Here's another Lorain phone book ad for McGarvey's, this time from 1958. I really like the typography in the restaurant logo.
The illustration has a nice little reference to the restaurant owners in the form of the names on the boat: Charlie Solomon, who bought the restaurant from the McGarvey family (but didn't change the name), and Eddie Solomon, who ran the restaurant for more than forty years.
The unsung artist who created the illustration captured the restaurant pretty well.
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More McGarvey Memories
Faithful blog reader Jeff, who often posts comments, remembered how the restaurant used to get flooded after the river thawed.
I remember how the place flooded after the really bad storms, such as the infamous July 4, 1969 storm. (I do remember my family driving over to Vermilion to survey the damage after that storm, passing by McGarvey's as well as Mill Hollow.) That musty odor in the lower level of the restaurant became part of the ambience of the place!
Another thing I remember about McGarvey's was the 'GANGWAY' sign outside, which was a source of amusement for my siblings and me. We never got tired of yelling "GANGWAY!" as we shoved each other out of the way on the way into the restaurant.
Once the original McGarvey's building was torn down and replaced by Red Clay on the River, it was never quite the same. Red Clay was a pretty good restaurant, and we ate there quite a few times, but it's pretty difficult to try and replace a landmark.
Now Red Clay is gone and replaced by a chain restaurant. I'm glad something is in there that people enjoy, but I wonder if 30 years from now if anyone will wax nostalgic about Quaker Steak? (I gotta admit, that name has bugged me since I first heard it – talk about appropriating someone else's brand equity!)
