olds88
171 posts
Nov 06, 2013
9:41 AM
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I do remember a Spatz bakery and knew the family a little bit
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Billd1952
122 posts
Nov 06, 2013
10:00 AM
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I remember Spatz tavern very well. It was owned by a Dayton Firefighter, and his wife. Their son Steve was my friend and they lived upstairs at the Tavern. Every friday we would go to the Federation. Thats where I first saw,"Mutiny on the Bounty", "McKlintok",
"Sergeants Three", as well as all of the Beach Party movies.
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Syxpack
157 posts
Nov 06, 2013
12:14 PM
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Where was the Spatz Tavern on Xenia Avenue? I lived around there from about 1947 until 1960, but can't recall it. Maybe I'm so old that it came after that time. I remember the Nightcap, George and Ethel's, Hauptmans, Tony's which was next to the Federation and a few others that I can't recall the names. I think there was a Shamrock and a Highland, as well.
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Billd1952
125 posts
Nov 06, 2013
5:22 PM
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Spatz tavern was on the Northwest corner of Xenia Ave. and St Joseph Ave., Caddy corner from the Sohio station, across from Lawson's
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Mark1984
130 posts
Nov 06, 2013
6:06 PM
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Billd1952. Don't you mean the corner of St. Paul and Xenia where the former Sohio station is. St. Joseph was the orphanage a little further up St. Paul Ave. If I'm thinking of the same place. What use to be Spatz's tavern also had a house attached to the bar. Before 35 came through. St. Paul went all the way across Xenia Ave, what is now Boltin St. Caddy corner from the old Sohio is what use to be Wilson's garage. The last bar that was left on Xenia Ave, what was Sonny's Nightcap (now DJ's Nightcap) closed recently. What use to be a bar on almost every corner up and down Xenia Ave is now none.
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rdebross
88 posts
Nov 06, 2013
7:47 PM
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I lived at 1113 Xenia Avenue from 1950 to 1966. Spatz's Tavern was at the end of the 1100 block at St. Joseph Ave. I believe that Tom Spatz took over the bar in the early1950's from his father-in-law. Tom and his wife Leila and their two daughters lived upstairs. Tom Spatz was an all-around nice guy who ran a respectable establishment. It was very popular with folks in the neighborhood, especially my father. As a kid, I like to watch the Bonbright Distibutors trucks unload the aluminum barrels of Schoenling draught. The driver pulled them with a hook out the side door of the truck and let them fall on a big, thick rubber cushion. He'd then roll them along the sidewalk and down a ramp atop the basement steps accessed from steel doors along the sidewalk of St. Joseph Ave. I often got a piece of ice during the summer from the iceman's truck that delivered daily. Tom always cleaned the tavern on Sunday morning. Mats and runners were hosed down along the St. Joseph Avenue sidewalk when the weather was warm. My dad often took an old gallon vinegar jug with a cork stopper down to the tavern with him. He'd spend some time at the bar with a beer shooting the breeze with Tom Spatz and then bring draught beer home in the jug. He usually bought a half gallon because he knew Tom would fill it 3/4 full and only charge him for half. On hot summer nights our family would sit on the front porch waiting for dad to bring back the beer jug from Spatz's. The kids were allowed to have a few ounces in a juice glass. We'd talk to neighbors passing by on the sidewalk and hope to catch a little evening breeze in the humid summer heat.
Last Edited by rdebross on Nov 06, 2013 7:54 PM
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Billd1952
127 posts
Nov 07, 2013
6:31 AM
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Mark1984, the Sohio station at St. Paul and Xenia Ave., was built after 35 was extended to the downtown area. The Sohio at Xenia Ave. and St. Joseph was torn down. It had entrances on Xenia Ave., Lorain Ave., as well as on St.Joseph. There was also a Gulf station at Xenia and St. Paul.
rdebross, my friend who lived upstairs at Spatz, last name was Bach. He had a sister, but I don't remember her name. This was 1960-03/1964.,which is when we moved to Garfield St.
Last Edited by Billd1952 on Nov 07, 2013 6:34 AM
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Syxpack
158 posts
Nov 07, 2013
8:40 AM
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The biggest memory I have of Xenia and St. Paul Avenues happened in 1958. Smitty's little store on the northeast corner was swept off its foundation during a flash flood and Smitty later moved his little business over to the southwest corner. I had just gotten home from the hospital with my new son and there was a huge downpour. All of the lower part of Xenia Avenue was knee-deep in water. We lived a block off of Xenia Ave., on Church St. at the time.
Last Edited by Syxpack on Nov 07, 2013 8:43 AM
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icsalum
83 posts
Nov 07, 2013
9:55 AM
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rdebross - great story about growing up on Xenia Avenue. I noticed that your family address is now part
of route 35! Did your entire block (including the Spatz tavern) get destroyed by the late sixties construction? Did your family have to move because of the construction?
