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).

The Passing Scene – June 1, 1974

Here's yet another one of the late Gene Patrick's weekly The Passing Scene cartoon that ran in the Journal in the mid-1960s and into the 1970s. (They make nice filler for this blog when I don't have anything else ready yet!)

This one ran on June 1, 1974 – thus the Memorial Day reference in the cartoon. I no doubt marched in that parade with the Admiral King Marching Band.

Speaking of Gene Patrick, I happened to find an old rerun of the Mary Tyler Moore show the other day on Me-TV (the one where Ted wants to move into Mary's apartment house), and I swear I saw him sitting in the background in the newsroom. (Remember back here, when it was pointed out that he had done just that in some episodes while trying to get an acting career going.)

Anyway, I might as well also post this ad for Gene Patrick's business endeavor in Lorain: Gene's Hobby Hub. It ran in the Journal on May 12, 1972.

The small hobby store was located right next door to Yala's Pizza. And since Yala's added a drive-thru to the store, I believe Yala's is now located more or less in the old Hobby Hub space.

Bruce Horner Parkway

Over the weekend I was up and down Oberlin Avenue several times (a very rough ride, with all the construction related to the installation of new water lines). But I did manage to grab this shot of the recently installed sign honoring Army Sgt. Bruce Horner, who was killed in action in June 2007 while serving in Iraq.

The sign designates West 26th Street between Oberlin Avenue and Ashland Avenue as Bruce Horner Parkway. The sign is right across from George Daniel Field and just a short distance from the former Horner home.

Both of the local newspapers did excellent, touching stories about Bruce Horner.

The Morning Journal's story from May 21 featured some nice video and some comments by my old A.K.H.S. Marching Band pal Rev. Doug Horner. The Chronicle-Telegram's heartfelt article ran on Memorial Day and was very well-written. It contained interviews with Doug, as well as a look at how the whole Horner family has always given back to the community.

Anyway, the sign is a wonderful tribute to Bruce. It's hard not to get choked up standing in front of it, knowing that the Horners lived just a few doors down.

I'm thrilled for the Horners that Lorain did this to ensure that Bruce isn't forgotten in his old neighborhood.

Roman Villa on Routes 6 and 2

Another of the long-gone businesses on that vacation map from two days ago is Roman Villa. The restaurant was just west of Edna's Restaurant on the same (south) side of West Erie.

The small blurb on the map (at left) promoted the "ultra-modern" restaurant's "true Italian food."

The restaurant was immensely popular in its heyday, hosting countless dinner meetings, banquets and bridal parties during the 1950s and 60s.

A few online newspaper articles indicated that the restaurant was co-owned by Dominic and Angeline Gigliotti from 1952 to 1971. After that it was owned by the Veterans of Foreign Wars for a few years.

The city directory has a variety of businesses at that 4953 West Erie location from the mid-1970s on, including the Silver Dollar Restaurant (1975-1980), Barbary Coast Restaurant (1981-1982), The Connection (1983), Morelli's Restaurant & Lounge (1984-1985), Cara Vee Cove (1986), Lahn Lounge (1987), and Seven Seas Lounge (1988).

After 1988 it gets a little sketchy, thanks to plenty of holes in the library's city directory collection.

From 1989-1991, the address was listed as being vacant. From 1992-1993, Night Out was listed at that address. The late 1990s showed the address as being a residence, and the early 2000's the address was "not verified."

The final listing was as a "nonclassified establishment" in 2003 and shortly afterwards the address was no longer listed in the books, according to my research.

The property is currently for sale (here is the listing).

It sure would be great if someone could launch a successful new business along that stretch on the approach to Lorain, and make it truly part of Vacationland.

Interurban Crash - May 30, 1907

Here's an article that ran in the Lorain Journal on May 30, 1957. It describes a terrible crash that occurred on the interurban line in Elyria on May 30, 1907 – 106 years ago today.

****

2-Car Crash On Interurban Line Killed Seven 50 Years Ago Today
By BOB THOMAS

FORMER CONDUCTOR Wynn S. Avery,
who lives north of Wellington on Rt. 58,
is shown wearing the same cap and coat
that he wore 50 years ago when his car was
rammed from the rear by another interurban
car. He lost both of his legs as a result of the
crash. The picture was taken in 1956.

"In a short time the mangled passengers had all been extricated and the wrecked car was all that remained to show that a terrible tragedy had been enacted."

Though this might well be a story to be told much too frequently of traffic accidents on the highways on Memorial Day, 1957, it is actually a quote from The Lorain Times-Herald story of an electric railway accident in Elyria 50 years ago today.

Seven persons died and seven others were seriously injured when a special car rammed into the back of another car on Middle Ave. at Fifth St. about 6 p.m.

