Santa at Dog 'N Suds – Dec. 1968

I'll close out the week here on the blog with a post about one of my favorite restaurants: Dog 'N Suds. It's been three months since it closed for the 2025 season, and I'm betting a lot of people besides me miss it. But it'll open up around April and then all will be right with the world. 

Back in 1968, however, Dog 'N Suds didn't close at the end of summer – it stayed open. So it's only natural that when it got close to Christmas, Santa Claus would stop by the drive-in for a visit. 

Above is the ad from the Saturday, December 20, 1968 Journal announcing the arrival of the jolly old elf the very next day. I wonder what the gift was that Santa had for the kiddies? I'm guessing it was the coloring book that was handed out the previous summer.

Anyway, the Santa ad doesn't exactly mention any food – so I got to wondering if it really was open and serving food. Sure enough, an ad appeared in the Journal on January 23rd, 1969, with a roast beef sandwich special.

Anyway, it's nice knowing that when winter's over, Dog 'N Suds will be back for what I believe will be a big anniversary year. The Grand Opening under the current ownership was back on July 1, 1966 so a 60th Birthday Celebration would certainly be in order. 

Dog N Suds Carhops on Roller Skates – July 1967

Did you know that from time to time, Ilene's Dog N Suds drive-in out on North Ridge Road put their carhops on roller skates? 

Above is the ad from the Journal of July 25, 1967 announcing this only-on-Wednesdays promotional gimmick. It's a cute idea, right out of TV's Happy Days.

I'll have to ask Heather, the manager (who I interviewed for Leisure Living) if the drive-in had ever revived that particular idea in recent years. I don't recall ever seeing it.

But it's just as well. I would be cringing watching a carhop with a full tray of root beers and coney dogs rolling out to a car, anticipating a comical crash. 

Now, the promotion advertised below in a Journal ad from that same year is more my speed: a free Dog N Suds coloring book. The ad, which ran in the Journal on April 22, 1967, notes that "the book is full of pictures of Rover, that famous Dog "n ' Suds dog.

And here's the book that was very likely being given away that day.

I always thought Rover looked like Walt Disney's Goofy. Or perhaps Mickey Mouse's pet canine – Pluto Pup.

Anyway, this summer Ilene's Dog N Suds has had a limited number of root beer mugs for sale, bearing the current version of the Rover mascot. I picked up my mug last Sunday, when I stopped there to treat myself to a root beer float. It's a nice little souvenir of my many visits there this summer.

Dog N Suds in the Journal Over the Years

 

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.

Oct. 18, 1963

Oct. 19, 1963

A fire struck the Dog N Suds in Sept. 1964. It wouldn't be the only one.

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.

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.

For more Dog N Suds fun, revisit some of my old posts. 

Dog N Suds Featured in June issue of "Leisure Living"

If you're a fan of Ilene's Dog N Suds, then you won't want to miss this month's Leisure Living magazine. The beloved coney dog and root beer drive-in is the subject of a feature article in the magazine written by yours truly.

For the article, I had the pleasure of interviewing Heather Grosswiler, the current manager of Dog N Suds. Heather is very close to her good friend Ilene, the longtime owner, and is carrying on her legacy.

"I have worked at Dog N Suds since 2011," Heather said. "It was my very first job. I've been managing since 2022. I've worked other jobs throughout the years and always worked at Dog N Suds in some aspect around my other jobs. I was working full time in Sales when Ilene's husband, Tom, died in 2020. Ilene asked me if I could manage and I was making great money at my full time job, so I declined at the time. 

"In 2021, Ilene hired a manager to try to help her but it just did not work out. Ilene had to close after just 5 weeks open. In 2022, she asked me again if I would help her keep the business going. She had limited options and was facing a few health issues and recognized that I was one of few that knew the business well enough to run it, so I agreed to leave my job and manage Dog N Suds. 

"It’s been one of the best decisions I've made this far," she smiled.

Heather has certainly been doing a fantastic job and making Ilene proud. The food and service are truly great and the prices are more than reasonable. And true to Heather's considerable experience in sales and marketing, she utilizes social media well, with daily Dog N Suds posts on both Facebook and Instagram.

Her efforts are paying off. The drive-in is busy each time I visit, and Kasey (my favorite car hop) tells me that there are new first-time customers each week. 

Anyway, be sure to stop in at Dog N Suds this summer. You'll agree that the food is – what else? –doggone good.

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Unable to get your hands on a current issue of Leisure Living? Don't worry. You can read the current issue online here.

Hot Dog! Dog 'N Suds Better Than Ever in 2024!

Dog 'N Suds has only been open for about two weeks, and I've already been there twice. Its strong presence on Facebook has got me trained like a docile doggie to keep coming back.

On April 2nd, Opening Day, I carried out my meal because rain was in the forecast. It was just overcast while I was there, but by the time I was on Route 2 heading home, the expected torrential downpour came. (By the way, the cute car-hop unintentionally made my delicious Texas Burger & Fries a theme dinner by wearing cowboy boots.)

