Maybe it’s because we had a set of Lincoln Logs to play with when I was a kid (although I never mastered roof construction). And Mom always bought Log Cabin Syrup. Or possibly because my family used to camp at Tamsin Park in Peninsula, Ohio, and there was a cool log cabin Ranger Station there.
Even as an adult, I’ve enjoyed restaurants like the Cabin Club in Westlake, and stayed in plenty of modern cabins while camping at Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park™ Camp - Resorts all over the Midwest and Canada. I’ve even half-heartedly checked out cabins that you can buy already assembled and have trucked to a lot of your choice to live in.
Which leads me to last week, when I was poking around on Ebay and saw the ashtray above advertising Klatik’s Log Cabin Nite Club. As it says, it was located at the corner of Sugar Ridge and Route 76 (now Ohio State Route 83) in North Ridgeville, Ohio.
Since I’d never heard of it, I wondered if it was really a log cabin – and if it was still there.
A brief internet search showed that Emil Klatik had a liquor license for a business known as Sugar Ridge Log Cabin. I found a mention of the Ridgeville Sportsmen’s Club having its regular meeting there in January 1956.
And a little more Googling revealed that local historian and researcher Dennis Thompson had already done my research for me! Thanks, Dennis!
As you might remember, Dennis is the King of Vintage Aerials, having researched, identified and labeled thousands of vintage aerial photos in Ohio and around the country – including the Sugar Ridge Log Cabin (shown below). That’s Sugar Ridge Road in front of the building.
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| Circa 1963 |
Here’s a Vintage Aerial side view photo from 1969. That’s Route 83 at the bottom of the photo.
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| Circa 1969 |
A popular restaurant called Black Dog Pub and Eatery later called that location home for a few years before a fire damaged the building in 2013.
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| Courtesy Fox8 |
7 comments:
Interesting Dan. Perhaps you or Dennis could answer a question for me. In the late 1930s and early 1940s there was a business named Klatik's Hayseed Tavern & Service Station that listed its location as on the corner of Station Road and Chestnut Ridge. Is this the same location?
I guess I will rescind my question. A friend from North Ridgeville just informed me that they are separate locations on Route 83. Apparently the location of the Hayseed Tavern at Chestnut Ridge is still currently a restaurant.
Rick, there is no intersection of Station Rd and Chestnut Ridge. The north end of Station Rd is at Sprague Rd, miles south of Chestnut Ridge. And Chestnut Ridge does not extend that far to the east if Station Rd did go through.
The Hayseed Tavern was at Rt 83 and Chestnut Ridge. It was also called the Dew Drop Inn and is now the 83 & Chestnut Pub. Here are some links:
https://vintageaerial.com/photos/ohio/lorain/1963/DLO/38/7
https://vintageaerial.com/photos/ohio/lorain/1969/MLO/96/32
Update: in 1948 G J Klatic lived at 10725 Avon Belden Rd (Rt 83). Not too far from the tavern.
Thanks Dennis. A brief article published by the North Ridgeville Historical Society solved the case of the wondering "Station Road". It turns out that at one time what is now Route 83 was named Center or Station Road, not to be confused with Center Ridge Road. I'm just guessing but probably at one time what was then called Station Road was the main road to the railroad station south of the town. Apparently, the Klatic family sold the Hayseed Tavern at Chestnut Ridge Road and opened a new venue a little further south on Sugar Ridge Road.
Sugar Ridge is about a mile north of Chestnut Ridge. Grew up going to both these places with my parents. Hayseed was known for it's weekend chicken dinners in the 60s. The Cabin had a bowling machine that patrons often gave kids dimes for. I got really good. LOL It had many taxidermy animals up high in the ceiling level that was cathedral style- open with beams. My dad was friendly with Emil Klatic and much later- when Casey Gilfether owned it- my mom and I both worked there for a while. Not long after, it burnt down due to a kitchen fire.
I accidently published that anonymously. Oops. I'll add that the building that replaced The Cabin, did indeed also burn down from a kitchen fire. My friend grew up in a house kitty-corner to the Cabin and also had a couple kitchen fires erupt, but more minor ones. Hhhmmm Interesting...
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