Monday, January 20, 2014

Topper Bar Grand Opening – June 16 - 18, 1960

A little over a week ago, I featured an old Maple Inn Grand Opening ad on this blog. One of the commenters on that post (Rae) mentioned the former Topper Bar (at left), which was located just a bit little to the east along Route 254.

Well, here's the Grand Opening ad for the Topper Bar, which appeared in The Lorain Journal on June 15, 1960. The ad includes a great photo of the bar's iconic sign.

The ad lists the original owners as Andrew and Donald Shullick.
The bar sat back from the highway, but was one of those places that I watched for as a kid from the back seat of the family car whenever we went by there. I think it was because it shared its name with the Topper TV show that my siblings and I watched in reruns in the early 1960s (and the movie too, of course).

With its top-hat sign, Topper Bar had a real elegant air. As Rae noted in her comment, it looked like a fancy night club. I wish I had stopped in for a snort when it was open.

In more recent years, the former Topper bar has been the home of McCrann's Pub & Grille.

Today the property has a "For Sale" sign out front, but it's unclear if it is the restaurant, auto service company, or both that are for sale (below). If anybody knows, please leave a comment.

McCrann's is still open for business, however, and by the looks of their Facebook page they do a good business.
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6 comments:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 20, 2014 at 7:49 AM

    Thanks Dan! That is the sign!
    rae

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  2. Mike KozlowskiJanuary 20, 2014 at 7:25 PM

    Dan,

    I remember the sign...but I'll be darned if I can remember where it was on 254! Can you give me a hint? :)

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  3. Dan BradyJanuary 20, 2014 at 7:55 PM

    Hi Mike,
    If you traveling east on 254, once you cross Route 57 and go past Vincent School, then W. River Road (where the Maple Inn is) then it is less than a mile east of that on the south side of the road.

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  4. AnonymousJanuary 21, 2014 at 8:52 AM

    The ad has the wrong directions. Look under the Topper hat in the ad. 1/2 mile east of the Garfield bridge. That would put it where the Sheffield Village town hall is at. Didn't you just post a picture of that? freaky

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  5. Dan BradyJanuary 21, 2014 at 9:23 AM

    You're right--that's hilarious! Hope it didn't affect their business too much!

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  6. UnknownFebruary 17, 2015 at 4:53 PM

    Ah! The sign is quite confusing! I think the ad should’ve been more focused on giving out the details. But the location seems nice. It's a great place for both the restaurant and the auto body shop. But it would be such a shame if the interested party would like to buy McCrann, then find out that it’s certainly not for sale.

    Brian Carter @ Restaurant Business Broker

    ReplyDelete