From the E-mail Bag #9

Courtesy of Jack Tiller

I recently heard once again from my favorite collector of Lorain memorabilia, Jack Tiller. He had seen my recent blog about Dog 'n Suds on North Ridge Road being open for business, so naturally he went to his great collection of Lorain glassware and created another nifty photo for me to post (at left).

His two Dog 'n Suds mugs are from two different eras of the business. The older of the two mugs (on the right) features the original Rover as he looks on the vintage sign. The other mug is from a later era. Thanks for sharing, Jack! And everybody be sure to head out to Ilene's Dog 'n Suds on North Ridge Road soon.

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Fellow lover of local history Drew Penfield – whose Lake Shore Rail Maps website tells the comprehensive story of the Lake Shore Electric interurban line – checks Ebay regularly for cool Lorain artifacts. Drew forwards the links to many of his finds to me if he thinks I might be interested.

One of the Ebay links Drew recently forwarded to me were these unused Arvay's Potato Chips wax paper bags. They're still listed on Ebay right now.

I feel kinda bad that I never tasted Arvay's Potato Chips. I'll bet they tasted terrific, manufactured right in South Lorain and distributed fresh in these bags.

What's interesting about the bags on Ebay is that they have recipes on the backs for an avocado dip, a shrimp dip, a cucumber dip, a crab meat dip, yellow cheese dip and company cheese dip.

Company cheese dip?

Well, if you're like me and are wondering what company cheese dip tastes like – here's the recipe, straight from the back of the Arvay's bag. It sounds pretty good!


COMPANY CHEESE DIP
1/2 cup cream
1-8-Oz. pkg. Cream Cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons anchovy paste
1 teaspoon grated onion
1 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped parsley
Dash of freshly ground pepper
Crisp Potato Chips

Gradually add the cream to the cream cheese, mixing until smooth and well-blended. Add the anchovy paste, onion, parsley and pepper and mix well. Serve with crisp Potato Chips.

Arvay's Potato Chip Can

After my post about Arvay's Potato Chips yesterday, I received an email from Jack Tiller. Mr. Tiller, you might recall, had the great Lorain bottle collection that included one of the Whistle soda pop variety that I had written about.

Well, today Mr. Tiller provided me with what I considered to be the Holy Grail photo of the moment: a photo of an Arvay's Potato Chip can. It has the tagline shown in the phone book ads – "the chip with the real flavor."

I had looked unsuccessfully through vintage grocery ads for some line art of an Arvay potato chip bag, a photo – anything – that might show what the Arvay product looked like. And here, it just shows up in my email courtesy of Mr. Tiller!

Seeing this photo reminded me of how my parents used to have Charles Chips delivered to our house in a can.

Anyway, special thanks to Mr. Tiller for providing this photo of what I'm sure is a much-remembered truly Lorain product.

Arvay Potato Chips

1947 Phone Book Listing

Last week one of the comments on the blog asked if I had any information about Arvay Potato Chips. The comment mentioned that the company was started by the Arvay family in their garage somewhere in Lorain.

That was the first I had heard of Arvay Potato Chips. Intrigued, I tried to find out a little about the company and product online, as well as in the Lorain Public Library.

Alyssa Morales, a Lorain International Festival Hungarian princess in 2011, mentioned her family's connection with the company in an online interview on the Chronicle Telegram website. "My great-great grandmother on my grandmother's side was also born in Hungary and her brother Frank owned and operated Arvay's Potato Chip Company on Vine Street in South Lorain," she stated.

At the library, the earliest listing I could find for the company was in the 1935 city directory. Arvay Potato Chips was listed at 1533 E. 30th Street, with Frank J. Arvay Jr. as the name associated with the company. Apparently the company was located in a home, as its address matched that of Frank and Veronica Arvay. The senior Arvay was listed as a grocer.

The potato chip company remained at that address into the 1940's. At some point in that decade, its address changed to 1553 E. 29th Street.

1962 Phone Book Listing

Frank Arvay did a good job of keeping his company's name in front of the public. For decades he bought a boxed ad in the company listings in the back of the phone book. He also sponsored many sports teams over the years.

Sometime around 1969, Frank Arvay retired and the company disappeared from the pages of the city directory as well as the phone book.

At the tine of Arvay's death at age 67 in September 1971, Russ Davies, a columnist in the Chronicle-Telegram made a nice mention of him in his column.

"At one time there were three "Mr. Chips" in Lorain County. The dean of the trio was Frank J. Arvay of Lorain who owned and operated the Arvay Potato Chip Company. The others were Bill Thomasson of Elyria, owner of Thomasson's Potato Chips who since has turned the business to this son, Bill, and Pete DeSantis of Lorain, long associated in the chip and pretzel business.

"Best known of the three in the earlier days was Mr. Arvay, 67, who died in Lorain St. Joseph Hospital on Sept. 10 and had only been ill one day. He was the victim of a heart attack.

"The rotund, jovial and downright funny Mr. Arvay had the reputation among tavern owners, bartenders and barmaids in Lorain County for being the most "drinks for the bar" gent in the area."

That's a pretty nice way to be remembered, if you ask me. And I'm sure many people in Lorain remember Frank Arvay's potato chips as well.