain and a counter where you could buy soda fountain drinks and a grilled tuna melt. With the red stools and the formica counter tops. it was a better time. I hope that my little girl has a place like that which she will remember when she grows up.
Barberton, OH
Posted 03:30 PM, 02/17/2009
...
Akron, OH
Posted 03:30 PM, 02/17/2009
We lived on West Hill, but my mother went to Zimerly's on Manchester Road to get meat. Those were the days.
rmk, akron
Pataskala, OH
Posted 07:34 PM, 02/17/2009
I wonder if any of the writing on that tin ceiling still existed. That, at least, should have been saved in some way.
Akron, Oh
Posted 08:38 PM, 02/17/2009
How about a Kenmore legend the "American Hotel"?
Good times...
Akron, OH
Posted 09:55 PM, 02/17/2009
"But I do remember the woolworth that was by my house. How they had a soda fountain and a counter where you could buy soda fountain drinks and a grilled tuna melt. With the red stools and the formica counter tops. it was a better time. I hope that my little girl has a place like that which she will remember when she grows up."
Remember in your "better time" Black people couldn't even eat at that same lunch counter. Take off your rose colored glasses.
My Heart Is In K-Town, .
Posted 09:58 PM, 02/17/2009
Say it ain't so! Another brick drops, and soon they all come tumbling down.
akron, oh
Posted 04:18 PM, 02/18/2009
Once again it does not matter what the subject, there is always some %&*#! that has to say something about black and white. What more do you want we already have a black president...Well almost black. Grow up people, Now Ya`ll can even own the lunch counter and don`t worry, us white folk won`t sit there and eat bean pies wit ya!
Medina, OH
Posted 01:22 PM, 02/25/2009
"Remember in your "better time" Black people couldn't even eat at that same lunch counter. Take off your rose colored glasses."
Your name is quite fitting and your racist-laden ignorance is nothing more than a weak attempt to run a fun, nostalgic story and forum off track. Last I checked, blacks and whites were both welcome at Woolworth lunch counters in the 60s and 70s. I remember fondly walking (by myself) to the Kresky's lunch counter in the Norton Plaza Woolworth in the early 1970s as a young child for a strawberry shake and grilled cheese. Your "poor me" attitude I suspect is more a cause of your problems than anything societal or socioeconomic.
