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Los Angeles, August 24, 2010 – The history of tobacco in many countries involved placing a symbol in front of a specialty shop, such as an Indian in the U.S. or perhaps a figure of Punch in Europe.
How about Sir Walter Raleigh?
The famous Englishman, who helped to popularize tobacco in Europe, isn't usually thought of as a cigar-store mascot, but he is certainly an appropriate subject. An entertaining story on a 5-foot, 10-inch wooden statue of Raleigh is featured in the Akron Beacon-Journal today, along with an excellent photo gallery (from which the above photograph was used).
The story notes that the statue dates back to 1870 and was in front of the Hamilton Cigar Store in Akron until the building was razed to make way for a skyscraper, and was later donated to the Summit County Historical Society, which has it parked at the Akron History Museum.
As the story points out, however, Raleigh now stands "guard" at a non-smoking facility. Dear dead days . . .
~ Rich Perelman
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