Thursday, October 13, 2011

From the E-Mailbag #3: Westgate Dairy Isle

Yesterday I noticed a comment posted on my blog entry from late April about 1950's Lorain Dairy Queen ads (back here).

A person asked, "What was the name of the ice cream stand on W. 21st Street in Lorain, Ohio during the 1960's and 70's? It was located just past the Westgate shopping center and on the same side of the road. It is now for sale and from the picture it looks like the name on the large cone says Dairy Twist. However, we lived nearby and patronized it often but remember the name to be Dairy Isle. Can anyone refresh my memory?"

That's a great question. I thought about it, and even though as a kid I rode my bike there a couple of times from Skyline Drive, I couldn't remember what the name was originally, or even what it was when it closed. So I dropped by the library Wednesday night to find out.

It turns out that the official name of the ice cream stand when it opened around 1971 was Westgate Dairy Isle, at least according to the city directory. It kept that name all the way up to about 1994, when it became Mr. Twister.


It's kind of interesting that whether you enjoyed eating ice cream here, or at Lorain Creamery (like my family did) you had the train tracks running right alongside for entertainment.


Anyway, in case you have a hankering to run an ice cream stand, here's the link to the real estate company that currently has the business at 2910 West 21st Street listed for sale. It comes with two Taylor Ice Cream machines and a pizza oven!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

-Alan here....

When we lived in Leavitt Homes in 1966-67, it was Dairy Isle; my favorite was the chocolate dipped cone.

Dan Brady said...

Your memory's trumped my research 2 days in a row! I couldn't find it before 1971 in the books. Maybe they didn't have a phone!

Anonymous said...

I remember the Dairy Isle, but I also remember a soft serve place near where the Arthur Treachers was and they had the best soft serve. We lived on Meister Rd and my dad used to take me there.
Anyone remember that place?

Chuck Short

Anonymous said...

It was Dairy Isle and my family owned it in the 70’s.