Golden Crescent Guide to Dining and Dancing: Elberta Inn

Well, it's the weekend at last – and many of you might be thinking about eating out.

That's the cue for me to post yet another sample of the Journal's regular advertising feature called the Golden Crescent Guide to Dining and Dancing. It would include a review of a restaurant and a photo, followed by a series of smaller ads for other eating places.

In this case, the spotlight restaurant was the Elberta Inn in Vermilion, a favorite topic on this blog. The article below appeared in the paper on September 1, 1972.

Elberta Inn was featured on another Golden Crescent Guide back here, a few years earlier and with a different photo.

Elsewhere on the page, we see ads for the Village Inn (formerly Ponderosa Pines), Rinellos's Italian Villa on Colorado Avenue (a reader had asked me about this place a few months ago), Amber Oaks and Dover Chalet.

Here's a vintage postcard of Dover Chalet, currently on eBay.

And here's a modern view of the former Dover Chalet property in Westlake at 24945 Detroit Road.

I often wish that I liked wine. It's universally popular and provides a lot of enjoyment for those who can appreciate the different varieties. 

But my aging teeth can't endure wine any more. The enamel on my teeth is pretty much a faded memory and my choppers ache for days after indulging too much. This doesn't keep me from going to wineries, however. I had a great time this summer during a visit to Firelands Winery in Sandusky with some friends. But I was probably one of the few people that night enjoying a cocktail instead of the house specialties.

New Owners for Elberta Inn – Sept. 1971

The view on Feb. 27, 2011

It’s hard to believe that it was ten and a half years ago that Elberta Inn (at that time known as Alizé at Elberta Inn) burned down. It was back on Saturday, Feb. 26, 2011 when the Vermilion landmark was destroyed by a fire.

The owners had hoped to rebuild, but unfortunately it didn’t happen. Today the former location of the iconic restaurant is still a parking lot.

Fifty years ago this month, the well-known restaurant had just changed hands. Below is the article by Staff Writer Bob Cotleur that appeared in the Journal on September 5, 1971. Bill and Ann Manson were the new owners. 

As the article noted, the couple had owned and operated the Rancho Pillow Motel in Sandusky in the late 1950s. Eventually they sold the motel, and moved to Florida where they owned and operated two eight-suite apartments.  But they decided to come out of semi-retirement and move back to Ohio.

“Back in Ohio he hunted for a business,” according to the article. “This time motels didn’t interest him. But Elberta Inn did.

“"It was a small town and had been in business since 1921,” he explained.

“Mrs. Lucy Hess, one of the founders who is still alive, recently called Manson on the phone and later sent him some snapshots of that era.

“"In those days,” Manson says, “A roller skating rink was alongside. People skated in, sat down and ordered.

The article points out that “Eli,” the former head chef at the Saddle Inn in Avon Lake was now running the kitchen for Elberta Inn.

1971 Lorain Phone book advertisement

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Elberta Inn had been a favorite topic on this blog. 

This 2014 post includes a great vintage aerial photo of the Inn, courtesy of the Lorain Historical Society. I wrote about the Feb. 2011 fire back here on this post, noting that I had almost planned to dine there the night it burned down, since it was my birthday.

This post is devoted to Duke Ellington’s appearance at the Inn in May 1935, and this post includes a few vintage ads.

Lastly, this post highlights Elberta Inn in one of those "Golden Crescent Guide to Dining” features that appeared regularly in the Journal.

1970 Vermilion Liberty Avenue Streetscape – Part 4

Here’s a final look at a few more businesses listed in that 1970 Baldwin ConSurvey directory, along with what is at their location on Liberty Avenue today.

Lake Erie Drive-in was located at 4503 Liberty Avenue.

Courtesy Ritter Public Library

Ad from the May 26, 1965 Vermilion Photojournal

Ad from the August 27, 1970 Vermilion Photojournal

Rather than paraphrase information about the Drive-in found online, here’s a link to a nice article about its history by Rich Tarrant, webmaster of the "Vermilion Views” website. 

