Fior's Lake Road Spaghetti House Revisited

December 22, 1946 newspaper ad from the Lorain Journal

Back here in 2013 I did a post on Fior's Spaghetti House, which was located on old "Routes 6 and 2" at Vermilion-On-The Lake, nine miles west of Lorain.

Shortly after that, I received a great email from Jim Bearden, who grew up on the east side of Lorain in the 1970s and 80s, but now lives in Vermilion. He passed along some wonderful vintage photos, including a few that reveal how the Fior's restaurant building was altered in the late 1950s.

The photo below circa 1950 shows one of the people behind the family operation. As labeled, it shows "Aunt Fior (on the left) and a waitress."

Another photo was dated July 6, 1950 (below) and shows the same two people and car in front of the Lake Road Spaghetti House.

As Jim noted, the note on the back of the photo stated, "This is the 'old' front of the building. It was moved when Lake Road was widened. Apparently they removed the front of the building and put it directly behind the store on Overlook Drive."

This unusual color photo (below) explains it all. The 'old front' of the building is shown in its new home around the corner on Overlook Road. (It's the building that appears bright blue.) The "new" version of the restaurant building – with the big FIOR'S on the front of it – faces the newly-widened Route 6 and 2.

The "old front" of Fior's Lake Road Spaghetti House – still sits on Overlook Drive today (below). Jim mentioned that for many years it housed a salon.

And, here's what the "new version" of Fior's Lake Road Spaghetti House looks like today (below). It's now the home of the Driftwood Inn. As you can see, another addition has been added on the west side since the vintage color photo was taken.

Special thanks to Jim Bearden for sharing his photos and information with me. And a special apology to him as well for my taking so long to post them!

Fior's Spaghetti House Ad – June 21, 1955

The former Fior's Spaghetti House
(Now the Driftwood Inn)

I first mentioned Fior's Spaghetti House on Lake Road just east of Vermilion back in June (here) as part of my series on the various businesses on Routes 6 and 2 on that 1957 Vacation Map. Unfortunately, I didn't know very much about the restaurant. This ad, from the June 21, 1955 Lorain Journal, fills in a little more of the story.

The ad notes, "Fior's Lake Road Spaghetti House was started in 1948 by Mr. Jacob Fior and Mrs. Anna Fior, featuring home style cooking with spaghetti as a specialty."

I'll have something about the Vermilion On-The-Lake Clubhouse and Dance Hall tomorrow. (I gotta dig out my shot of that thing!)

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It's funny that you don't see many restaurants any more that feature spaghetti, at least around here. I used to go the Spaghetti Warehouse when I lived in Columbus, and never realized that it was part of a chain. I thought it was the only one.

I know there's a restaurant in Port Clinton called Phil's Inn that's supposed to have excellent spaghetti. It's very well-known for its sauce.

I don't know about you, but reading all this about spaghetti reminds me that we haven't had it for dinner for months, and I'm going to have to do something about it (providing that have some garlic bread to go with it).

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Be sure to visit this additional post on Fior’s Spaghetti House.

Fior's Spaghetti House on Routes 6 and 2

There wasn't very much information available (in the Lorain Public Library, that is) about Fior's Spaghetti House, one of the businesses on the 1957 Routes 6 and 2 vacation map that I posted last week.

Since the restaurant was almost in Vermilion, it did not make it into the vintage Lorain City Directories, making it difficult to research. There's no date listed on the Lorain County Auditor's site either as to when the restaurant was built.

The small blurb next to the restaurant's location on the 1957 map stated, "Absolutely the best spaghetti this side of Florence, Italy." The text indicated that if you dropped in, you could plan on "shooting the breeze with Dick Fior." It also mentioned the "new building."

Here's the 1959 Lorain phone book ad (below).

A very helpful anonymous commenter on that post pointed out that Fior's Spaghetti House eventually became Hanna House. I did find a listing for Hanna House in the 1968 phone book.

Here's the 1970 ad phone book for Hanna House, also known as Hanna's Italian Village (below).

I'm sorry that I don't have any information as to when the restaurant became the Driftwood Inn. The anonymous poster thought that it had been the Driftwood Inn for the last 20 years or so. (Thanks for your help with this!)

Here is the building at 3674 Liberty Avenue today (below).