Old English Parlour Ad – Sept. 16, 1976

So you've just been to a high school football game (either as a spectator or as a member of the marching band like me) and now you're looking for somewhere to go afterwards. You're not old enough to drink (not even 3.2 beer) so where can you go to hang out for a while?

It might sound like something out of Archie comics, but a good choice would be an ice cream shop. And back in September 1976 (the fall of my senior year) that would have been Old English Parlor, which was part of the Lorain Creamery.

Here's an ad for the restaurant that ran on September 16, 1976 in the Journal.

As since a game day was usually a Friday, the ad encouraged a pre-game visit for an all-you-can-eat fish fry.

My family was pretty partial to the Parlour. My sister worked there for a while in the early 1970s, so we would go there knowing she would make extra-large sundaes for us. She even made it into an October 28, 1973 article about ice cream parlors written by the great Lou Kepler.

The Old English Parlour (both the one in Lorain and the one in Avon Lake) remained a good place to take a date for many years. The Avon Lake location closed first (in the late 1980s or early 90s) and the Lorain one followed a couple years later.

****

Interestingly enough, the Lorain Creamery made its first attempt at having a parlor in the spring of 1968, as you can see in the full-page ad below from the May 29, 1968 Journal.

But Avon Lake was first to have an Old English Parlour, which opened in mid-October 1970. The Lorain Old English Parlour store followed in June 1973.