Ghosts of Ads Past (3230-32 N. High)
When I first moved to Clintonville, there was a prominent vintage-looking advertisement painted on the south side of the brick wall at 3230 North High Street. (Today, this faces the parking lot for the Clintonville Resource Center’s North High Street location.) Today the paint has mostly been removed, and I don’t have a picture of the billboard back then. The attached picture is from Google Street View in 2011.
I thought I remembered the billboard as being for “Clintonvilla Pizza,” and containing an ad for a cola drink with a tag line such as “Relieves Fatigue”–something that hearkens back to the days when soda drinks contained some invigorating pharmaceutical ingredient such as coca (or maybe just caffeine). Actually, that’s the real reason that the ad stuck with me. But truly, today I can no longer remember it.
Here is the history of that business:
—1956-1970: that address, or 3232 North High Street, was occupied by Pizza Villa Restaurant. Pizza Villa was owned by Fred DiPietro and Rose Bucci (both Clintonville residents in 1970). You can find an online obituary for Fred R. DiPietro (born April 25 1934, died Jan 17, 2007 at age 72), “owner of Pizza Villa in Delaware and Columbus OH”) here.
I found a Rose C. Bucci (born 11 Jul 1932, died 14 Sep 1994, lived initially in Columbus but died in a nursing home in Delaware County) who had been a manager of an eating establishment, but really, I’m just fishing and have no idea if this Rose was one of the owners.
Fred DiPietro may have gotten divorced in 1974. Regardless:
—1971-1973: Nothing was listed for that address.
—1974-1981: 3230 North High became PJ Villa Restaurant. It was PJ Villa until 1981.
—1984-86: it was Jim’s Pizza. After 1989, it was no longer a pizza establishment.
Does anyone remember the exact wording of the sign, or have any pictures of the billboard?
June 5th, 2018 at 4:19 pm
I will look because my friends and I practically lived at PJ’s back when Primo Perazza (Sonny) owned it. Best subs in the Ville plus pool and pinball! I seem to remember a picture of one or two of us out front that might HAVE the building’s advertisement visible in it.