Events Calendar
In This Section
Toyota recalls Prius, hybrids over glitch in brake software
Google lowers fee for breaking phone contract
Texas company buys vast gas resources
Buffett joins with Paulson in predicting big payback
Local families get helping hand
EU's decision to assist Greece gives Dow boost
Most Read Stories
Man robbed at Tallmadge Avenue eatery
Another winter punch heading toward Ohio
Four teens restrain man, take items from his Akron home
Complaints against officer keep coming
Police: Ohio girl dies after fall into snow bank
Cuyahoga Falls residents come home to find burning couch on balcony
Blogs:
First Bell - On Education:
No City of Akron basketball tonight
Pets:
Pet telethon re-airs
The Heldenfiles:
Chipmunks "Squeakquel" on DVD/BD March 30
Akron Zips:
Late surge gives Zips ugly road win
Tribe Matters:
Blogmail response on Hafner
Cleveland Browns:
Stallworth's contract terminated
Balanced Ledger:
QB in Browns future: another mock draft
Kent State Sports:
KSU Notes – February 9
Cleveland Cavaliers:
NBA Power Rankings from Around the Internet
Buckeye Blogging:
Buckeyes grab 18 players on signing day
Varsity Letters:
Garfield at Buchtel basketball
All Da King's Men:
Palin At The Tea Party Convention
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Republican Pre-Conditions
Akron Law Café:
Citizens United v. F.E.C. (Part 4): Kennedy's and O'Connor's Basic Approaches to Constitutional Decisionmaking – Top Down and Bottom Up
Car Chase:
Collector Car Hobby Loses One of the Best—Jim Roll
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Decisions Decisions: Credit Cards or Your Mortgage?
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Loucile is looking for a Lake Erie getaway in June for three kids, ages 1, 3, and 5.
Sound Check:
Talk of the Town – Top entertainment picks for the weekend
HRLite House:
Track HR Research
Akron Gamer:
Makers of 'Castle Crashers' unveil 'BattleBlock Theater'
See Jane Style:
Do IT this week: Layering
Story about shops still operating in Japan brings back many fond recollections in Akron area
By Lisa Abraham
Beacon Journal food writer
POSTED: 11:56 a.m. EST, Feb 24, 2009
Thanks to you, dear readers, I'm still humming the words to ''Roll on, Big O.''
When I decided about a month ago to tell you about Lawson's stores that were still operating in Japan, I could have never imagined the wave of nostalgia that would sweep across the Akron area, into my e-mail box and onto my phone line.
Behold the power of a tub of chip dip.
I didn't have a single message that wasn't full of warm feelings for the store that gave us our chipped chopped ham, ice cream and potato chips, with, of course, Lawson's Chip Dip.
I have to admit to sharing some of the same wistful feelings that so many readers expressed over the long-gone dairy store chain that started in Cuyahoga Falls. I know it's been gone for 25 years, but I still feel a tug on my heart when I see that familiar milk jug sign that used to be a fixture on what seemed like every corner in Northeast Ohio.
My most vivid Lawson's memory was going there with my dad, brother and sister when Lawson's would put its half-gallons of ice cream on sale. My dad would let each of us pick out our own flavor to take home and we'd always bring home butter pecan for my mother.
I am not alone.
''I miss seeing that big old blue sign with the white bottle on it. Those were good, happy, simple days,'' one reader wrote, after detailing the trips she made to the Arlington Road Lawson's with her brothers.
Many of you were quite good at finding old pop bottles to return, particularly when Lawson's was running a special on such things as its frozen ice pops, which sold for essentially the same nickel deposit that you got back on those pop bottles.
I heard from the man whose father painted the original milk jug sign on top of Lawson's Broad Boulevard dairy in Cuyahoga Falls.
One reader chastised me for not pointing out that founder J.J. Lawson, who started the milk company in 1939, was the first person to market milk in a glass gallon jug. Now you all know.
Many readers shared photos of their trips to Japan, where the touristy thing to do (if you are from the Akron area) is to take your picture in front of one of the 8,000 or so Lawson stores that operate there.
I've seen lots of vacation photos, and since you've all checked: No, they do not sell the chip dip at the Japanese Lawson's. It is, however, still sold at local Circle K stores.
And then there's that jingle.
