Elyria L-K Restaurant

Back in March on Election Day (or what was supposed to be Election Day), I posted a vintage L-K Restaurant ad from March 1970. It listed two restaurant addresses at that time: Lorain (Rt. 58 and Cooper Foster Park Road) and Elyria (Rts. 10-20).

Although I remember the Lorain location, I was never at the Elyria one. But as longtime blog contributor Dennis Thompson pointed out in a comment, the former restaurant building is still there, out on Oberlin - Elyria Road (Old U. S. Route 20).

It’s a pretty distinctive building (below), very unlike the boxy Lorain restaurant. An online search seems to indicate that after its L-K days, the building was the home of Brown’s Family Restaurant. Today, however, it’s the home of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6273.

Here's a view circa Feb. 2024.

And here’s a vintage photo of the Elyria restaurant circa 1969 – with watermark – courtesy of VintageAerials.com (a subsidiary of Thompson Enterprises). You can see the L-K letters on the building.

Although you can’t see the signage near the highway in the vintage shot, you can get a pretty good idea of what it probably looked like. The empty sign brackets on the “today” shot seem to match up well with this old postcard (below).

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Right out there in the same general area, just a few miles to the north on Oberlin-Elyria Road, is the old and deteriorating rainbow arch bridge. 

LK Restaurant Ad – March 3, 1970

Well, it was supposed to be Election Day today in Ohio, until it was postponed because of health concerns due to the Coronavirus. As a precinct election official in Lorain County, I got the phone call at 11:00 pm Monday night.

Here’s hoping that things are better virus-wise on June 2nd, which is the planned make-up date.

Anyway, in honor of the Election Day that wasn’t meant to be, here’s an ad for the LK Restaurant chain that ran in the Journal on March 3, 1970. The very simply-designed ad promotes a sandwich called “The LK President.”

Unfortunately, the ad doesn’t say what kind of sandwich it was. Was it a burger? The ad illustration (which is begging to be colored) makes it look like something breaded.

And why was it named “The President”? Was it because of its broad appeal and ability to be all things to all restaurant patrons?

At least the ad makes a nice play on words. Either that or it’s a typo.

The ad lists the two LK restaurants in the area at that time, on Leavitt Road in Amherst (which I wrote about here and in this multi-part series), as well as at the junction of Ohio State Route 10 and U.S. Route 20.

L&K and Leavitt Road Revisited - Part 3

The 1980s brought more national chains to Leavitt Road in Amherst near the intersection of Cooper Foster Park Road.

As you can see from the 1980 Lorain City Directory listing below, Dunkin Donuts and Mr Hero had joined the restaurant lineup on the east side of the highway.

The original L&K Restaurant next to the Marathon station – the granddaddy of all of the chain restaurants along that stretch of Leavitt Road – would last appear in the 1982 directory, its address going vacant in the next edition.

And by the time of the 1983 city directory, Sambo’s would also be gone – replaced at its location by Friendly’s.

The mid-80s brought even more chain restaurants. A Sisters Fried Chicken outlet opened in the L&K Restaurant’s old location at 940 Leavitt. Here’s its listing in the 1986 city directory.

The 1986 city directory was also the last to include a listing for the L&K Towne House Restaurant. By the time of the 1987 edition, it would become Ike’s Great American Restaurant.

As noted in a past post, Bob Evans Restaurants opened its Amherst store in late 1987.

But what about the L&K Motel? It would continue to appear in the directories until around the 1991 edition, when Travelodge was listed at that location, bringing an end to L&K’s presence in Amherst.

1991 city directory listings

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Many more changes occurred along that portion of Leavitt Road since the 1990s.

Today, the Big Boy is long-gone; an empty lot sits near Route 2 where once the jolly statue of Big Boy stood. Sisters Chicken & Biscuit is gone; a Taco Bell sits at its old location. A Chipotle Mexican Grill occupies Friendly’s spot. Days Inn now runs the motel that started out as a Lawson’s Motor Inn, and there’s a Denny’s at the L&K Towne House’s old address

The BP gas station – the successor to Jack’s Sohio – is closed as well, leaving Sunoco as one of the oldest businesses on Leavitt in that area.

L&K and Leavitt Road Revisited - Part 2

Consolidated Foods of Akron made an interesting decision when it was time to name its new restaurant and motel on Leavitt Road in Amherst in the early 1970s.

Although Consolidated Foods owned both the L&K chain as well as Manners Big Boy, its new restaurant and motel took the name and branding of another chain the firm owned: Lawson’s.

The 1972 city directory listing shown below (with the original L&K Restaurant highlighted) tells the story, with Lawsons Motel Inn motel at 832 Leavitt and Lawson’s Restaurant at 900 Leavitt. (They first appeared in the 1971 edition, however.)

The Cleveland Memory Project website features a postcard with a Lawson’s motel and restaurant. The back of the postcard reads, "LAWSON'S RESTAURANT & MOTELS 16201 Euclid Avenue Cleveland, Ohio 44112, Phone 216-281-2600; Restaurants and Motels in Ohio, Motels in Stow, Montrose, North Canton, Amherst and Macedonia. Swimming pools; Color T.V. and phones in all rooms."