It was perfect weather for my second visit, this past Saturday for lunch. My chili dog (hold the onions) and root beer were picture perfect too – and I'm not woofin'. The service was great too.

I think the chili dog was quite possibly the best I'd ever had there. The chili sauce was sweet and meaty, the same as always, but nice and thick. And the root beer in the frosted mug was perfect as well. I didn't even mind when some ice flaked off the mug and dropped onto my car seat, providing my Hyundai Venue its baptism of fast food fire, and curing me of new-car-itis.

Anyway, Ilene's Dog 'N Suds on North Ridge Road is the only one in Ohio now, and one of only 20 locations in the whole country! So get out there and support an iconic Lorain County business.

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I've been writing about Dog 'N Suds on this blog since 2009. Many posts were dedicated to trying to determine when it actually opened. 

A few years ago, I finally figured out that it originally opened around the fall of 1963, remained open in 1964 but seemed to have been shuttered during 1965. Then in the summer of 1966, it reopened as Eckstein's Dog 'N Suds.

Grand Opening Ad from Lorain Journal, July 1, 1966

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Years ago, you had to be a real bloodhound to track down Dog 'N Suds memorabilia in antique shops and flea markets. I used to collect a few items, and still have a vintage wrapper somewhere in my files. 

But a quick check on eBay reveals a veritable coney-dog-copia of Dog 'N Suds mugs for sale. 

I wonder if any (the ones with Rover the mascot) are from the early August 1966 theft of 24 mugs from the Oberlin Dog 'N Suds drive-in on Route 58 by a, er, cat burglar?

There are other Dog 'N Suds items on eBay as well, including a paper cup, a place mat and a free root beer card.

The place mat notes that at that time, there were more than 500 locations! With a mere twenty now, it's all the more reason to support our Dog 'N Suds in Lorain County.

Dog ’N Suds Ad – Jan. 9, 1971

It’s always kind of sad when the local drive-in restaurants and soft serve ice cream businesses close for the season. Not only because their shuttering is a harbinger of cold weather, but also because in these challenging times, there’s always the possibility that the business might not reopen.

Ilene’s Dog ’N Suds is one of those seasonal businesses. Covid-19 (as well as the passing of co-owner Thomas Hampton last May) contributed to the early closing of the beloved drive-in in July. 

The drive-in been a longtime favorite topic on this blog, especially as I tried to determine how long it had been around. (I finally concluded that it opened under its original ownership in 1963, closed, and re-opened in 1966 under the present ownership.)

Anyway, back in January 1971, Ilene’s Dog ’N Suds surprisingly was open in the winter. Here’s an ad that ran in the Journal on January 9, 1971.

Gee, there’s no Rover in that ad – just a kid with the same hairdo my brothers and I had.

Here’s looking forward to the planned reopening of the restaurant in April. I can just taste that Texas Burger (and see its sauce dripping in my lap) right now.

A Reminder from Rover

No, I don’t mean the Rover on the radio. I mean the chef-hatted mascot of Ilene’s Dog ’N Suds (above), who wants you to pay a visit to the classic Lorain County drive-in out on North Ridge Road near Route 57.

At least Ilene's is off to a good start this year. Every time I go by it out there in Elyria Township, it seems to be pretty busy. The carhops have confirmed this to me.

The scene out at Ilene’s about a week ago

I’m doing my bit to help. It’s only the first of May – and I’ve already eaten at Dog ’N Suds twice.

Actually, I carried out both times; I don’t eat there unless I have a newspaper or something to read in the car. Plus, one of the days was truly too wretched weather-wise to have the window open with the tray hanging on it.

Since coney dogs are always in rotation on the Brady menu at home, at Dog ’N Suds I tend to order the Texas Burger: a double-decker charco-broiled hamburger that comes with the signature coney sauce as one of the toppings. It’s kind of messy and it’s probably better that I eat it at home, where I can scrub up afterwards. Both of my sandwiches were great.

The menu boards at Dog ’n Suds are down this year, so the carhops have to do more ‘splaining to the drive-in customers to go over the menu. So as a public service, here’s the current Dog ’N Suds menu. (I couldn’t resist adding the classic Rover graphic.)

Anyway, there are only 14 Dog ’N Suds still in operation in the U. S., making Ilene’s outlet on North Ridge Road rather special just for surviving this long. 

So, if you want to enjoy some good food, and the nostalgia of having a carhop serve you, head on out to Ilene’s Dog ’N Suds.

A seagull was playing “King of the Hill” during my last visit 

Dog 'N Suds Ad – March 2, 1968

It's still a little too early for Dog ’N Suds up on North Ridge Road to be open (especially with the return of winter weather). But back in 1968, the drive-in was already open and running ads in the Lorain Journal, such as the tall one shown above that ran in the paper on March 2, 1968 – 50 years ago today.

Dog ’N Suds has been one of my favorite topics here on the blog since I started writing it back in 2009.  

Back on this 2014 post, I pointed out how the timeline of the drive-in has been inconsistent through the years in its own ads. So last week I re-examined old Lorain, Elyria and Lorain County directories more thoroughly to determine once and for all when the place first opened.

