Vian’s Barbecue – Then & Now

Although I finished up my blog series on Vian’s yesterday, I realized that I forgot to give it the “then & now” treatment, even though I shot the “now” photo about a week ago in preparation for it.

Above is a postcard showing the restaurant how it looked shortly after it opened. Below is a slightly newer version; you can see how the front of the building has been expanded a bit.

The former Vian’s property is about a thousand feet from my house, and it’s difficult for me not to see the restaurant in my mind’s eye as I drive by it daily.

Here is the view today showing where the restaurant was located (below).

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Speaking of the restaurant, I received an interesting email this week from a reader named Shari. Shari wrote, “I wanted to share with you that my dad helped demolish Vian’s.”

I thought that was pretty interesting. Did he manage to salvage any souvenirs?

Indeed he did. As Shari related, “He tore out the bar before the building was demolished. At the time they were finishing their basement and that is where the bar has been ever since. It is in wonderful shape and has never really been used.

“It’s neat that my dad has a part of Sheffield Lake history.”

I think so, too. Thanks for sharing, Shari!

Vian’s Part 8

Throughout the 1970s, Vian's On the Lake Motel Plaza was still promoted in ads in the phone book as "the Commercial Man’s Haven in the Lorain Area."

Beginning with the 1979 phone book, however, the motel underwent a name change and became the Driftwood Motel. Here’s the ad (below) that appeared in the 1979 edition.

The motel continued to offer a few amenities, including color TVs and in-room telephones, and the cottages (referenced as 'kitchenettes' in the ad) were still available for rent.

But apparently the motel’s name change coincided with the gradual winding down of the business, because the ad appeared only one more time, in the 1980 phone directory. And with the 1981 edition, the Vian’s name sadly disappeared from the listings, and a chapter in Sheffield Lake roadside hospitality history came to an end.

The restaurant would last a little longer, operating as the Terrace Restaurant. (I also remember going in there in the early 1980s when it was briefly called City Limits.)

With the motel closed and for sale, it’s not surprising that the huge Vians lakefront property attracted the attention of developers. However, it would take a while for the right proposal to come along that would meet with approval by the city and nearby residents.

The article below, which appeared in the December 23, 1982 Elyria Chronicle-Telegram, describes how one developer's luxury condo proposal met much resistance and ended up being scuttled.

Meanwhile, the shuttered motel (now more than twenty years old) was beginning to deteriorate and was becoming somewhat of a nuisance. The article below from the September 13, 1984 Elyria Chronicle-Telegram tells the sad story.

A Journal newspaper article from June 23, 1985 provided a bleak summary of the situation. It stated, "Sheffield Lake's financial plight is perhaps symbolized best by the Driftwood Motel, which is, along with its attendant cottages, a rotting, vandalized hulk sitting on the largest piece of lakefront real estate in the city. It has been that way for two years. Its companion restaurant, the Terrace, closed recently, too."

Two years later, the motel was still deteriorating, and yet another developer's request for rezoning of the property hit an unexpected roadblock. An article by Mike Noga in the September 9, 1987 Avon Lake Press stated, "Developers who were denied rezoning of land at the site of the former Vian's Driftwood Motel told the Press they want council to call for a revote. They want council to reconsider an ordinance which can grant them limited-use zoning for the development of a 51-unit, $5.3 million condominium community.

"Developer Paul Alexy said he did not expect the Aug. 11 rezoning refusal on a 2-4 vote."

A photo of the Driftwood Motel (below) accompanied the front page article.

Eventually the plan for the property seemed to move forward. A short article in the May 4, 1988 Press stated, "Lakehurst Construction Corp. and Sheffield Lake developer Paul Alexy plan to begin construction of 36 town houses at this location. Alexy said the project will be in full swing by late May, weather permitting, and the development will be called Pointe of View. The two and three bedroom town houses planned range from $150,000 to $170,000 and are available through local real estate agents. He said each town house will have its own garage, fireplace, solarium over dining room and private entrance. Owners will share access to the lake with two fishing piers that are being renovated and be members of a homeowners association which will coordinate other activities."

However, there was a change in plans. 

The Plain Dealer of January 7, 1990 included a small item which stated, "Kopf Construction Corp. paid $524,000 for a now-demolished motel and surrounding land along E. Lake Rd. in Sheffield Lake. The firm has proposed building a 48-unit, two-building condominium project for the site."

