Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Landmark Vermilion Restaurants Run by Busy Lorain Mother – 1964

Since I’ve been writing about Erie County restaurants this week, here’s an interesting article about Mrs. Thelma Wise,  a Lorain woman who was running one of Vermilion’s landmark restaurants in 1964: Leidheiser’s Restaurant. She was also about to add the former Okagi Restaurant to her Vermilion restaurant portfolio.

The article below ran in the Lorain Journal on March 9, 1964.

Mrs. Wise had been the owner and manager of Leidheiser’s since her husband passed away 14 months earlier, and according to the article had acquired the popular Okagi Restaurant, which was two doors down to the east. She was planning on renaming it, “Leidheiser’s Vacationland Room.”

You can learn about the Okagi over on Rich Tarrant’s great Vermilion Views website. There’s an article here about the restaurant’s original owners. You can also type the word ‘Okagi’ in the search engine at the bottom of the Vermilion Views website page, which will bring up links to even more articles and wonderful vintage photos of the restaurant.

Courtesy Rich Tarrant’s Vermilion Views website
Former Okagi Restaurant today