Toledo's Three Ls: Lamson's, Lion Store and Lasalle's (Landmarks) Paperback – Illustrated, June 25, 2013

This is a welcome history for anyone with roots in the Toledo area. I remember these wonderful icons vividly. My father was Head of Advertising for Lion Store in the 50's and 60's, after working for Lamson's and Lasalle's. I see his hand in many of the historical illustrations. Fashion was king, and Kopytek captures the mood accurately.This book is valuable for anyone wanting to learn how American cities were hollowed out in the late 20th Century.

Great read. Love the photographs, memorabilia, and personal histories that are included in the book. The author really did his research. If you love all things Toledo, like I do, then you will enjoy this book!

My mother worked on Saturday, but was off on Thursday. In the summer, we'd take the Traction Company bus from Central and Scott wood to Adams and St. Clair stop at Trinity Church. We'd spend the morning going through the three Ls and go the movie at the Valentine's theater or the Paramount for the matinee. I saw Gone With The Wind at the latter when I was seven or eight with my older cousin. I spent the last half hour or so of the movie running up and down the long main aisle because I was bored. This book brought back some great memories. The ending was a little abrup.

This is one of those books that was perhaps the hardest to write. To begin with there is very little source material to provide research enough to validate such work. The author somehow sifted through the rubble of this modern day Atlantis and produced a fragile and important record of Toledo, Ohio. At one time predicted to be the largest city in the world by 2000. Fate stepped in and decided otherwise. For whatever reason, Industrial failure-Jeep is still there, its proximity to Detroit-its already starting to revive, so forget that thought or an old Indian curse, this once "city of tomorrow" is now mostly an abandoned parking lot. In my lifetime, I watched its tragic decline.I grew up in a small town east of Toledo near Sandusky and Tiffin and clearly remember Lasalle's. My grandmother loved shopping there. My father worked in Toledo and would take me shopping at Tiedkes that had a massive toy section. I never forgot those epic shopping experience. We travelled by train to Detroit by train and I was amazed at the Toledo skyline. It was sleek, industrial and ever so modern to my little eyes. I was born in the year they tore down the Paramount Theater. My father told me stories of spending the day watching movies in its cavernous darkness while his mother and her friends shopped at Lasalle's and The Lion store.The 1970s brought hideous glass towers that somehow didn't fell or look right. I forged on however. I remember the Toledo Speedway Jam with Journey as the headlining act. I always felt that Toledo was the real rock and roll capitol. Yes, I drove out to the malls and shopped at Lions and was offered a credit card. Fate stepped in and I moved to Columbus and Toledo was just a memory. Upon seeing it again in 2009, I have to wonder what happened here?This book was a great trip to my misty childhood memories. Don't it always seem to go that we don't know what we got till its gone?

The author, Bruce Kopytek of "The Three Ls", traveled down from the state of Michigan into the swamp that was once Toledo, Ohio, and wrote this book which often straightens up and flies right---back into the old-time-Toledo downtown area, a nice place once but now nearly completely abandoned to asphalt parking lots and the relatively new Mud Hens Stadium.But, once upon a time, Toledo had a vibrant inner city, complete with skyscrapers, tasty eating places and three bright department stores, Lamson's, Lasalle's and the Lion Store.Seems that each of these stores was unique, beautiful and rather magnificent, at least according to Jamie Farr, the actor in MASH, who once lived in Toledo prior to his fame. He went to each of these stores back in the day and found them yummy.But, you see, now, these magnificent department stores do not exist. They are totally gone. Kaput. Somehow, Toledo destroyed its downtown by using a combination of knocking down older, classic buildings, then paving over of the city with parking lots, and then trying to use a downtown "mall" to bring folks back downtown.These techniques failed for obvious reasons, and the shoppers stayed away. However, "The Three Ls" tries to reconstitute these department stores, if only for the time it takes to read this book. Then, they disappear again forever.It seems that our author was unable to find many records, documents, history, historical films or photographs, left by the managements of these classic department stores, so the book has to rely on just a very few folks who collectively state, "Toledo was quite swell at one time." Then, to flesh out the book about the department stores, our author had to use advertisements, blurbs and a few artifacts to help complete the picture of these bygone stores. Luckily, he had many photos he had gleaned from his own collection or from the Toledo Library to help him.So, the reader is left without much gossip, little titillation and very few police reports, deaths, crimes, amusing anecdotes, or many of fun things that may have happened over the 100 years or so these stores existed. Instead, we get nearly every detail about nearly every move or reconstruction of these stores. We get some history of the builders. And, we get the names of the streets the stores once occupied.But, what could have helped, maybe, would have been a large, clear grid or map at the beginning of the book so we could picture the locations of these long-lost department stores as they moved from place to place.Then our brains might have been soothed, our parking places filled, and our curiosities satisfied.

A special book for me. I grew up in Toledo, Ohio and spent lots of time shopping in all three of these stores. My wedding gown came from Lion Store. This book takes me back to those days when it was a pleasure to shop and customer service was paramount. The author did a great job recapturing the beauty of these stores. If you cherish these stores, you will love this book. Thank you.

My wife's family is from Toledo, she worked part-time at The Lion Store while in college. She and her Brother both have copies of the book and have enjoyed the immensely.