Curtis Industries Exteriors, Eastlake Facility (Early 1960s)

Here are a few aerial and ground level photos of the Curtis Industries Eastlake Ohio facility when it was new, circa 1962-63. (A Nike missile site was located right down the street to the west.)

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Curtis Industries Key Sign Appears On “Stranger Things” (Netflix)

The famous Curtis Industries “Keys Made While You Watch” sign appeared on an episode of the Netflix series “Stranger Things” from season 3, released today, titled “Chapter Two: The Mall Rats.”  (I believe the sign was used in the late 1960s - early 1970s.) Here’s a screen grab from the episode where the sign appears.

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"Curtis Keys" Signs Appears in “Midsomer Murders” (UK)

"Curtis Keys" signs appeared in an episode of “Midsomer Murders” titled “Crime and Punishment” which aired in the U.K. on January 4, 2017. Three signs appear on a hardware store window, and in the same scene a "Curtis Keys" sign is above the rack of key blanks just left of center in the photo. The logo in the signs dates back to the mid 1980s. Here’s a photo from the episode!

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The Infamous Curtis Industries Tote Box

Certainly everyone who worked at the Eastlake Ohio facility recognizes the Curtis Industries tote box. In its “natural state,” it held items picked for orders as workers moved the order through the warehouse. But, these simple tote boxes brought employees a sense of dread as the tote boxes were also used when employees found their employment being ended (the boxes were used to remove their personal belongings). No one wanted to see someone from Human Resources coming to their work area on a Friday with a tote box in hand. (In case you’re wondering, I didn’t come by this one by losing my job!)

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Curtis Courier – December 1991

Here’s an issue of the Curtis Courier from December 1991. (Pages are loaded individually; please click on any page for a larger view.)

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Curtis Industries Old IBM Punch Card

Some of the Curtis Industries employees who worked at the company in the late 1960s and in the 1970s may recall the days where all information had to be input into the main computer using IBM punch cards. The “keypunch” department was located in a separate room in the Eastlake Ohio facility, right next to the computer room. These employees worked all day in a windowless room (that was often kept cold because of all the computer equipment in the next room) and typed all the data (for orders) on keypunch machines which generated IBM punch cards. These punch cards were eventually fed into the main computer to generate invoices. I don’t think the punch cards went away until the early 1980s when the company converted to a modern (well, it was modern for its time) computer system which eliminated the need for punch cards. After all these years, one punch card survived, Here’s a photo; this was a rejected card which were sometimes reused as scrap note paper. This card stayed around all these years as someone had written a recipe on the back. (Sorry, I don’t have that recipe, which was likely more interesting than this IBM card!)

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Curtis Courier – November 1989

Here’s an issue of the Curtis Courier from November 1989. (Pages are loaded individually; please click on any page for a larger view.)

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