''Roll on, Big O-o-o-o'' — the song that now haunts the corners of my mind.
One interesting piece of Lawson's trivia came from Chardon resident Jim Short, who says it was his uncle's truck that was used in that Lawson's commercial.
Short said his uncle, whose name was also Jim Short, was a trucker based in Florida and who, along with his son Roger, really did ''get that juice up to Lawson's in 40 hours.''
He hauled juice from Florida for Lawson's for most of the 1970s, and made the trip up and back about twice each week. Short said his uncle's truck was selected for the commercial, but the drivers in the ad (''one man sleeps while the other man drives'') were actors, not real truckers.
''When they went to do the commercial, he was on site and they liked his truck,'' Short explained.
For the record, the 50-year-old Short also was a former Lawson's shopper, where he recalled buying chipped chopped ham and chip dip and, of course, returning pop bottles for pocket money.
If you still haven't gotten your Lawson's fix, I suggest a visit to the Cuyahoga Falls Historical Society Museum at 2083 Cook St.
Curator Liz Cross took me through the other day and there are lots of Lawson's milk bottles, photos and other paraphernalia to look at, not to mention the rest of the history of Cuyahoga Falls, which is equally interesting.
There are even several toy replicas of Lawson's trucks.
It seems Big O will roll on in our memories forever.
Lisa A. Abraham can be reached at 330-996-3737 or labraham@thebeaconjournal.com.
Thanks to you, dear readers, I'm still humming the words to ''Roll on, Big O.''
When I decided about a month ago to tell you about Lawson's stores that were still operating in Japan, I could have never imagined the wave of nostalgia that would sweep across the Akron area, into my e-mail box and onto my phone line.
Behold the power of a tub of chip dip.
I didn't have a single message that wasn't full of warm feelings for the store that gave us our chipped chopped ham, ice cream and potato chips, with, of course, Lawson's Chip Dip.
I have to admit to sharing some of the same wistful feelings that so many readers expressed over the long-gone dairy store chain that started in Cuyahoga Falls. I know it's been gone for 25 years, but I still feel a tug on my heart when I see that familiar milk jug sign that used to be a fixture on what seemed like every corner in Northeast Ohio.
My most vivid Lawson's memory was going there with my dad, brother and sister when Lawson's would put its half-gallons of ice cream on sale. My dad would let each of us pick out our own flavor to take home and we'd always bring home butter pecan for my mother.
I am not alone.
''I miss seeing that big old blue sign with the white bottle on it. Those were good, happy, simple days,'' one reader wrote, after detailing the trips she made to the Arlington Road Lawson's with her brothers.
Many of you were quite good at finding old pop bottles to return, particularly when Lawson's was running a special on such things as its frozen ice pops, which sold for essentially the same nickel deposit that you got back on those pop bottles.
I heard from the man whose father painted the original milk jug sign on top of Lawson's Broad Boulevard dairy in Cuyahoga Falls.
One reader chastised me for not pointing out that founder J.J. Lawson, who started the milk company in 1939, was the first person to market milk in a glass gallon jug. Now you all know.
Many readers shared photos of their trips to Japan, where the touristy thing to do (if you are from the Akron area) is to take your picture in front of one of the 8,000 or so Lawson stores that operate there.
I've seen lots of vacation photos, and since you've all checked: No, they do not sell the chip dip at the Japanese Lawson's. It is, however, still sold at local Circle K stores.
And then there's that jingle.
''Roll on, Big O-o-o-o'' — the song that now haunts the corners of my mind.
One interesting piece of Lawson's trivia came from Chardon resident Jim Short, who says it was his uncle's truck that was used in that Lawson's commercial.
Short said his uncle, whose name was also Jim Short, was a trucker based in Florida and who, along with his son Roger, really did ''get that juice up to Lawson's in 40 hours.''
He hauled juice from Florida for Lawson's for most of the 1970s, and made the trip up and back about twice each week. Short said his uncle's truck was selected for the commercial, but the drivers in the ad (''one man sleeps while the other man drives'') were actors, not real truckers.
''When they went to do the commercial, he was on site and they liked his truck,'' Short explained.
For the record, the 50-year-old Short also was a former Lawson's shopper, where he recalled buying chipped chopped ham and chip dip and, of course, returning pop bottles for pocket money.
