Tuesday, June 5, 2018

The Restaurants of Richard W. Head – Part 2

The Hoop Drive-in on Henderson Drive
(Courtesy Richard C. Head)
After the Lorain Diner, Richard W. Head’s next big endeavor was the Hoop Drive-in. He started out with the single restaurant on Henderson Drive.

A full-page ad for the Hoop appeared in the June 21, 1955 edition of the Lorain Journal. The ad included a menu touting the “Super Hooper” (2 patties of fresh ground choice beef, a slice of tomato, lettuce – served with a special sauce on toasted bun), the “Peanut Hooper” (2 patties of fresh ground choice beef plus a generous portion of delicious peanut butter – served on toasted bun), and the “Sausage Hooper” (2 patties of fresh ground corn fed pork – just enough seasoning to give it that country style flavor – served on toasted bun).

The ad also included a biography of the man behind the restaurant.

Here are a few Hoop Drive-in ads from the early days.
1955 Lorain phone book ad
1956 Lorain phone book ad
A second Hoop location opened in June 1957.
Lorain Journal ad from June 29, 1957
By the time of the 1957 phone book, the chain had expanded to three outlets.
Next: Promotions

3 comments:

  1. My mom and dad migrated here from Tennessee (Ford Plant) in the late 50's. I remember them talking about "going to the Hoop." I always thought they were joking - thanks for the series. Proves they weren't crazy! lol

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  2. Dan,

    Lots of good memories of the Hoops on Ridge and West Erie, but I don't remember the one on Henderson - did that eventually become the old Manners restaurant that was right opposite US Gypsum?

    Mike

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  3. Hi Mike! Yes, that is correct as you’ll see in Thursday’s post.

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