Before Taco Bell, There Was... Taco Boy!

Seeing the 'Taco Boy' listing in the small City Directory section that I posted yesterday reminded me that I had this clipping from newspaper microfilm. It's from a June 1969 Lorain Journal, announcing the opening of the two Taco Boy restaurants in Lorain.

I don't remember this fast food chain at all. As I've mentioned before, that stretch of West Erie from Leavitt Road west to the 21st Street undercut was kind of a mystery to me in the 1960's. My family rarely went that way, because we tended to go west on 21st from Leavitt to hook up with US 6. Plus, my first acquaintance with Mexican fast food was at the Amherst Taco Bell in the 1970's. (It used to be a much-anticipated treat when I was a kid.)

Nevertheless, as Lisa noted in her comments on yesterday's posting, today the former Taco Boy building at 2625 West Erie is home to Chapman's Food Mart. According to their Facebook page, they've been there since 1981.

The building doesn't appear to have changed very much, unlike the home next door!