The neon sign outside Belmont Garage in Lakewood. Photography by Jessica Turner.
Belmont Garage, an auto shop that opened in Lakewood in 1963, has closed.
The garage near the corner of Belmont Avenue and Abrams Road was founded by the Lewis family. Ray Lewis took over the business from his father in 1978. For more than a decade, Belmont Garage had been run by a woman named Kat, the business website says.
A sign on the door of the garage simply states the closure: “Officially closed. Thank you for all your business for the last 60 years!”
The garage handled a range of auto repair services, including work on air conditioning, electronics, fuel systems, suspension, brakes and steering.
Matt Yeager became manager of the garage in 2007. It took him about two years to convince the second-generation owner to renovate the place. That meant new paint on the brick, replacing the linoleum with black-and-white ceramic tiles and fixing up the vintage neon sign.
Belmont Garage remained near the intersection of Belmont Avenue and Abrams Road since it was founded in 1963. Photography by Renee Umsted.
The building and business stood the test of time, when others in our neighborhood were torn down or ceased operations.
Lewis spoke to the Advocate in 2003 about changes in Lakewood. Though he acknowledged that the neighborhood wasn’t exactly the same as it had been, that people and places had come and gone, Lewis maintained that the character of the neighborhood had been preserved. Here’s a bit of what he had to say:
“The biggest change I’ve seen is the lack of change. I can remember working on their parent’s cars, and then the kids move away and come back to raise a family, and then I work on their cars.
“People who live here won’t let bad things happen to the neighborhood. They’re always on their guard to prevent bad things from happening.”
Even now, Lakewood neighbors are working to preserve the architecturally significant homes through a conservation district expansion process.