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rdebross
89 posts
Nov 07, 2013
1:38 PM
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iscalum - Yes the Rt. 35 freeway project took all the houses on the north side (odd numbers) of the 1100 block and most of the houses on the 1200 block of Xenia Avenue. The saddest part of the story of the Rt. 35 project was the ill-conceived plan to make a high-speed interchange for a proposed limited access highway through Walnut Hills and on to Kettering. The proposed highway was never built (thankfully), but the city/state cleared a massive number of houses to build the interchange from and to nowhere. The high-speed exit ramp from Rt. 35 east to Steve Whalen Blvd. has been deconstructed and replaced with a simpler exit ramp and stop sign (or light). The ground on which my boyhood home was built is now just a fenced area of grass. Seems to be land now available for a park or perhaps some type of new housing.
Last Edited by rdebross on Nov 07, 2013 1:39 PM
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rdebross
90 posts
Nov 07, 2013
1:56 PM
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I have fond memories of the Sohio station on Xenia Ave. at St. Joseph. The guys there probably made about 100 different patches to the innertubes of my 20 inch bicycle. They never made me pay a cent. My dad always bought gasoline there for his car (1937 Chevrolet, 1948 Dodge and 1958 Plymouth). I kind of liked the smell of the gasoline fumes while I sat in the backseat during the full service fill ups. Oil always checked and windows cleaned. All for a quarter or so for a gallon. The pumps put on a little entertainment too. The flowing gasoline went through a a little glass "blister" at the top, center of the pump. As it flowed, it juggled a collection of colored balls you could watch through the glass.
Last Edited by rdebross on Nov 07, 2013 1:57 PM
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rdebross
91 posts
Nov 07, 2013
2:03 PM
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Bild1952 You're probably right about the Bach's living above the tavern in the early 1960's. Tom Spatz died of a heart condition when I was in the 7th or 8th grade. That would be about 1959 or so. Leila Spatz and her daughters Terry and Lisa moved out after his death and I think Leila sold the business.
Last Edited by rdebross on Nov 07, 2013 2:04 PM
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rdebross
92 posts
Nov 07, 2013
2:26 PM
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Syxpack and Build1952 Summer on Xenia Avenue wouldn't have been nearly as much fun without the street floods. We never got water in our basement at 1113 but sometimes Tom Spatz did. The tavern had a steel door in the sidewalk on St. Joseph for taking beer kegs downstairs. The water would come pouring down the hills on St. Joseph, Xenia Ave and other hill streets to the east and south. If the water got high enough, it would wash over the steel door and run into the tavern basement. I remember seeing Tom outside quite a few times trying to build coffer dams with various materials to keep water off his basement sidewalk doors. I'm not sure if the water had as much sewage as people supposed. The neighborhood was built in early 1900's and later. Storm water sewers and sanitary sewers were usually separated by that time.
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Mark1984
131 posts
Nov 07, 2013
3:57 PM
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Billd1952. Thanks for the history lesson. I did not know there was another Sohio station there before the one I was talking about. The way Xenia Ave looks now is the way I've always recalled it. I didn't come along until 1966. I guess I'm the youngster here! I still have a relative who lives on Church St. When 35 was first being built. They thought they were going to lose their house to it. Then the route plan got changed and the house is obviously still there My aunt who lives there on Church graduated from Wilbur Wright the same year you did!
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Syxpack
160 posts
Nov 07, 2013
7:12 PM
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rdebross - maybe my memory is off if you say so. Much of my life is associated with Xenia Avenue. At my age, I can't swear to anything involving my memory. You have more reason than I do, to remember the empty lot, since you walked it 4 times a day, but I do remember the store floating off of its foundation. There were many flash floods. Do you happen to remember Smitty's little store? He was there for years on two different corners.
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Billd1952
129 posts
Nov 08, 2013
7:56 AM
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Mark1984, Building Rt 35 caused alot of changes to Xenia Ave.. As kids, we played in the construction area, when they were expanding 35 from the Woodman Dr., to the St. Nicholas St/Linden Ave., we used the survey sticks as swords. We had know idea what they were used for. Who is your aunt?
rdebross, I bet our paths have crossed. My last name is Davis, and I had siblings, John, Esta, Belinda and Betty. Do you remember fireball Joe, who worked for Sophie?
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Mark1984
133 posts
Nov 08, 2013
3:48 PM
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Billd1952. My aunt is LaDonna Glosser. I never knew that a lot of the streets along Xenia Ave connected to the streets up along Linden. I would really like to see a street map of the east end before 35 came through. Anyone know where I might find one? I know that Drummer Ave is what use to use to be Allen St. running from Xenia Ave and Samuel St. is what was the rest of Steele Ave before 35 came through. McClure kept its name as it was routed over 35
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rdebross
95 posts
Nov 08, 2013
4:48 PM
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SYXPACK I spent a lot of nickels on candy bars at Smitty's Mrkt. when it was on the SW corner Xenia/St. Paul. I believe Smitty sold the store to a guy named Joe Phelan later on.
HISTORYBUFF Thanks for the update on Lila Spatz and her girls. I lost track of them and only guessed at how Lila's name was spelled. btw I grew up with 2 older sisters, an older brother and 2 younger brothers on Xenia Ave. My two younger brothers, Tom and Jim, still live in the area. Tom is lawyer living in Beavercreek and Jim is a retired DDN reporter now teaching at Univ. Cincinnati.