Today, the building that housed Lake Erie Drive-in is the home of Jim’s Pizza Box.

The late, great Elberta Inn was located at 4320 Liberty Avenue. 

I wrote about Elberta Inn a few times in the past. Back here, I posted a fascinating aerial photo of the Inn from the archives of the Lorain Historical Society; on this post I featured some great vintage ads announcing the upcoming May 1935 performance of Duke Ellington there; and on this post, I wrote briefly about the tragic fire that destroyed the Inn in February 2011, and led to the empty lot that is there today.

The view on the day after the fire

Right next door to Elberta Inn to the west was Cavalier China, at 4340 Liberty Avenue.

Now this is a store that I remember – mainly because of the sign on the building. It included a large, 1950s clip-art style illustration of a woman’s head. I seem to recall that she was gesturing or pointing, similar to the illustration below (although her hand was closer to her face). Does anyone else remember this sign? I’d sure like to see a photo of it.

Cavalier China was previously located in Lorain at 1431 Colorado Avenue, before moving to Vermilion in April 1965. Putnam Furniture was the previous tenant of the building.

Courtesy Vermilion Photojournal

The March 31, 1965 issue of the Vermilion Photojournal included an article (along with the photo above) about Putnam Furniture’s move to a new location. Referencing the old building at 4340 Liberty, the article noted that it “was formerly a dance hall and skating rink.”

You can see the former dance hall/skating rink in the aerial photo below (which I referenced above while discussing the Elberta Inn). Only part of the building survives today.

The large, multi-story building to the left of the Elberta Inn would later be the home of Cavalier China

Today the building at 4340 Liberty is home to Pet Depot. Here’s the link to the company’s Facebook page.

The A&W Root Beer stand was located at 4372 Liberty Avenue. I’ve written about it before (here), as it was a place that my parents took us to. 

Today, Wendy’s is at that location.

There are a lot of other businesses in that 1970 directory listing that are gone, but whose buildings live on with new tenants. West Side Federal Savings & Loan’s building at 4400 Liberty is now home to Fifth Third Bank; the Lawson’s Milk building at 4410 Liberty has been repurposed for use by several small businesses.

But the one thing in the 1970 directory that surprised me was finding out that Vermilion once had a Manners at 4566 Liberty Avenue. Here’s a photo of the restaurant that appeared in the Vermilion Photojournal on May 21, 1970.

I’m not sure if it really was a Manners Big Boy or just a Manners. This Grand Opening ad (below) from the June 25, 1970 Vermilion Photojournal doesn’t even mention the famous double-decker hamburger.

The 4566 Liberty Avenue address puts the Manners roughly near the entrance driveway to the Crystal Shore Apartments. But I’m not exactly sure which corner it was on; does anyone remember? And could you get a Big Boy there (or had Manners already lost its affiliation with the famous sandwich by then)?

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UPDATE (April 30, 2020)

If you read the comment section, you’ll note that our friend Bill Nahm has answered my question as to the location of the Manners restaurant. It was right where the Rite Aid drug store is today.

You’ll also note that I’ve acknowledged that some of those 1970 addresses are incorrect in that Baldwin ConSurvey directory. Thus I’ve posted (below) the listings from the 1970 Dickman directory, since they seem to be more accurate.

Harbour Town 1837 Vermilion Ad – Nov. 1968

Part of the effort to restore the historical spirit of Vermilion 1937 consisted of an advertising campaign designed to draw attention to the progress.

The advertising framework above, which appeared in the Lorain Journal on November 12, 1968, became a familiar feature in the newspaper’s pages. Longtime Vermilion mainstays such as Elberta Inn, Kishman Fish Company and McGarvey’s supported the Harbor Town theme by buying ads, along with newer businesses such as the Harbor Store.

Thus the local businesses worked together under the Harbor Town banner to present a united front that strengthened the idea of Vermilion as a tourist destination.

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I had forgotten about the Harbour Store at 5542 Liberty Avenue until I saw its ad above. Here are a couple postcards of it currently on Ebay.

