The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Hispanic history exhibit ready to open
Vine Avenue, oral histories at center of new displays
A new exhibit collects the historical facts and personal memories that make up Lorain’s Latino history.
A new exhibit collects the historical facts and personal memories that make up Lorain’s Latino history.
The Latino Lorain History Project is a collaboration among the Lorain Historical Society, El Centro de Servicios Sociales Inc. and Oberlin College.
It’s been a two-year effort to compile and organize the stories, photographs and artifacts that document the city’s Hispanic heritage.
On Sept. 9, the planning committee gathered for the preview party of “Celebrating 100 Years — Latino History in Lorain Ohio.”
The exhibit has displays with photographs, dates and quotations from 11 oral history interviewees: Celestino Rivera, Eileen Torres, Hugo Tenorio, Joel Arredondo, Gladys Santana, Cookie Arroyo, Marcie Martinez Sweat, Ronald Ramsey, Maria Berrios, Fred Lozano and Sonia Charles.
Vine Avenue is the geographic center, “one of the legendary hotspots representing Latino history in Lorain,” according to the official description.
The exhibit will open Sept. 15 for Hispanic Heritage Month and continue through Oct. 30.
Meet Vine Avenue
The preview party speakers included Lorain Historical Society Executive Director Barb Piscopo, El Centro Executive Director Victor Leandry, Oberlin College professor of comparative American studies Gina Perez and designer Jesse Guardado, who explained his artistic vision for the displays to bring forward certain communications.
“I looked at the copy, I looked at the photographs, I saw how things were married together and what can be a priority … then I looked at the logos that needed to be established,” Guardado said.
The Vine Avenue logo tells its own story.
The script of “Vine” is simple, but the letters of “Avenue” are ornate and colored, with each letter bringing about the connotation of an ethnic background, he said.
Behind the words shines a Puerto Rican image of the sun suggested by Leandry, Guardado said.
Vine Avenue leads to the steel mill that drew people to work on South Lorain.
There are street signs representing categories such as Religion and Spirituality, Night Life and Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
A map showed by 1918, Vine Avenue already had a number of businesses established, Guardado said.
“It brought to my attention that this was a very lively, energetic, prosperous and family community,” he said.
Guardado compared it to Cleveland’s “Little Italy, times three.”
He also credited his parents, Eva and the late Jesse Guardado, natives of Mexico who raised their family in Parma.
The elder Jesse Guardado went to college later in life and became a commercial designer, teaching that trade to his son.
Sharing stories
In 2020, the planning committee created a tool kit for educators to teach about Hispanic Heritage month.
It has been well received by teachers all around Lorain County, Leandry said, and the organizers can supply more resources for educators.
A website is under development.
Families who have papers, photos or other items to share can bring them to the Lorain Historical Society to make digital copies for the group’s archives.
Once copied, the documents become part of the city’s historic record and donors keep the originals, Piscopo said.
Anyone who would like to share their memories can be interviewed for the Historical Society’s oral histories.
“This is not a one and done,” Piscopo said. “This is really an ongoing project, so we really welcome your ideas, your suggestions and we need your continued involvement.”
The organizers want to preserve the memories of those who lived Lorain’s Latino history and for young people to learn what they can do to continue building the community of Lorain, she said.
The exhibit will open to the public Sept. 15 and continue from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, through Oct. 30 at the Historical Society’s Carnegie Center, 329 W. 10th St.
For more information on this exhibit or to be a sponsor for the exhibit, contact Bethany Tober, special projects and social media coordinator at the Historical Society, at btober@lorainhistory.org or by calling 440-245-2563.
Piscopo asked all the attendees to bring at least two more friends before Oct. 30.
“This is the community’s exhibit, and we really want to make sure that however possible, the community is able to get here to see the exhibit,” she said.