Tudy's 20th Anniversary – August 1973

Tudy's Restaurant was a Lorain County favorite for decades, fondly remembered by those who enjoyed its pleasant ambience and fine food. Founded and operated by Art "Tudy" Diaz, the popular eatery was located on North Ridge Road E. in Elyria Township.

And fifty years ago this month, Tudy's celebrated its 20th Anniversary with an advertising feature on the Business & Industry Review page, as well as a Journal interview with Diaz. 

Here's the Business page feature article, which ran in the Journal on August 6, 1973.

And here's the interview, written by Staff Writer Mark Ellis. It appeared in the Journal back on August 12, 1973.

As noted in the article, Tudy's started out as a drive-in in 1953, but quickly expanded to a sit-down restaurant.

Two years after the 1973 article, Diaz sold his restaurant to another well-known local restauranteur, Richard Head (profiled in this 4-part blog series) of The Hoop/Manners fame. But by 1980, Diaz was back at the helm of his beloved eating spot. He would remain there until late 2000, when he retired and sold the business to Con-Sun Foods, who built a Sunoco gas station and convenient store at that location.

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Tudy's has been the subject of two other blog posts. This one featured a 1970 ad and a photo of the 'Drive-in' sign; this more extensive post featured several ads and photos from 1972 to 1975.

Tudy’s Spot Drive-in – March 9, 1970

Here’s another one of those types of features highlighting a restaurant or company that the Journal used to run on a special advertising spread. These pieces more or less masqueraded as a regular news article, but they were a great idea and fun to read. (The Morning Journal should consider reviving this particular gimmick.)

These features are nice in retrospect, because they usually say something about the owner of the business, and sometimes include a photo.

This one for the well-remembered Tudy’s Restaurant on Route 254, which ran in the Journal on March 9, 1970 – 50 years ago today – had both. Manager Art “Tudy" Diaz is mentioned halfway through the article.

Although the photo accompanying the article is a little dark, it shows the great neon sign design, (which unfortunately is becoming a lost art).

Anyway, I’ve mentioned Tudy’s before on this blog. This post from 2016 includes some photos of the building, a later sign, an advertisement and a photo of the owner, Mr. Diaz.

Tudy's

June 16, 1972 newspaper ad

Tudy's listing in an early 1960s
Lorain promotional brochure

I'm sure many of my readers remember Tudy's, another popular restaurant that was listed in that 1969 Lorain Telephone Company directory I wrote about earlier this week. Tudy's was located on State Route 254 in Elyria Township, and was operated for most of its run by Art "Tudy" Diaz.

For years, large advertisements for Tudy’s that were written in an article format appeared in the business pages of the Lorain Journal. I remember first seeing these as a kid.

I finally made it a point to eat at Tudy's in the 1990s, just out of curiosity. I'm glad I did, because eventually the restaurant closed, and was replaced by a gas station/convenience store complex around 2000.

But to bring back some nice memories for those of you who enjoyed Tudy's, here are a few of their well-written ads from the pages of the Journal. (Click on each one for a larger version.)

February 17, 1972 ad

April 24, 1972 ad

January 20, 1975 ad

September 1, 1975 ad

And here's an aerial look at the former Tudy's property today.