Kelly's Hamburgers Becomes Casey's – March 1965

Casey's Drive-in, the defunct Northeast Ohio hamburger chain that had restaurants in Lorain, Vermilion, Elyria, Rocky River and North Royalton has been a favorite topic on this blog. As I've noted before, there's not much on the internet about this chain that had hoped to mimic McDonald's success. 

There's not much about the short-lived chain that preceded Casey's – namely, the Dania, Florida-based Kelly's Hamburgers – either. I did a post about the 1962 Grand Opening of the Kelly's restaurant on North Ridge Road across from the O'Neil - Sheffield Center back here.

Is that a McD-like arch as part of the sign?

Well, here’s another piece of the puzzle. The defunct-brands.fandom.com website notes, “Kelly's Hamburgers (going under the corporate name of Kelly's Jet System) was established in 1958 with the opening of a restaurant location in Hallandale Beach, Florida. It was a division of Continental Franchises, Inc., a company which (as the name suggests) specializes in franchises and leasing. Said company planned to open around 50 restaurants under the Kelly's name throughout the United States.

"By the early 1960's, Kelly's operated several hamburger stands throughout the states of Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Wisconsin. 

"In 1964, Kelly's merged with competitor chain Mr. Moe Drive In. This caused a small number of Kelly's locations to close and re-open as Mr. Moe a year later. Despite this however, Kelly's continued to operate under their own name throughout the following years.

"Not much is known about the Kelly's chain, with it being assumed that most of the chain disappeared in 1974, with the chain’s final locations closing sometime in 1976." 

Apparently, the merger with Mr. Moe must have muddied the waters for the sole Kelly's restaurant in Lorain County, and the owners decided to switch their affiliation to a brand new chain: Casey's Drive-in. This article from the March 6, 1965 Lorain Journal tells the story.

In that same edition of the Journal, an ad on the restaurant page sought to reassure existing customers that only the name was being changed – not the staff, food or service.

It's interesting that the mustachioed Casey baseball mascot hadn't been created yet by the ad agency, or it wasn't provided to the Journal for use in the ad.

The people behind Casey's wasted no time expanding. Within a few months, construction began on the Vermilion restaurant, as noted in this Journal article from the May 12, 1965 outlet.

For a while there were only three restaurants: the one on North Ridge, the one in Vermilion, and one on Center Ridge in Rocky River.

Oct. 28, 1966 Journal ad

The restaurant on W. 21st Street in Lorain held its Grand Opening on December 14, 1968.

Unfortunately, the Casey's Drive-ins in Lorain and Elyria seemed to be a favorite for stickup artists. Here's a news item about the restaurant on North Ridge Road being robbed, from the May 14, 1970 Journal.

The Casey's restaurant on North Ridge was vacant by the time of the 1970 city directories, but the one in Lorain stepped up to the plate to keep the chain alive during that decade. In time, the mascot was dropped, in favor of making room in the ads for more food specials and promotions.

Sept. 24, 1970

Aug. 28, 1975

The Casey's restaurant on W. 21st Street remained open up until the latter half of the 1980s, when Pine Garden Restaurant replaced it at that location.

March 17, 1988

Pine Garden was a hit with the Journal, who gave it a hearty thumbs up in its restaurant review columns.

Pine Garden is still in business at the W. 21st Street location. Sadly, the former Kelly's/Casey's North Ridge Road location remains boarded up after a series of subsequent eateries tried to make a go of it there.

The view from yesterday

The days of the small, regional burger chains designed to challenge the big boys (both literally and figuratively) are apparently over. Nevertheless, the 1960s remain a fascinating time for fast food, during which many of the now-biggest names experienced massive growth, and the little ones like Kelly's and Casey's struck out.

Grand Opening of Kelly's Jet System Hamburgers – August 24, 1962

There were many hamburger chains that were launched in the 1950s and 60s to compete with McDonald's. Unfortunately, most of them (except for Burger King) ended up flattened like a burger under a heavy spatula by the staggering power of the mighty Golden Arches.

I've written about a few of the burger wanna-be's that tried their luck in Lorain County, including Sandy's Hamburgers and Casey's Drive-in. But there was one that came and went so fast that it is little-remembered today: Kelly's. That's why it's ironic that its building remains there on North Ridge Road, across from the old Sheffield Center.

And below is the full-page Grand Opening ad for Kelly's that appeared in the Journal back on August 24, 1962.

It seems like McDonald's was certainly the template for Kelly's. McDonald's had its 'Speedee Service System;' Kelly's was called 'Jet System.' Even Kelly's sign featured an arch of sorts.

This green, vintage paper hat makes me think that the name Kelly's might have originally signaled an Irish theme. 

But somehow the mascot resembling a butler doesn't jive with that theory, or the whole futuristic 'Jet System' gimmick either.

Like I said back on this post, Kelly's became a Casey's Drive-in by the time of the 1966 city directory. I guess people just didn't 'love that Kelly's' enough to keep it in business.

Casey’s Drive-in Ad – March 23, 1968

This blog is still one of the few places on the internet where you can find any mention of Casey’s Drive-in, the Northeast Ohio hamburger chain with the baseball theme that had restaurants in Lorain, Elyria, Vermilion, Rocky River and North Royalton. (I’ve done many posts about it since 2009.)