If you still haven't gotten your Lawson's fix, I suggest a visit to the Cuyahoga Falls Historical Society Museum at 2083 Cook St.
Curator Liz Cross took me through the other day and there are lots of Lawson's milk bottles, photos and other paraphernalia to look at, not to mention the rest of the history of Cuyahoga Falls, which is equally interesting.
There are even several toy replicas of Lawson's trucks.
It seems Big O will roll on in our memories forever.
Lisa A. Abraham can be reached at 330-996-3737 or labraham@thebeaconjournal.com.
Comments
Click here to post your comments
Akron, OH
Posted 01:18 PM, 02/24/2009
Nobody mentioned Lawson's Eggnog! It was the best!
akron, oh
Posted 03:00 PM, 02/24/2009
Isn't the Internet great?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7r6A6YQdtI
akron, oh
Posted 03:02 PM, 02/24/2009
Also a SOHIO TV spot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVOJ2RqNYzg
Posted 03:10 PM, 02/24/2009
What great memories, wish they were still going strong in the Falls !
Oh, that wonderful smell when they were baking bread.
Remember the original Rick Case Honda motorcycle store on State Road? And the Embers II, the mold and die companies around Front St., and of course Monkey Wards, ha.
Posted 03:28 PM, 02/24/2009
I'm 32 and the Lawson's brand was just beginning to die out in NE Ohio when my family moved back to town in 1984. I don't really have any positive or negative memories of it. We had one up the street in Jackson Twp. I believe it became a King Kwick later before being bought out by Dairy Mart? I'd buy baseball cards and Garbage Pail kids there. I do miss the idea of kids being able to buy some entertainment for just .25 cents like that.
But I am just old enough to be able to have memories of collecting pop bottles to return them for dimes at the grocery store/convenience store. We collected aluminum cans for fun/cash too. I once spotted a 4-pack of empty 1-liter Pepsi bottles in a parking lot and convinced my dad to pull over and let me retrieve them. Those were worth .20 cents each. He made me split the money with my little brother though :-(
Posted 05:34 PM, 02/24/2009
no body mentioned the blizzard of the late 40's or very early 50's when the roads and schools were closed and the Lawson's trucks followed snowplows to the Lawson stores so we would have access to milk and bread------- we kids made it to Johnson Elementary in Barberton------ but the teachers didn't, so we had to plow through the snow back home.
Kandi, SL
Posted 07:16 PM, 02/24/2009
Okay. Now let's start the Nickel's Bread Truck thread!
Posted 07:22 PM, 02/24/2009
My "little bother"(not brother) and I sang Big O on Copley Rd. and the truck driver gave us cane !!!!
Posted 08:31 PM, 02/24/2009
OMG the smell of their bread baking as you went through the Falls was out of this world and to eat it fresh was too....yyyyyyummmmmmyyyyy. Brings back the good old days.
Posted 09:05 PM, 02/24/2009
I was delighted when I first found the Big O commercial on UTube.
Used to stop frequently at the Wooster-Hawkins Lawsons around 3 a.m. to buy chip-chop on my way home from Barberton. I guess they were open 24 hours...
Oak Island, NC
Posted 10:03 PM, 02/24/2009
I am a former resident of Rootstown, currently living in North Carolina and working in Asia.
Imagine my surprise when I visited Japan and found out that the largest convienance store in Japan is Lawsons.The stores are complete down to the logo.
Akron, OH
Posted 08:28 AM, 02/25/2009
Lawson's sour cream and green onion dip.
Cuyahoga Falls, Oh
Posted 09:16 AM, 02/25/2009
It is sad to think that nobody is remembering that the employees of Lawsons went out on strike for better wages in the early 80's and the new owner Charlie Nerenburg from Connetucut locked them out and would not come back to the table. during that time the plant and the surrounding parking lots were neglected to the point the neighbors had to beg the city to force them to clean up.
They replaced most of the workers who had worked the plant or drove their trucks for a most of their lives with non union unskilled workers, the dairy and ice cream plant was closed and the bakery sold to Schewbles.
Just like everything else, greed made it all go away
east of Akron, AA
Posted 09:16 AM, 02/25/2009
ahhhhh....nostalgia waxing poetic across my computer screen.... sniff, sniff. I miss those days!