The Times-Herald account of May 31, 1907, the following day, states:

"Car No. 129, in charge of Motorman Varner and Conductor Wynn S. Avery, left Oberlin at 5:30 o'clock on their regular run to Cleveland. They had on board a large number of holiday excursionists who had spent the day in Wellington and Oberlin.

"At the Country Club, south of Elyria, the car was boarded by a large number of passengers who had picnicked there for the day. The number of people picked up on street corners completely packed the car and the remainder stood upon the platform.

"After passing the car barns a special empty fell in on the main track in the rear of the regular. This car was in charge of Motorman C. N. Fuerndiener and Conductor Williams. The empty special followed the regular at a distance of about a block."

The empty car struck Car 129 with such force that it "rose over the floor of the back platform and plowed over the platform into the rear seats."

Conductor Avery of the ill-fated "129" lost both legs in the accident but served the company as purchasing agent until Feb. 28, 1931, when the Cleveland, Southwestern and Columbus Railway Co., commonly known as "The Green Line" ceased its operation. Avery lives on Rt. 58 north of Wellington.

As a result of the inadequate facilities at the Elyria hospital to care for the injured, a campaign was started to provide the city with a better hospital and it is said that the establishing of the Gates Hospital for Children also grew out of the drive emanating from the disaster.

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1907 Memorial Day tragedy, a window display at the Elyria Travel Mart, Broad St., includes newspaper accounts of the wreck, pictures of several interurban cars, including the two involved in the accident, and a model electric railway system.

The display, which will remain on view for several days, was prepared by Paul Lawson and Max Wilcox of Elyria, and Norman Mueller and James Bussinger of Lorain.

****

In case you'd like to read about the tragedy just as it happened, with much more detail – and blame – than the short version that ran in the 1957 Journal, here's the front page of The Elyria Chronicle of Friday, May 31, 1907. (Click on it for a readable version.)

But be forewarned, there are some gruesome details about the wreck that are included on that front page.

Here's a link to the Chronicle-Telegram's online account of the 100th anniversary of the crash back in 2007, and a nice explanation of how Edgar Allen, a businessman who lost his son in the tragedy, devoted his life to opening hospitals, including Elyria Memorial Hospital as well as the Gates Hospital for Crippled Children (later known as the Easter Seals Society). And here is a link to an interesting C-T article about the motorman who was blamed for the crash.

Edna's Restaurant on Routes 6 and 2

The Routes 6 and 2 map that I posted yesterday was fairly intriguing, full of businesses that I'd never heard of: Edna's Restaurant, Roman Villa, Willow Restaurant Motel and others. Like many of you, I wondered where these places were located and what happened to them. So, I'll be spotlighting some of them on the blog.

First up: Edna's Restaurant

The restaurant's description next to its place on the 1957 map read, "On Routes 2 & 6 just past the underpass – Stop 111, "Lorain's Newest, Most Modern Family Restaurant."" So where was it, anyway?

Since Edna's Restaurant was there for more than a decade, it was easy to find a real numerical address for it in a later book: 4875 West Erie.

Anyway, here is the restaurant's 1958 phone book listing (below).

1958 Lorain Phone Book Listing

Edna's Restaurant later became known as Edna's Hitching Post Inn. Here's a July 1963 ad that appeared in the Journal (below).

July 4, 1963 newspaper ad

Then, in the 1973 book, the restaurant's listing became Romo's Restaurant & Lounge.

Strangely, the 4875 address was missing from the 1974-1977 directories. But beginning with the 1978 book, the address was listed as Lion Crest Lounge.

Lion Crest Lounge continued at that address up to and including the 1981 directory.

The 1982 directory had a new business at that address: Selenti's Cafe Casata. By the 1983 book, however, it was the Lake Road Buffet Banquet Center. The address was listed as vacant in the 1984 book.

Finally, in 1985 a business was listed with some real staying power: The Galleon. The pub would continue to be listed at the 4875 address until around the 2010 directory.

Today the building sits on the south side of U.S. Route 6 just east of the Marathon service station with no signage to indicate that a business is housed there. It looks like it's in good shape, so I'll bet that we haven't seen the last business at that address.

Routes 6 & 2 Vacation Map – May 11, 1957

Well, it's after Memorial Day, so that means it's the unofficial kick-off to summer.

So it's a good time to post this – a cool ad that ran in a two-page spread in the Lorain Journal on May 11, 1957. (Click on it for a larger view.)

The ad celebrated the completion of the work being done on the highway at that time and served as an advertisement to promote the businesses in that area.

It's a fascinating little graphic, full of long-gone businesses and attractions.