Well, here’s another vintage newspaper ad to add to the growing collection of online Casey’s memorabilia.  It ran in the Lorain Journal on March 23, 1968 – fifty years ago this month.

It’s a clever promotion, giving away kites in the windy month of March with the restaurant’s great Casey mascot on it. But more importantly, it has the one ingredient that is missing from most fast food restaurant marketing campaigns today: fun.

Today’s fast food restaurants try to convince potential customers that their food is the freshest, or that you can get your meal exactly how you want it, as if you made it yourself in your own kitchen – with local ingredients. 

My thought is that if I wanted that, then I would buy the ingredients at my local grocery store and make it myself for a lot less money.

I much prefer the days when fast food was a treat, and something fun.

Casey’s Drive-in Grand Opening – December 1968

Forty-eight years ago this month, a new fast food drive-in “stepped up to the plate” to take on McDonald’s and Sandy’s on the west side of Lorain.

As seen in the full-page ad above which ran in the Journal on December 13, 1968, Casey’s Drive-in was that rookie hamburger chain. It celebrated the Grand Opening of its West 21st Street location on December 14 and 15, 1968.

It would later be joined by another location in Lorain on Route 254, as well as outlets in Vermilion, Elyria, Rocky River and North Royalton.

Drawing on the 1888 baseball poem "Casey at the Bat" for its theme, Casey’s Drive-in had a great old time ballplayer advertising mascot. The restaurant also had a real, live Casey to make personal appearances (as noted in the above Grand Opening ad). This real Casey also appeared in some ads in place of the cartoon mascot, such as this late 1960s ad from the Elyria phone book.

Casey’s used its baseball theme to good marketing advantage, sometimes employing personal appearances by Cleveland Indians players (which I wrote about here).

Today, the largely forgotten restaurant chain's West 21st Street location in Lorain is home to the popular Pine Garden Chinese-American Restaurant.

Kelly's Jet System Hamburgers – 1963

St. Patrick's Day is almost here, so here's a St. Pat-themed ad for Kelly's Jet System Hamburgers that ran in the Lorain Journal on March 15, 1963 – 50 years ago this week.

What's that? You don't remember that particular hamburger chain?

I gotta admit, I didn't either – even though the fast food outlet was on North Ridge Road right across from the O'Neil - Sheffield Center.

Kelly's Hamburger Drive-in first appeared in the 1963 Lorain City Directory at 1390 N. Ridge Road – but not for long. After only a few years, the outlet was listed as a Casey's Drive-in in the 1966 directory.

And then, by the time of the 1970 directory, the building was listed as vacant. It would take until the 1974 book for another tenant to take over: Mary's Ice Cream Parlor.

The former Kelly's/Casey's building is still there today (below), with a new address – 42675 N. Ridge. The building retains some of the Kelly's diamond-shaped graphics.

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There's not too much about the Kelly's Hamburger system on the internet. This Flickr® site included the vintage photo below of a Kelly's outlet in Warren, Michigan.

And this Flickr set includes a vintage Kelly's ad.

Casey's Drive In Ad Featuring 1969 Cleveland Indians

Here's kind of a neat Lorain Journal newspaper ad for local hamburger chain Casey's Drive In, one of the topics (here) from the first year of this blog.

The ad dates from late June 1969 and features upcoming in-store appearances from some of the Cleveland Indians that year. (Give it a click so you can read it.) Looks like Luis Tiant was at the Casey's by me on 21st Street.

We were big into the Indians about that time, thanks to the free tickets we used to get from the Cleveland Press for getting straight A's on our report cards. It was a nice deal. We saw a lot of free games that way.

Back here I explained how I got Dave Nelson's autograph in 1968.

The Casey's deal shown above sure was a nice promotion for the kids. I highly doubt that any Major League ballplayers would be doing that sort of thing today on their day off – which helps explain why some kids, while growing up, never bond with the local team and root for other teams (like the Yankees) instead.

Forgotten Fast Foods: Casey's Drive In

I don't remember ever eating at Casey's Drive In as a kid, although I was certainly aware of it, as it was located across from Westgate Shopping Center at 2519 21st Street. The restaurant first appeared in the phone book around 1968, with locations at 1390 N. Ridge Road (across from O'Neil's) and at 4835 Liberty Avenue in Vermilion. The 21st Street store in Lorain followed in 1969. There were Elyria locations as well.

   The ads for this chain are interesting, because the Elyria phone book ads featured a photo of a real live "Casey" dressed in an old-time baseball uniform leaning on a bat, and the Lorain phone book ads featured a cartoon ballplayer mascot holding up a hamburger. I liked the cartoon mascot a lot, but apparently not enough to eat there!

   I haven't been able to find out much about the restaurant chain. It probably was a regional endeavor... but I'll keep Googling until I find something.

   Although Casey's was not in the same league as McDonald's, the chain must have had a pretty successful formula. The 21st Street store lasted almost 20 years, finally closing around 1987. Pine Gardens restaurant replaced it at the location and is still in business today.