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| A 1969 Journal Ad |
With all of the Pit's loyal customers stopping in for a final meal and heartfelt goodbye, it wasn't easy getting in my order. I had the honor of picking up the next-to-last takeout order on the next-to-last day of business, late Saturday night, several hours after the restaurant had closed. It was a pulled pork sandwich worth waiting for.
As I live just a few minutes walk from the Pit, it has been a favorite ritual of mine to take friends there for a memorable meal. The Texas Bradys ate there, and were able to compare the Pit's fare to what they were used to back home. And just about all of my Ohio State buddies enjoyed a ceremonial dinner there as well over the last few years.
I'm happy that the Pit's owners are looking forward to retirement and enjoying life. I've heard that the wheels are in motion for a new culinary endeavor at that location; I hope it happens. But for now, the Pit and its gracious hosts (and fine barbecue) will be greatly missed.
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| The dining rooms were deserted when I picked up my takeout late Saturday night |
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| A view of the original counter area before the restaurant was enlarged |
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5 comments:
Perfect building and location for a Midway Oh Boy #2
Always a sad occasion when a good barbecue place closes (DOFFS HAT, PLACES IT REVERENTLY OVER HEART).
My Dad worked at the Lorain Ford Plant with Neil Pinkley and we were loyal customers in the Pit's early years. We lived two houses down from the Pinkley's and I graduated with their son, Steve. They are a fine family. Given that I live in the best city in the country for pork bar-b-que I feel qualified to say that the Pit was always an excellent example of southern bar-b-que.
My father also worked at Lorain Assembly.And he knew Neil Pinkley too.My father always used to mention that Mr.Pinkley was one of the first if not the very first worker to retire from the Lorain Assembly Pant.As mentioned before,Neil transferred from a Memphis Ford plant to the Lorain plant to accrue the rest of his seniority and then retire.
Dad also would mention that when Neil Pinkley was working at Ford one of the various jobs Mr.Pinkley had was when Ford was building the Ford Falcon in the early "60s.Neil Pinkley installed the rear back glass on the Falcon.Neil and another co-worker would first pick up a rear window.Then they would put a rubber seal around it all while tucking a string around the rubber seal to use as a guide.Next they laid the rear window onto the car to be installed.Then Neil would climb into the car as he was the smaller of the two workers and Neil would pull on the string and it would pull the rubber seal and the glass all at the same time into its fixed position in the car.The rubber seal was the gasket.No sticky butyl tape was involved at the time to permanently glue the window into place like they use now.Then Neil would get out and they would get to do it all over again using the same string.Try doing this in and out all day long for 10-12 hours per day,plus glass is heavy.And it's even heavier if you don't get along with your co-worker.But Neil was a real live down south good ole boy.If you couldn't get along with Neil,it was you who had the problem.I'd like to see todays kids do work like this as there were no automated robots back then to do the jobs like they have now.
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