Posted 10:47 AM, 02/25/2009
Here is one more for the history books, according to family lore: Around 1939 or 1940, Jean Lawson had a plant on Home Avenue in Akron about 1 or 2 miles south of what would be the Broad Boulevard plant in The Falls. Business boomed so quickly, that he needed additional space for secretaries to type. He rented the front room of my parents house at 1631 Home Avenue, just up a little hill from the plant. (The house, built around 1870, is still standing, I believe). My father asked him why he put his plant out(in what was then) the middle of nowhere. He replied that the well water was over 96% pure and useful in the bottling of Lawson's milk. It was not long before they moved into the Broad Boulevard facility and no longer need space at my parents' house.
Posted 11:45 AM, 02/25/2009
Love the story and the comments; thanks for the great memories Lawson's & neighbors. My hubby (from FL) didn't believe they drove orange juice up to Ohio in 40 hours and I played it for him. He moved here in the 80's when it was already Dairy Mart. I have some milk jugs too.
Akron, Oh
Posted 12:56 PM, 02/25/2009
Oh...good times!
Akron, Oh
Posted 01:07 PM, 02/25/2009
Hey..do you remember the notes from our parents saying..."give my child 2 packs of cigarettes" and signed it Mrs or Mrs so & so ?HEHE And those empty pop bottles were great for candy!
Uniontown, OH
Posted 02:24 PM, 02/25/2009
Working girl,
Ha ha I do remember that, and my mother cringes when us kids bring it up!!
Akron, OH
Posted 04:27 PM, 02/25/2009
I remember my father talking to the manager of the Wadsworth Lawson's and asking him why there weren't any Captain Krunch Ice Cream bars. That was my favorite treat there!
Copley, OH
Posted 04:48 PM, 02/25/2009
Hey working girl: Good times is right! I used to go to the store for a handicapped neighbor with a note for cigarettes all the time. Times sure have changed!
Ravenswood, WV
Posted 06:22 PM, 02/25/2009
I couldn't count the gallons of milk, loaves of bread and all those eggs I hauled on the handle bars of my bike as a kid. My older brother never wanted to share the chip dip with me either. (I still owe him for that) I grew up with the Wooster Rd. - 19th Street Lawsons in Barberton. I can see it like it was yesterday.......I'm comin' after you big brother!
barberton, oh
Posted 10:31 PM, 02/25/2009
Remember when the rubber and steel plants were booming and people had jobs and the snow came down a brownish-grey?
Them was the days.
Ravenswood, WV
Posted 02:27 PM, 02/26/2009
I remember well dark beast, the black gritty chunx of whatever that stuff was. Oh yeah......... I dusted it off my bike before I went to lawsons. You are so right..them was the days. I needed the chip dip to get the taste of the air out of my mouth.
Posted 06:57 PM, 02/26/2009
pickel in one hand icee in another and a pound of chip chop....what memories
akron, Oh
Posted 11:30 PM, 02/26/2009
Now I know why people are so overweight in Ohio.
akron, oh
Posted 08:07 AM, 02/27/2009
THE BEST CHIP DIP AND CHIPPED HAM IN THE CITY
Akron, OH
Posted 06:02 PM, 02/27/2009
Yes, I remember Lawsons well, every time I recall my cousins' birthdays. We didn't have "goodie bags" back then, just good cake and ice cream, and we played games. One of the favorites required that you stand on a chair and drop wooden clothespins (remember those?) into a wide-mouthed glass milk jug, and those jugs always read "Lawsons" on the side.
Kandi, SL
Posted 09:09 PM, 02/27/2009
When the article about the "Happy Lawson" store in Yokohama (which apparently started this whole discussion) ran in the local paper here where I live, back in November, it referred to the original Lawsons as something akin to a "Seven-Eleven imitator". The headline writer had no idea it was America's first convenience store. But he never ate chip-chop ham either!
CUYAHOGA FALLS, OH
Posted 09:45 PM, 02/28/2009
HI I WAS THE LAWSONS BABY THEY USED MY PICTURE IN ALL THERE ADDS IN THE PAPER . I WILL BRING IN THE COPIES MY MOM SAVED TO THE COOK ST.