Courtesy Cleveland Memory Project

There was another Lawson’s Restaurant – the first in the chain – on Babbitt Road in Euclid. 

The Lawson’s restaurant/motel experiment apparently did not last very long, because by the time of the 1973 Lorain city directory, both properties were rebranded as part of the L&K chain as seen in the listing below (with the original L&K restaurant highlighted).

Thus, there were two L&K restaurants on Leavitt Road within the same quarter mile– the original next to the Marathon station, and the L&K Towne House, home to many club meetings.

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By the mid-1970s, the L&K Motel appears to have taken on a new name, judging from various online newspaper accounts from that time. It was often referred to as the Penny Pincher Motel (or L&K Penny Pincher Motel.)

Commercial development consisting of national restaurant chains continued to thrive along Leavitt Road. Sambo’s opened its Amherst location in the spring of 1977. Below is an ad for the pancake house that ran in the Amherst News-Times on May 5, 1977.

An announcement of the construction of a Bob's Big Boy on Leavitt near the Route 2 interchange ran in the Amherst News-Times on November 10, 1977. And McDonald’s made its appearance at 500 Leavitt Road as the 1970s drew to a close.

Next: The 1980s and the fate of L&K

L&K and Leavitt Road Revisited - Part 1

Another reproduction of the architectural rendering of the new Marathon station and L&K Restaurant
(Courtesy Amherst News-Times) 

The reaction to my post last week about the L&K Restaurant in Amherst convinced me that it was a story worth revisiting in more detail.

What follows, then, is a general look not only at the various L&K properties (yes, there was more than one) along that stretch of Leavitt Road, but also of the other commercial development that took place from the early 1960s to the 1990s.

It’s a fascinating story, because so many of the businesses in that area came and went, leaving no visible trace of their existence, except for some fading memories of them among the locals.

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Back in the early 1960s, there was almost no commercial development on Leavitt Road from Spruce Lane (the entrance to Rock Creek Run) north to Cooper Foster Road. It was mostly residential, with the exception of Harman’s Nursery at 512 Leavitt.

Very slowly, things began to change.

Amherst Baptist Church appeared in the 1961 directory at 900 Leavitt Road. By the time of the 1962 directory, Westminster United Presbyterian Church was listed at 515 Leavitt.

But it wasn’t until the 1968 city directory that commercial development seemed to explode, with three new listings: Jack’s Sohio at 801 Leavitt, and J & J Sunoco at 1004 Leavitt; and a Convenient Food Mart at 707 Leavitt.

Note that the property at 920 Leavitt was listed as being ‘under construction.’ That apparently was the L&K Restaurant. It opened in the beginning of June 1969.

June 5, 1969 article from the Amherst News-Times

The restaurant made its first appearance in the 1970 city directory at 940 Leavitt Road (the 920 construction address simply disappeared.) The Marathon station next door wouldn’t appear in the listings until the 1971 edition.

But Consolidated Foods – the parent company at that time of L&K, wasn’t quite finished yet on that part of Leavitt Road. The company had several other projects in mind for the growing area.

As an article in the April 9, 1970 edition of the Amherst News-Times explained, “Three new commercial enterprises revealed plans for locating themselves on Rt. 58 near the intersection with Cooper Foster Park road at a Planning meeting Monday night.

“The three businesses include a bank branch, a restaurant and a motel, all of which would be located on the west side of Rt. 58 on land owned by the Baptist Church.

“The Lorain County Savings and Trust Bank has purchased the church building, which sits back from the road some 150 feet. The bank has devised plans for remodeling the church into a bank with drive-in window service.

“The motel and restaurant would be constructed by Consolidated Foods of Akron, the same company that owns Manners and L and K chain of restaurants. Representatives from the company told the Planning Commission that the restaurant would have no curb service and hoped to establish a reputation for fine foods.”

So what was the name of Consolidated Foods' new restaurant and motel? You might be as surprised as me when you find out in tomorrow’s post.

New Marathon and L-K for Amherst – May 1968

I admired the architectural rendering of the proposed Marathon Oil service station shown in this small article that ran in the Lorain Journal on May 30, 1968. The station was being planned for Amherst at the corner of Leavitt Road and Cooper-Foster Road.

What's interesting is that the illustration includes the new L-K Restaurant to be built just to the south of the gas station on Leavitt. I had completely forgotten about that particular restaurant and the once ubiquitous L-K chain.

Mr. Cleo Ludwig and Robert Kibbey founded their Ohio-based restaurant chain in either the late 1930s or early 40s, with the first one in Marion, Ohio.

Here’s an undated postcard showing an L-K Restaurant in Marion, Ohio.

At one time, there were more than 150 outlets, with as many as 90 in the Buckeye State. Many of my older readers remember eating at one.

Here’s a link to an article about the mid-80s sale of the restaurant chain.

Today, while the L-K on Leavitt Road in Amherst is long-gone (a Taco Bell sits at its old location), the Marathon station is still there. Today, however, you’re more likely to get a coffee or snack there as opposed to an oil change.