Monday, February 24, 2020

Arthur Treacher’s Opens in Lorain – Feb. 1970

Fifty years ago this week, Arthur Treacher’s Fish & Chips opened on West 21st Street in Lorain, right across from the Westgate Shopping Center.

Here’s the article that appeared in the Journal on Sunday, February 22, 1970 – two days before the Tuesday opening.

It sounds like the fish and chips served at Arthur Treacher’s was pretty authentic. According to the Journal article, the great grandson of the man who opened the first fish and chips shop in London in the mid-1800s was involved with the Arthur Treacher’s organization.
Here’s a teaser ad that appeared in the Journal on February 26, 1970 announcing that the restaurant was now open. The ad was as tall as a full page of the paper.
****
Arthur Treacher’s is a well-remembered part of Lorain’s fast food restaurant past. My original 2011 blog entry on the W. 21st Street store is one of my all-time most visited posts. Click here to revisit it, and find out how long the store was open, and what came later.
****
Today, sadly, the former restaurant building on W. 21st Street is a forlorn site. Somehow it’s managed to evade the ever-popular Lorain wrecking ball (or excavator, if you prefer).
The only indication that this was an Arthur Treacher’s
is this entrance sign with the original Old English lettering
****
If you have a taste for Arthur Treacher’s, there’s still one on Rockside Road in Garfield Heights, by Jove!


7 comments:

-Alan D Hopewell said...

Ah, for an order of fish and chips, a Lemon Luv pie, and a Coke (or was it Pepsi?)

Anonymous said...

I remember the Arthur Treacher's in North Ridgeville by the old G.C. Murphy. My mother loved going there after shopping at G.C. Murphy or Big Town, or Meyer Goldberg. My dad was from Germany and didn't care for "that limey food." I didn't like it that much either, but for some reason, my mother did.

Anonymous said...

There are also 3 other locations in the northeast Ohio area.Akron,Cuyahoga Falls and one more in Youngstown.For a total of 4 in Ohio....Last of the good old fast food joints.

-Alan D Hopewell said...

There used to be one on the West Side of Cleveland that I'd go to in the Nineties.

Anonymous said...

Right by that corner (611 & 58) was Arthur Treacher's, Chicken Galore, Casey's Hamburgers, Minnie Pearl's, Hough Bakery, Nickle's Surplus Baker. We thought Arthur Treacher's was way better than Long John Silver's. Nice to know there are still some in business. Remembering Minnie Pearl's, we thought she was a hoot and it's advertising was memorable....but her chicken was really nothing special.

Anonymous said...

When did it close in Lorain?

Dan Brady said...

Arthur Treacher's disappeared from the Lorain phone book listings in the 1982 edition. It was replaced by Joellas's Fish & Chips in the 1983 directory.