There were some more tweaks needed in the proposal. The Plain Dealer of December 7, 1990 included a short article with the heading, "Sheffield Lake's revised condo plans OK'd." It stated, "The Sheffield Lake Planning Commission has approved developer Herman (Bucky) Kopf's revised plans for condominiums at the site of the former Vian's Motel on Lake Rd. Kopf originally had planned 48 units, but cut back to 24. City Council must now vote on the plan. The cost of the scaled-down project is estimated at $4.6 million.  Kopf said he was hoping to take out a building permit for the project in January."

The condominium project – eventually known as the Residence on the Beach – was finally built. A Kopf Builders ad for the condos (below) appeared in the May 15, 1991 Press.

Today the condominium complex is known simply as The Residence. It’s an impressive and attractive community that has helped contribute to a positive image of a modern Sheffield Lake.

It’s also fitting that Nicholas Vian’s property – well-known for providing so many area residents and travelers with happy memories of good food, lodging and fun – is enjoying “retirement” in such beautiful and serene surroundings.

I hope you enjoyed this look back at a part of Sheffield Lake’s heritage that deserves to be remembered. 

Vian’s Part 7

During the 1960s, Nicholas Vian continued to regularly promote his restaurant and motel in the Journal and the Lorain Telephone Company directory.

Here’s a selection of ads from that time period.

July 3, 1964 ad from the Journal

July 4, 1964 ad from the Journal

October 10, 1964 ad from the Journal

1968 Phone Book Ad

1969 Phone Book Ad

Nicholas Vian passed away in March 1969 at his winter home in Riviera Beach, Florida after an illness of five years. But his daughter and her husband, Ethel and Stephen Izold, and her family had been assisting with management of the businesses for years, so operation of the restaurant, as well as the motel & cottages, continued without interruption.

Rick Kurish – whose mother-in-law was a waitress at Vian’s in the 1960s – sent me the short promotional newspaper article below which features a quote from Dick Izold, the manager at the time.

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Count on area kids to rustle up the bait!

Vian’s - on - the - Lake, 3731 East Lake Rd., Lorain, has a lot to offer the vacationer. And, if the vacationer happens to have a boat on a trailer behind them, Vian’s is just the place.

The 25-unit motel, restaurant and cocktail lounge, all open to the public, sit right on Rts. 6 and 2. There are 10 housekeeping cottages.

Vian’s has five piers on the lake. Though manager Dick Izold says there are no boats for rent, there are a number of them available to motel or cottage guests.

No bait is sold, but there are, he says, “always kids around who can get it.”

For the guest who has trailered his boat to Vian’s, there is a hoist for in and out service.

Shoreway Shopping Center is just a short hop from Vian’s.

Next: The Rest of the Story

Vian’s Part 6

The 1957 Lorain Telephone Company directory was the first edition to carry an ad (shown above) for the new motel that was part of the Vian restaurant and cabin/cottage property.

A few black and white postcards apparently date from this early era of the motel. The front of this postcard (below) still shows the now familiar cabin area with the low white wall, but the back of the card describes Vian’s On the Lake as “Finest Motel, Cottages and Restaurant, facing beautiful Lake Erie."

This postcard (below) has a similar mail panel side, which mentions the motel but doesn't show it.

The ad below – which ran in the 1959 Brookside High School yearbook – reveals the motel's name: N and N Motel. The photo also shows the early version of the unique sign.

By 1961, Vian’s ads in the Lorain Telephone Company directory included an attractive rendering of the motel (below). 

The listing in the 1961 white pages included all of the Vian enterprises, including the restaurant, the motel & cabins, and the real estate business.

1961 Lorain Telephone Company directory listing

Nicholas Vian also promoted his motel through a series of color postcards (below). You can see how the design of the postcards evolved, with minor tweaks to the photo layout in order to spotlight some of the motel’s amenities.

Courtesy www.cardcow.com

This card (purchased on Ebay) was postmarked 1968

The backs of these two postcards featuring photos of family members
listed Mr. and Mrs. Izold as Managers

Next: More of the 1960s

Vian’s Part 5

Ad from the January 18, 1950 Lorain Journal

By the early 1950s, Vian’s had been open for more than ten years. Ads for the restaurant were appearing regularly in the Lorain Journal.

