I'll keep the suds flowing one more day with a selection of clippings about Dog N Suds that I've accumulated over the past few years.
As I've noted many times, the official Grand Opening of Ilene's Dog N Suds was back on July 1, 1966. That means that next year it celebrate its 60th Anniversary with Ilene as the owner.
But the history of the Dog N Suds on North Ridge Road actually starts a few years before, which has muddled the waters a bit as to how long it has actually been open. As the article below from the September 28, 1963 Lorain
Journal notes, former Cleveland Indian pitcher
Dick Tomanek was the original manager when it opened in 1963.
Here are a few
Journal clippings from that first year.
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| Oct. 18, 1963 |
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| Oct. 19, 1963 |
A fire struck the Dog N Suds in Sept. 1964. It wouldn't be the only one.
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| Sept. 29, 1964 |
I'm not sure of the details as to why, but Dog N Suds closed under its original ownership and its N. Ridge Road address was listed as vacant in the 1965 county directory. But the following year, a classified ad ran in the
Journal promoting owning your own Dog N Suds.
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| Feb. 7, 1966 |
Later that year, Ilene and her husband re-opened Dog N Suds. But less than two years later another fire struck the drive-in. This time, according the article below from the January 31, 1968
Journal, 80% of it was destroyed.
But by the beginning of March 1968, Dog N Suds was open again. Here's Ilene in front of the iconic sign.
