Clintonville Electric
In my previous post, I described the progressive "takeover" of the addresses 3361 North High through 3367 North High, by the business Clintonville Electric [Appliance] Store. Lloyd Beaman Hinton owned that business. From the library: Lloyd Beaman Hinton (6/3/1904 – 4/18/1994) is said to have founded Clintonville Electric Company in 1939. Hinton was an appliance salesman in Springfield, Ohio before moving to Columbus and becoming manager of Clintonville Electric at 3367 North High. He ran and expanded the business for 20 years until his stepson, Phillip William Karshner (6/1/1934 – 7/9/2022) took over. Karshner retired in 2004 and sold the [...]
How Clintonville Electric Has Changed!
The buildings along North High Street between Brighton and West North Broadway have engendered a lot of interest in recent years...and again recently as the final Clintonville Electric building is slated to come down. Joe Smith created a terrific animated GIF of photos showing how the span of buildings along 3361-3379 North High Street has changed. Click on the image above to watch. Thank you Joe! [Recent photos courtesy of Google Street View; pre-1980 photos are from the Columbus Metropolitan Library. Animation and all the labor involved are courtesy of Joe Smith.]
Clintonville Electric Building, 3363 N High
I'm delighted, and also sad, to learn that the derelict building that once housed Clintonville Electric is now in receivership. Why sad? The business most recently in that location was beloved by Clintonville residents; virtually everyone bought their appliances there. The original business owners were good citizens of their community. All that changed when the business changed hands and in 2004 left Clintonville (and subsequently went bankrupt, cheating half-dozen of its customers). Rumor has it that the property owners--who owned the properties from at least 1936 to the present day-- simply declined to either sell or to fix up the [...]
Clinton Inn Restaurant (3363 N High)
For many years, the addresses of 3361 and 3363 North High were a single res-taurant space owned & managed by Sam Spandos and his brother. In 1946, though, the space was divided and 3361 became part of Clintonville Electric. The space at 3363 continued as a restaurant under various names--Sam Spandos Restaurant, Lee's Restaurant, Far North Restaurant, and Mrs Rose DeMatties Restaurant. In 1950 the space reopened as the Clinton Inn. Described as "under new management by Rose and Tommy," it was a 24-hour restaurant (just as, I believe, its predecessors were). I am not sure who Tommy or Rose [...]
Tropicana Record Bar (3361 N High)
On November 10, 1945, Lloyd Hinton--the owner of Clintonville Electric--opened the Tropicana Record Bar at 3361 North High. It was described as having "a continental atmosphere... with four recording rooms each complete with custom-built high-fidelity sound equipment." Another description called it a "tropical motif with cabana style wall settings and palm trees completing an atmospheric layout" with 5 listening rooms. The store sold records and record players, and hosted music celebrities for signings and photo ops. Unfortunately in September 1953, a raging fire destroyed the Tropicana Record Bar and the restaurant next door. It began in the basement and became [...]
3361-3367 N High
This is a terrific picture of the 3361-3379 block of North High Street. To the left (south), at 3361 N High, is the Tropicana Record Bar. Next to that at 3363 N High is the Clinton Inn Restaurant. 3365 N High was occupied by J. L Oelgoetz Plumber; 3367 N High by Clintonville Electric. Then there are 2 more addresses (hidden behind the streetcar) to the south of the Clinton Theatre; one was a real estate broker and the other a beauty shop during this era. The Tropicana Record Bar opened in 1948, as a branch of Clintonville Electric. It [...]
Spiros Spantithos
I enjoy immigrant stories so thought I’d share the story of former Clintonville resident and business owner Spiros Spantithos, aka Sam Spandos. I’m piecing this story together from public records, so I may be wrong in the details and would be happy to be corrected or to receive more information! Spantithos is the original owner of the building(s) that eventually housed Clintonville Electric. Spantithos was born in Sparta, Greece, on Feb 15, 1884, and came to this country in 1902. In 1912 he returned to Greece and stayed until 1921, during which time he served 8 months (or perhaps 8 [...]
Oelgoetz Plumbing (3365 N High)
From September 1924 until 1955, the address 3365 N High was occupied by J.L. Oelgoetz Distributors (later calling themselves Plumbing and Heating Contractors). There's an old post with a photo of Mr. Oelgoetz's storefront here. While researching this, I happened on this amusing article about the theft of both a bathtub and a boulder. A bathtub, for $20? The "coal strike" in this Oelgoetz ad referred to a series of strikes in the bituminous coal mining regions of western Pennsylvania, and also to the anthracite coal strike in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The bituminous coal strike, which lasted from 1925 to 1928, [...]
Oakland Park & N High, 1922
I've previously mentioned Forest Ira Blanchard's wonderful master's thesis, which is a treasure trove of photos of Columbus in 1922. It contains this old photo of Clintonville at the intersection of Oakland Park and North High in 1922. The house on the left, west, side of North High Street is still with us! Here's that same intersection today. Here's Blanchard's accompanying text: Beyond Hudson Street to Arcadia Avenue, High Street is about solidly lined with small, but unattractive store rooms, this being the business section of the old, formerly outlying, hamlet of North Columbus. Here, at the corner of Arcadia [...]
Barnabas Phinney (1813-1899)
Barnabas Phinney (ca. 1813-1899) came to the area in 1838, and purchased 60 acres of land near the northwest corner of today’s Henderson Road and North High Street. In addition to farming, Phinney was an investor in the toll road running from Columbus to Worthington, and in the electric streetcar company. His house was said to be majestic. He and his wife had no children, and after his death most of the property was sold. A bit more biographical information can be found in A Centennial Biographical History of the City of Columbus and Franklin County Ohio (Chicago: The Lewis [...]