CAMPETO

I can't find any pictures of the neighborhood when I lived there, 1971-76, or really any of how it looks now. Back then, the streets were gravel, there were no sidewalks, everyone's mailbox was out by the street, and there were ditches, about four feet wide, on both sides of the streets.

Officially, the neighborhood is called "Cityview", but the residents all called it "Campedo," which means, "the camp", I've been told. At first, I hated it there...all my friends who lived in Lorain proper called it, "the country". After a while, I got to like it. The people were mainly cool, mostly black folks, some hispanic, a few whites, but pretty much everyone got along.m I was going to Clearview High then, and even though I was usually in one sort of trouble or another there, It wasn't generally with other kids.

I lived in three different houses while I was there; my ma and Phil lived in two houses previous to Mike and me coming home from Boy's Town, me in June of '71, Mike in August of '73. We were poor, as were most of the folks living there, but it was all right- I felt more freedom out there, folks were generally laid back.

It's changed a lot...new houses, pavement and sidewalks, it looks a lot like any other neighborhood near the outskirts of town, more's the pity.