I think that I’ve done that – finally.

I feel doggone confident now that the drive-in first opened under its original ownership in late 1963, when it was robbed on October 16 (which I wrote about here). The drive-in’s 2050 North Ridge Road address did not have a listing in the 1963 Lorain City Directory nor the 1963 Dickman Criss-Cross Directory (which covers Lorain County).

The drive-in first appeared in the Lorain City Directory in the 1964 book. And I even found a Dog ’N Suds classified ad looking to hire a ‘Day Car Hop' in the April 25, 1964 ChronicleTelegram.

But in the 1965 edition, the address was listed as vacant. That dovetails nicely with the accepted fact that the drive-in closed under its original ownership and sat vacant for a while.

Then the drive-in re-opened as Eckstein’s Dog ’N Suds, with a Grand Opening ad appearing in the Lorain Journal on July 1, 1966.

The restaurant also appeared under that name in the 1966 Lorain City Directory.

Anyway, Dog ’N Suds was still closed up when I drove by there last weekend. Here’s hoping that Ilene and the gang will reopen it soon and continue serving up more good food and nostalgia at Ohio’s only Dog ’n Suds.

I can just taste that Texas Burger now.

Oberlin’s Dog ’N Suds

I traded emails recently with the webmaster of the Oberlin In The Past Facebook page, and that reminded me of something she told me a few years ago. 

While growing up on Hamilton Street, she had a ringside seat for the long-gone Oberlin Dog ’N Suds. 

It was located on Route 58 just south of that Hamilton Street intersection. As she noted in an email, “It was across the field from me in the 1960s and we use to go there a lot.”

Here’s her photo of that field, showing the Dog ’N Suds off in the distance. That’s Hamilton Street in the foreground.

And here’s a closeup view of the restaurant in which you can see the iconic Dog ’N Suds sign.

Back in 2012, I posted the  Grand Opening ad at the top of this post, which ran in the Lorain Journal on April 23, 1962. Since then, I found the corresponding ad which ran in the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram (below) on Tuesday, April 24, 1962.

Unfortunately, the Oberlin restaurant lacked the staying power of the Dog ’N Suds outlet that’s still open in Elyria Township to this day. Although the Oberlin store was still running ads for carhops in the September 1973 Chronicle-Telegram, by 1976 things had changed.

A small article in the February 11, 1976 Chronicle-Telegram mentioned that during a recent meeting, the Russia Township Zoning Board discussed the “preliminary plans to convert the Dog ’N Suds Restaurant on Rt. 58 into a meat store.”

The Oberlin In The Past webmaster confirmed to me that the restaurant did indeed become a meat store. As she also pointed out in an email, "Since then, it has mostly been a drive through for beverages. It looks nothing like it did since an addition was added to it."

She added wistfully, “ Sure wish someone would buy it, get the original blueprints and convert it back to what it was.”

I drove by there Sunday to see what was going on. Currently the building (below) is called Ohio 58 South Center, with Drive Thru Beverage & More listed as one of the businesses.

Courtesy Google Maps

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Anyway, until someone buys the building and converts it back to its original glory, you can always visit the last Dog ’N Suds in Ohio out in Elyria Township on N. Ridge Road. By the looks of things, it’s been open but a phone call confirmed that it’s now closed on Sundays. (I’d give them a call at (440) 324-3636 to find out their new hours if you head out there during the week.)

Be sure to also visit the official corporate Dog ’N Suds Facebook page.

My First Texas Burger at Dog 'N Suds

The scene on Saturday night

After writing about Ilene's Dog 'N Suds on Friday, I was looking forward to my first visit to the drive-in this season. So when it turned out that I was on my own for dinner Saturday night, I knew where I was going to end up.

Plus, I was looking forward to trying something new there. I'd been working my way through a huge pot of homemade chili all week, and had even made chili dogs at home one night. So coney dogs were off the menu that night.

The view out my window

I decided to try the Texas Burger instead. And I'm mighty glad I did, pardner.

For the uninformed, the Texas Burger has been a regular on Dog 'N Suds menus all over the country for decades. It's basically a double-decker charco-broiled hamburger with the famous Dog 'N Suds coney sauce on it. Based on what I've read online, each Dog 'N Suds outlet makes it a little different, customizing it for local taste buds.

The Texas Burger has shredded lettuce and a white sauce on it, making it sort of the Midway Oh Boy's Texas cousin. The burgers tasted just like they were cooked over charcoal – just how I like'em.

Here's what mine looked like (below).

My Texas Burger

I really enjoyed my Texas Burger, and this cowboy is already looking forward to his next one. I think I'll even recommend that the Texas Bradys try one when they roll into town this summer on their annual visit.

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By the way, the Lorain Morning Journal recently ran a very nice article by Drew Scofield about the Dog 'N Suds on N. Ridge Road (which you can read here). It has a nice profile of Ilene Sowards Hampton, the owner, as well as a discussion of–you guessed it–the Texas Burger.