BUILD1952 It's amazing we did not meet each other back in the day. I was born in "47 so maybe I was a little older. I knew Bobby and David Creekmur and a couple of older girls named "Butch" and Barb who lived on Parrot St., but no one named Davis. Joe Meyers I knew very well. I delivered DDN to his parents' house on Church St. from about 1958 to '63. His folks moved to a house on Xenia Avenue just below the hill near Linden. Joe became Sophie Reichold's errand runner after the move. He must have made 10 trips a day along Xenia Ave. to the business district near Steele Ave. I walked fast, but never could keep of with Joe.
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rdebross
96 posts
Nov 08, 2013
5:10 PM
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For anyone who wants to take a nostalgic tour of the mind past the bars of Xenia Ave. in the days it was still the Dutch (German) Blvd. here it goes. The New Era Restaurant was next to the A&P near Quitman St. I think that this greasy spoon place sold beer too. Next stop would be Tony's Bar next to the Federation Theater. St. Mary's church basement had a bar for special events - but wasn't open for business every day. Hauptmann's was across from Rusty's (Hodson's) Drugstore. The Nightcap was on the corner at Nassau St. Herbert's Tavern moved from Richard St. near St. Paul to house along the 800 block that was once the clubhouse for the Knights of St,. John circa 1962. The Shamrock was on the corner of Hulbert. The Shamrock had a nice beer garden out back, but I never saw it used. Once AC was invented the East Dayton factory workers didn't want anymore outdoor heat and humidity. The last of the bars was on the corner of St. Joseph Ave. - Spatz's Tavern (earlier Lapes or Loep's or something like that). If you stopped for a drink at each location you would have had quite a good evening.
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Syxpack
163 posts
Nov 09, 2013
12:35 PM
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rdebross - thanks for the tour down memory lane. It turned out to be more nostalgic than I had anticipated. When I was in high school in 1947, we moved in the double next door to the Meyers, when Joey Meyers was about 5 years old. When they moved out in 1959, my husband and I and children moved in their house (which was torn down last year.) That was 167 Church Street and my parents lived at 163 Church Street, where I was married in 1948. My parents lived there until about 1963-64, so you must have been their paper boy as they took the Journal Herald. Now the places, I remember in my time on Xenia Ave., start down by Wayne Ave at 25 Xenia, where my husband was born in 1929, Otterbein Church, Pete's Filling Station, next to Fire House #7, where my husband worked as a teen-ager, the Coca Cola Bottling Co., Luthman's Funeral Home, George and Ethel's bar (changed names many times), Evan's Bakery (owned by my sister-in-law and her husband), Hockey's Men Store, Beigel's Jewelry Store (still there), an appliance store, St. Marys School and nun's residence, ten-cent store, a small Beermans, a hardware store, Roderers Shoe store, Dr. Kuhr's new office, after he moved from the Federation Building, Feed Store, a pretzel business behind a house on the corner of the alley that ran between Xenia and Church Sts. Mark's Dry Goods, Mrs. Miller's Gift Shop (beside the Night Cap, which was my dad's favorite hang-out), a record shop in the basement of the building across from the Nightcap, Hauptman's house on the NE corner of Nassau, Kastle Electric, Mayfair Dry Cleaners, Gulf Station, and of course Smitty's. I could always find one of my husband's 3 sisters working as a bar maids in one of the many bars on the Avenue! That's about as far up Xenia Ave. that I ever ventured, but our friends did live on up in the more residential area. All these as well as the ones you mentioned. The last time I saw Joey Meyers was many years ago. He was selling flowers at the intersection of Linden and Smithville. I'm pretty sure, he has since passed away. I always liked him and yes, he was a very fast walker. All of these former business places that I used to frequent and now I'm afraid to walk down that street in the daylight. Somehow that brought to mind the St. Paul Movie Theater on the SW corner of St. Paul and Richard Sts. Remember that? There was also a drug store, bar, and a market at that intersection. My husband's aunt and cousin were killed when their car was hit by a passenger train at the St. Paul RR crossing in 1946.
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Mark1984
134 posts
Nov 09, 2013
12:58 PM
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Syxpack. Of all the places you just mentioned on Xenia Ave. Beigels is still there and I'm amazed that it is. The building that was Roderer shoes just got torn down. And its look the former Rusty's Pharmacy next door is next. It is being taken apart piece by piece. The convent for the nun's is long gone and honestly, I can't recall it being there. Smale's soft pretzels a little further down Xenia is still there and always seens to be busy whenever I go in. Once other people I work with found I live close to it. I get sent on early morning pretzel runs before I go in that morning. My fee for the retrieval is I get at least 1 pretzel!
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Billd1952
130 posts
Nov 09, 2013
1:48 PM
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There is photo of the old St. Paul Theater in the gallery section. The St. Paul later became the "House Of Fright" showing Horror movies. My 2 older sisters worked there.
Rusty's Drug store had the best cherry cokes. The Xenia Ave. Feed and Pet was fun to stop in. They had a monkey in there that would shake its cage and throw stuff.
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