Ad from the August 5, 1950 Lorain Journal

Ad from the Jan. 15, 1953 Lorain Journal

By 1954, Nicholas Vian had decided to expand his business with the addition of a motel to his property. The small article below – in which he finally was issued a permit by Sheffield Lake officials for his proposed 13 unit motel – appeared in the Lorain Journal on May 28, 1954.

Article from the May 28, 1954 Lorain Journal

It would be a few more years before the motel opened.

Meanwhile the restaurant was still being promoted regularly in newspaper ads, such as this ad (below) which ran a few days before Thanksgiving 1955.

Just a month later in 1955, a fire in the restaurant caused by a deep fryer did $1200 damage. The photo and caption below appeared in the Lorain Journal on December 27, 1955.

Next: The Motel

Vian’s Part 4

Nicholas Vian apparently believed in the power of advertising and promotion, as a second series of postcards were issued promoting his barbecue restaurant and cabin business. These are of a slightly different design than the earlier set, and all feature a border around the photo.

The postcard above shows that the restaurant building has been slightly modified around the entrance since the older postcard with the same view.

Another postcard in this same series shows the entrance to the cabin area (below), which was located behind the restaurant.

In this postcard (below), you can see the flagpole, as well as the low white wall with the urns, at the far right side of the photo.

And here are two more postcards from this same series (below). Although their image quality is not as good, they’re useful in that they provide additional views of the cabin area.

Next:  Into the 1950s

Vian’s Part 3

Like many savvy highway entrepreneurs in the 1930s and 40s, Nicholas Vian supplemented his restaurant business with cabins that were available to weary travelers, as well as those seeking a lakeside oasis where they could relax or fish.

In the photograph above, you can see the sign for Vian’s cabins on a building located adjacent to Lorain’s old swing bridge. (At that time, the building in the photo was home to the Checker Inn, a cafe operated by Tony Diulio. The building also housed various hotels through the years, including the Eagle Hotel and the Swamp Lily. The building disappeared from the Lorain city directories after the swing bridge was replaced by the current bascule bridge in 1939.)

Nicholas Vian also promoted his business – then known as Vian’s Grille and Cabins – through a series of postcards.

The three shown below – numbered 6839, 6840 and 6841 and designed with a distinctively shaped inset – is from the earliest series of postcards. (One of them turned up on Ebay with a 1939 postmark).

The combination of a restaurant, liquor, clean and attractive cabins, and cooling breezes off Lake Erie was undoubtedly a winning one, making Vian’s business very popular.

Next: More postcards

Vian’s Part 2

Nicholas M. Vian was the man behind Vian’s.

He was born in Greece in the early 1890s, and came to this country as a child. Before moving to the Lorain area, he lived in Erie, Pennsylvania.

By the late 1920s, he was assistant manager of Bazley Cash Market in Lorain. He was manager of the store by 1931, and a few years later moved over to Jacoby Brothers, where he was a meat cutter.

But the lure of having his own business must have instilled in him an entrepreneurial sense, because by the time of the October 1937 Lorain Telephone Company directory, Nicholas Vian had combined all of his knowledge and experience to open his own very own business: Vian’s Barbecue. It was located at Stop 89 on Lake Road in Sheffield Lake.

Very first listing of Vian’s in the 1937 Lorain Telephone Directory

Shortly after his move, Nicholas Vian also began his long involvement in Sheffield Lake civic affairs. He was elected to Sheffield Lake village council in November 1937. However, according to an article in the June 4, 1938 Elyria Chronicle-Telegram, the council in mid-February 1938 "declared Vian ineligible to serve on the ground that he had not been a resident of the village for one year before the election.”

Vian eventually served three terms as a city councilman.

At the same time he operated his restaurant and cabin business, he was also a licensed real estate broker.

Next: Cabins

Vian’s Part 1

1969 Phone Book ad

For decades, the highway known as U. S. Route 6 and Ohio State Route 2 (6 & 2) was the main east-west route through Lorain and Sheffield Lake.

The road was eventually overshadowed by I-90 and the new, limited access Route 2. But until then, the highway was pretty important to many businesses that depended on its steady stream of traffic.

Courtesy jumpingfrog.com

One such business was Vian’s in Sheffield Lake.

The story of Vian’s is one of a highway business that started out in the 1930s as a roadside restaurant with cabins, and slowly grew to eventually include a motel in the 1950s. Through the years, the business became not only a Lake Road icon, but a symbol of the entrepreneurial spirit of its owner.

