Wednesday, March 24, 2021

Lawson's Restaurant?

Here are two interesting ads from fifty years ago that I didn’t quite have time to post in February. They’re both for the Lawson's Restaurant that was located at 900 N. Leavitt Road in Amherst. The ad above ran in the Journal on Feb. 17, 1971.

About a week later on Feb. 23, 1971 this full-page grand opening ad appeared in the same paper.

I first wrote about how Lawson’s dallied with opening their own restaurants back here. Here’s a promotional postcard showing an unnamed location.

It’s an intriguing concept. But although you might expect the menu to include Dutch Loaf sandwiches with a glass of "Big O" Orange Juice to wash it down, it looks like they had higher culinary aspirations with those char-broiled steak dinners mentioned in the Journal ads.

Nevertheless, the Lawson’s Restaurants apparently didn’t last too long. Within a few years, it was rebranded as L-K Townhouse. Today there’s a Denny’s at the site.
Maybe they should have put Dutch Loaf on the menu, with potato chips on the side and a little bowl of Lawson’s Chip Dip.
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Here’s a photo of the Denny’s at 900 N. Leavitt Road,  courtesy of Google Maps.


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10 comments:

  1. MarkMarch 24, 2021 at 8:01 AM

    The BEST chip dip!

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  2. -Alan D HopewellMarch 24, 2021 at 9:10 AM

    I never dined at Lawson's, but I ate a few meals (and drank WAY too many cups of coffee) at the L&K restaurants in the area.

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  3. Dennis ThompsonMarch 24, 2021 at 10:53 AM

    The Lawson's chip dip is still available at Circle K stores. Yum!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dan BradyMarch 24, 2021 at 11:02 AM

    The last time I bought some at the Circle K at Broadway and N. Ridge (a couple months ago), the clerk told me they sell a lot of it!

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  5. BusterMarch 24, 2021 at 12:04 PM

    I didn't know there was such a thing as a Lawson's Restaurant, I suppose because it didn't last long. Prospective patrons may have been deterred by the thought of chipped chopped ham - or Dutch loaf - on the menu.

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  6. Mike MMarch 24, 2021 at 1:00 PM

    The Dairy Mart here in Amherst also carries Lawsons chip dip. It is the best..........Heluva Good dip a close 2nd.

    ReplyDelete
  7. JayMarch 24, 2021 at 5:27 PM

    The Denny’s is the same restaurant isn’t it?

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  8. Dan BradyMarch 25, 2021 at 9:23 AM

    Hi Jay,
    It certainly looks to me like Denny’s merely remodeled the old building, because structurally they are very similar, especially around the customer entrance.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousOctober 10, 2022 at 11:20 PM

      Hello. I was am assistant manager for L&K in Macedonia from 85 until it closed 2 weeks before Christmas 86. I never heard it was a Lawson's until today. It was also a townhouse. Was a few things after until it was razed a few years back. A Get Go is there now. I have a couple pictures of it closedand a bunch of L&K stuff.

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    2. AnonymousOctober 13, 2022 at 11:00 AM

      I worked at opening new one the Dennys by the Elyria mall like 1971 the mall ,one in vermilion on lake l rd east side of town. and another one in Berea on bagley rd by the old rr tracks running accrpss Bagley Rd.Now the tracks are above the rd with a bridge went of colledge oB Northern side of rd. worked there as a cook. Left when I started work at lorain mill in April of 1972

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