Here's something that caught my eye on a newpaper microfilm roll: a 1952 ad for the Grand Opening of the Sheffield Lake Dairy Queen. The ad ran on Friday, May 2, 1952. (Click on it for a close look – sorry it's a little grubby.)
When I first saw the ad, I thought it was for Lorain's Dairy Queen on East Erie Avenue (now Terry's Dairy). But I was surprised (and a little impressed) to see that Sheffield Lake had a Dairy Queen franchise. This ad may be the only photo of what it looked like in existence!
I'm not sure how long the Dairy Queen branding lasted for this business. I know at some point it turned into Dutch Treat. But if you drive by the corner of Abbe Road and East Lake Road today, you won't see anything on the southeast corner but a parking lot for the long-gone The Spot nightclub.
Soft serve ice cream must be a tricky business. Some stores have the right ingredients for success, such as the newly remodeled K-Cream Corner (at the corner of Oberlin Avenue and West Erie) as well as the popular Avon Dairy Treat out on Route 611. Others struggle to stay alive.
The funny thing is, I can't even remember going to any Dairy Queen while growing up. My family would go to the Lorain Creamery for ice cream, but soft serve ice cream was a treat reserved for outings such as fishing. Much later, the Avon Lake Dairy Queen became a preferred high school destination because of their miniature golf course.
Does anybody out there remember the Sheffield Lake Dairy Queen? If so, be sure to post a comment!
We went to the Dairy Queen on East Erie Ave quite often. I remember watching them dip those soft serve ice cream cones into the vat of chocolate and trying to figure out how the ice cream did not just drop into the liquid chocolate. Man...those cones were the food of the gods....or so a 7 year old boy thought!
ReplyDeleteHoy hoy,
Jeff
You mentioned the Lorain Creamery, which had simply fantastic ice cream, but equally good was the Home Dairy on 34 th Street in Lorain.Our neighbor, Mr. Lewis, would pile me, my two younger brothers, and his German shepherd, Roxie, into his car, and we'd ride from 19th and Elyria up to 34th, where we'd all (even Roxie)get double-dip cones.
ReplyDeleteHome Dairy closed in 1972...I was sixteen, and used to sometimes stop there to buy a cone on my way up to Admiral King.
I remember the Dutch Treat but must have been too young to remember the Dairy Queen. But like they said, we usually went to the Lorain Creamery and then the Old English Parlor in Avon Lake.
ReplyDeleteI remember going to Dutch Treat in Sheffield Lake. In my mind’s eye I can still see the smiling little Dutch girl with her “frozen custard” cone on the neon sign out front.
ReplyDeleteAlso, there was another ice cream stand in Lorain- The Big Dipper. I think it was on the corner of 611 & Henderson where the Wendy’s is now. If memory serves, it was like a 50s drive-in kind of set up. Anyone else remember this? I think they sold Christmas trees in December, too.
*afterthought about The Big Dipper: .....or was it on the corner of 21st & Leavitt?
ReplyDeleteThe one over at 21st and Leavitt was originally called Westgate Dairy Isle in the early 1970s. Later it became Mr. Twister.
ReplyDeletehttps://danielebrady.blogspot.com/2011/10/from-e-mailbag-3-westgate-dairy-isle.html
I remember Mr. Twister, too, but I have a vague memory of another one that I swear was called the Big (or maybe Little?) Dipper. It was on a busy intersection, SE corner. Maybe I was right the first time-Colorado & Henderson? I was very young at the time....
ReplyDeleteI checked my files and you are correct about the Colorado and Henderson location. The Big Dipper was located at 1400 Colorado Avenue and was run by two gentlemen named Ernst and Firestone. It first showed up in the city directories in the mid-to-late 1950s and disappeared in the 1960s along with the address. One reader told me that they served a hamburger there called the Space Burger.
ReplyDeleteWith the road widening there, the building was apparently lost.
My mom worked at the Big Dipper in the late 50s. I was trying to figure out where it was located, and now I know!
ReplyDelete