Friday, January 16, 2015

Tradewinds Polynesian Supper Club

1986 Elyria Phone Book ad
Did you know that Elyria had its own version of the Kahiki – right by Midway Mall in the 1980s? That year is no misprint – although it seems like it should have been the 1960s instead.

As described in the 1986 Elyria Phone Book ad (above), Trade Winds was Lorain County's beautiful Polynesian Supper Club. Just like the Kahiki in Columbus, it featured exotic foods and drinks in a South Pacific atmosphere.

Here's the ad for Trade Winds that ran in the 1986-87 Lorain Centel Phone Book (below). It's slightly different from the Elyria phone book version – especially in the way that Trade Winds is spelled as one word.
The Trade Winds supper club doesn't seem to have been around very long. It only appeared in the 1985 and 1986 Elyria phone books, and the 1986-87 Lorain phone book. Its address never even made it into any of the city directories that were available to me.

Does anyone remember this place – or exactly where it was located? I sort of recall seeing Polynesian Tiki masks on a building somewhere near the Mall in the past, but I'm not sure of anything at this point.

The 41274 Griswold Road address puts Trade Winds on the north side of Griswold, right across from the car wash near the corner of Griswold and Leona Street. That would seem to make it one or both of the buildings shown below in the 1994 aerial shot (courtesy of HistoricAerials.com).  Unfortunately, the addresses for both streets are inconsistent and even out of order in some books  – making it virtually impossible to try and figure it out.

It seems to be the right location if my memory serves me right. It really wasn't that far from the location of the Supper Club, which I've been blogging about all week. Maybe that part of Lorain County is supper club country.

The building on the corner of Griswold Road and Leona Street today (below) was the longtime home of Lighthouse Pools. Does anyone remember if it ever housed the Trade Winds supper club? It seems to have the right roof line, although the building would have had to have been modified a lot from its original form.
Courtesy Lorain County Auditor website
Courtesy Lorain County Auditor website
Aerial view courtesy of Bing Maps

Anyway, if anyone remembers the Trade Winds and where it was located, please be sure to leave a comment! There's virtually no internet footprint, so I'm fairly stumped.
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4 comments:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 16, 2015 at 5:12 PM

    Was hoping you would have an answer by now! I cannot recall any "Tradewinds" being there on that corner so I am curious also where it was at.....

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  2. KenJanuary 17, 2015 at 11:35 AM

    You've finally hit a piece of nostalgia that dates from after I enlisted and bid Lorain farewell! Another sign of advancing years.

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  3. mattJanuary 19, 2015 at 11:44 AM

    Dan,
    My wife and I went to Lannie’s often in the 70’s when I worked in Lorain. I think they may have been the only Chinese Restaurant in Lorain County? My wife loves Chinese food, so they met her high standards. I remember it was quite a cozy place. We tried the Trade Winds in the below article. I remember we went once and never went back! Polynesian certainly is not Chinese, and I never ate a good meal in a Supper Club. They were always more Club than supper.

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  4. Dan BradyJanuary 19, 2015 at 3:16 PM

    Hi Matt! Thanks for posting your reminisces! Do you remember where the Trade Winds was located?

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