The business and all traces of it are gone now. Today, Vian’s former location is occupied by the Residence condominium complex (below).

But I hope you’ll join me next time for the rest of my multi-part series in which we travel back in time to revisit a well-remembered piece of Sheffield Lake roadside history.

Vian’s former location, currently home to The Residence

1958 New Year's Eve Nightclub Ads

If you were looking for a place in Lorain County where you could celebrate New Year's Eve 1958, these ads – from the December 30, 1958 Lorain Journal – might have helped you make a decision.

Sadly, all three of these businesses (and the buildings in which they were located) no longer exist.

First up is an ad for Supper Club, the subject of a multi-part blog series earlier this year (back here).

You might remember (in this post) that management of the Supper Club had changed hands in December 1958, and that it would soon be doing business as Old Ely Stagecoach Inn. So perhaps the New Year's Eve blowout was sort of a last hurrah for Supper Club (although that name would return in the 1970s).

Next I have an ad for Carey's Villa, which was located a little south of Supper Club at 1906 Lake Avenue between the Ohio Turnpike overpass and State Route 113.

Jack Sikora and his orchestra provided the music for the celebration. There is a little bit of an internet footprint online for Mr. Sikora; it appears that he led an orchestra while a student at Baldwin Wallace, and was performing locally with his group as early as 1944.

As for Carey's Villa (later renamed Libra Capri), be sure to read this Chronicle-Telegram article by Steve Fogarty, which provides a nice history of the business, written when the building burned down in May 2011.

Lastly, here's an attractive ad with great typography for Vian's in Sheffield Lake (which was located about a mile from where I now live).

The ad has an unpretentious, welcoming sound to it – my kind of place. 

Anyway, speaking of Vian's – watch this space in the next week or so as I finally get around to presenting the history of this iconic Sheffield Lake business!

(Hmmm.. that sounds familiar!)

Sheffield Lake's Lake Road Businesses – 1942

While preparing Monday's post about the old Sheffield Lake Fire Station on Lake Road, I poked around in the vintage Lorain City Directories a bit. The 1942 edition provides a nice snapshot of the Sheffield Lake businesses located on Lake Road at that time.

It's interesting seeing the various Mom and Pop places – some long-gone – that preceded the current businesses at roughly the same location.

I've highlighted the businesses on the scan of the directory listing above so it's easier to pick them out. (Although I'm merely providing a roll call of them here, a few of them will eventually receive the full-blown blog treatment.)

Vintage Vian's postcard

Heading east into Sheffield Lake from Lorain, the first business is Nicholas Vian's restaurant. Today the site is occupied by The Residence.

Up near where the Shoreway Shopping Center would celebrate its Grand Opening in 1958, we find the only business listed is Heavyweight Boxer Johnny Risko's restaurant and Mary Risko's beauty shop next door. Today, Risko's still does a great business, judging by the number of cars outside.

The building at 4282 Lake Road
in 1955

Just a stone's throw way on the south side of the road is the restaurant at 4282 Lake Road run by Gladys Palmer, with a filling station in front run by Paul Gehrke. (I did a post on this place back here.) Today the location is the home of Uncle Ray's Trains.

Up near where Grantwood Avenue intersects Lake Road was a restaurant on the lake side run by Kurt Schmelzer at 4337 Lake Road. Today two lakefront residences occupy the spot.

Still further east is where Dotzlaf's Food Store was located at 4540 E. Lake Road. You know the building today – it houses Dock's Tavern.

Up at 4628 Lake Road was Harry W. Gang's grocery store. Make It Happen Studios recently relocated their martial arts and dance school business there.

Elmer and Dorothy Bartel's restaurant was at 4790 Lake Road, roughly where the Bi-Rite Express is today.

Erma Sidway's restaurant (at left) was at 5128 Lake Road. You might remember the vintage postcard of the place from this blog post. Today there is nothing left on the wooded site across from the Erie Shore Landing apartments to indicate it was ever there.

Back in 1942, Carl Maurer's restaurant was located at 5348 Lake Road. Later it was Bill and Don's; today you know that location as the home of Gus' Restaurant and Lounge.

And right next door to the east was Ervin Brow's gas station and Mrs. Clara Brow's grocery store at 5384 Lake Road, where Cove Beach intersects with Lake Road. Today that address is home to Hair-Ways Beauty Salon.