And here it is as it looked on Saturday (below).

I’ll be featuring a multi-post series here very soon showing Vermilion in postcards through the years.

Guide to Dinner and Dancing – Feb. 1969

Today is Valentine's Day – and many of you may have plans to celebrate by enjoying a fine dinner at a local restaurant. But where to go?

Well, fifty years ago, the Journal made it easy for you to decide where to dine by publishing a regular advertising feature called the Golden Crescent Guide to Dining and Dancing. It usually included a pretty good review of a restaurant, followed by a series of small boxed ads for other establishments.

(I posted one of these Golden Crescent Guides before, which featured this 1973 review for Amber Oaks.)

Anyway, here are two Guides from February 1969. The first one (below) ran on Feb. 7, 1969 and features a review of the late, great Elberta Inn. There's also a nice photo of the well-remembered Vermilion landmark.

This guide includes ads for McGarvey's, Philbo House, Popi's Colony Restaurant & Lounge, Americana Inn, Sherwood Inn, Presti's of Oberlin, Dover Chalet, Mr. Larry's Beef & Tails, and Avon Lake's Saddle Inn.

(I've featured the Elberta Inn on this blog a few times, including this aerial photo, some vintage ads, the time when Duke Ellington performed there, and this post when the place burned down in Feb. 2011.)

The second Golden Crescent Guide ran right on Valentine's Day 1969 – fifty years ago today. This one highlighted the aforementioned Presti's of Oberlin.

Presti's closed its doors in March of 2014.

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We ate at Presti's a few times in the 1990s, although the restaurant has the somewhat dubious honor of starring in one of my more infamous restaurant recollections.

Although the food and service at Presti's was usually good, on one of my visits there I encountered an off night. Waaaaaaaaay off.

Although I never did find out what was going on in the kitchen that night – whether someone quit or the place just ran out of everything – I endured the longest wait of my entire life for my dinner to be served in a restaurant.

More than two hours after we arrived, we were still waiting for our entrées, with no explanation from our waitress (who eventually skedaddled and was probably home in bed before our food was served). 

At one point I went looking for a manager – or anyone – so I could ask about our missing dinner, and found nobody. I half expected to see the whole staff hogtied with gags in their mouths, lined up on the floor next to an empty cash register. 

I was determined to wait it out, however, and remember eating dinner well after nine o'clock that night in an almost-empty dining room. 

We skipped dessert.

Aerial Photo Fun

Courtesy Lorain Historical Society

The last time I was down at the Lorain Historical Society, I found a stash of aerial photographs in their archives that were labeled as "unknown." One of them is shown at left.

Now anyone who reads this blog for any length of time knows I like a good mystery to solve (I just love wasting time) – so I was  determined to find out where this photo was taken.

Although I had studied the photo carefully – paying particular attention to the large building fronting the highway – I just couldn't place it. My guess was that the photo was taken way west of Lorain, perhaps out near Sandusky or Huron. (The lake is at the top of the photo, so that had to be Route 6 and/or Lake Road near the bottom – assuming the photo was taken in Northeast Ohio!)

Anyway, I was preparing this post with the intent of asking for help from my readers, when I suddenly realized that the smaller building to the right of the large building looked familiar to me.

Where had I seen that building before? Why, on Rich Tarrant's nostalgic Vermilion Views website!

And here it is – a 1950s era photo of the Elberta Inn (below) – which coincidentally burned down three years ago today.

Courtesy Rick Tarrant

That means that the larger building next door to the Inn in the aerial photo was the Elberta Beach Dance Hall.

(Click on this link, and scroll down for Rich's post about the history of Elberta Inn and how it was moved back from the highway in the 1950s.)

I'm not exactly sure when the Elberta Beach Dance Hall closed. According to an online newspaper article, its roof was heavily damaged by the wind – blown off, in fact – in January 1949.

I contacted Rich Tarrant about the dance hall. He explained, "It was partially destroyed during a tornado. Part of it still exists. It's the building just to the west of where Elberta stood until it burned."

