Thursday, March 10, 2016

Memories of Old Stone Villa Part 4

A Lorain Journal ad from June 15, 1939
Ads for the Old Stone Villa appeared in the Lorain Journal occasionally through the years. Since it was located on Oberlin Avenue well south of the city limits – just like the Airport Tavern, another frequent newspaper advertiser – perhaps that’s not too surprising.

Sometime around the mid-1950s, the word ‘Old’ was dropped from some ads and directory listings.
1955 Lorain Telephone directory ad
As Linda Harding mentioned in her reminisces, she watched the land adjacent to the Old Stone Villa being developed. The ad below for Jet Auto Sales, which ran in the October 30, 1958 Amherst News-Times, uses the Old Stone Villa as a landmark for directions to the car lot.
So does this August 4, 1960 Amherst News-Times ad for the Jet Auto Wash.
By 1968, promotion for the restaurant was going in a new direction. The ad below, which ran in the Lorain phone book that year, promotes the Stone Villa restaurant as the House of Beef.
By the time of the 1969 phone book, the ‘Stone Villa’ name was dropped and the restaurant was simply the House of Beef.
Next: the rest of the story

3 comments:

Dennis T said...

Funny that their little map is incorrect. Oberlin Ave ends at North Ridge, it doesn't go past like they show. And the "X" is in the cemetery, the Stone Villa is across the street. D

Dan Brady said...

Ha! I noticed that too, even without my cheaters on!

When I saw that there was a comment on this post, I thought someone was going to mention how the House of Beef ad reminded them of the old SCTV show where Doctor Tongue, Bruno and Count Floyd opened their own restaurant, the 3D House of Beef, "the only place in town with good 3D entertainment and an excellent cut of beef."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEnCKEfSgUM

Rick Kurish said...

I believe that the Ross family who owned the restaurant also owned other businesses on that corner, The Jet Autowash was one, and I believe they also owned a Sunoco service station on that corner. The Jet Autowash was one of the first automated car washes in the area, and I believe dates from the late 1950s. It was quite popular when it first opened.