Rich also revealed why the name "Elberta" was given to the inn, dance hall and road. The nearby orchards in the vintage photo are "Elberta Peach orchards."

Finally, here's the "now" shot of the area shown in the vintage aerial photo.

You can see the "footprint" left by the now-demolished Elberta Inn where Elberta Road meets Route 6.

Duke Ellington at Elberta Inn – May 1935

Here's an interesting grouping of ads that ran together on the same page of the Friday, May 24 Lorain Journal and Times-Herald. They collectively celebrate the upcoming appearance of Duke Ellington and his Orchestra at the Elberta Inn in Vermilion on Sunday, May 26, 1935 – 78 years ago this weekend.

A couple of the ads include some copy that would certainly be considered racist today. However, that's not the reason I posted this material. Instead, I was focusing on Duke Ellington's fame and popularity and the fact that he commanded so much attention and goodwill during his trip to the area.

Anyway, I like the stylized caricature of the Duke in the main Elberta Beach ad.

The Elberta Inn was lost to an unfortunate fire in February 2011.

Vintage Elberta Inn Ads

Here's a couple of vintage ads for the Elberta Inn. The combo ad above is from May of 1946, and the one at the bottom of this post is a more recent one from the 1971-72 Lorain phone book.

The ads are kind of interesting because they date from the glory days of the Elberta Inn, when a night out meant a dinner and live entertainment for dancing. (It's almost strange to see the name of the man who would later become Mayor of Lorain in the above ad – because you usually see his band listed as performing at Lincoln Park.)

A few days ago, I mentioned how I recently became interested in dining at Alize at Elberta – only to see it burn down over the weekend. 

My heart goes out to the owners, as well as to the restaurant's regulars. I know how a favorite restaurant can become a home away from home, and how much it becomes a part of your life.

1971 Lorain phone book ad

Winter Weekend Wrap-up

Last weekend (before we got all this snow) I headed out with my camera to grab a few shots.

First up was the former Ontario store on N. Ridge that I had blogged about (now the home of Lorain County Jobs and Family Services). Why? Because one of that post's comments reminded me of that whole 'big ball' controversy that I had forgotten about. If I remember correctly, there were several mounted at various places around the outside of the building.

Strangely enough, I drove all around the whole complex and only found one still there at the far west end facing N. Ridge. It looked a little battered, and was even partially obscured with a sign.

Thinking back, it was a funny controversy, and hard to talk about without generating snickers. I sympathize with the architect, who was trying to do something memorable and different.

Good thing my favorite TV show – ABC's Wipeout (with its well-known big balls competition feature) wasn't on the air at the time!

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Since I had mentioned Hot Waters a little more than a week ago, I headed down there yesterday to see what it looked like after the mini-blizzard on Friday. There were a few cars, and a few Canadian geese hanging around as well.

If you're an out-of-towner, click on each photo for that 'you're back in Lorain' feeling.

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Lastly, yesterday was my birthday, and we usually celebrate it with dinner out someplace. Although I was going to spend the whole week blogging about Midway Oh Boy, and it would have been a nice way to cap off the week with a birthday dinner there, I was asked earlier in the week to come up with something different for a change. 

So early last week, I thought of a place in Vermilion at which I had never eaten before, but had driven by a million times. It was such an old and interesting-looking place that I was surprised that I had never made it a priority to eat there before.

If you read today's paper, then you know the name of the place that I had strongly considered: the Elberta Inn. It burned down yesterday.

Actually the real name of the place was Alize at Elberta. By the end of the week I had changed my mind and decided to go to Salvatore's  (also in Vermilion) instead. They do a baked cod in butter dish that is out of this world (it tastes like lobster), and I had a strong hankering for it – so the Elberta Inn would have to wait for another day.

Unfortunately that day will never come. 

Here's the scene at dusk on Saturday night, the day it burned down.

And here is the view from Route 6 from today (Sunday). At first glance, the damage doesn't look so bad until you realize that the building now resembles a false front found on a movie set. The front and sign survived, but there is nothing behind it but charred rubble.