Kenny King's Mystery "Chick"

Since the last few days have been all about chicken here on the Brady Blog, here are a few more Kenny King's ads that I've found since my post about Kentucky Fried Chicken a few weeks ago.

Both Kenny King's ads are from the pages of the May 1963 Elyria Chronicle-Telegram. They're interesting because they contain graphic elements that seem a little at odds with the Kentucky Fried Chicken brand.

The ad above is from May 1, 1963. It features an offbeat cartoon character that resembles what the Peanuts character Charlie Brown might look like as a grown-up, with his huge, oval-shaped head.

But it's the other ad (below), from May 6, 1963 that is even more unusual.

The ad makes reference to an upcoming visit to the Cleveland area from none other than Colonel Harland Sanders himself, which is pretty cool.

But who is the comely young lady in the ad?

Is it Colonel Sanders' niece? A waitress at Kenny King's? Maybe someone will Google "Kenny King's" someday, recognize her, and post her identity.

By the way, although the Elyria location in the ad is no longer part of the Kentucky Fried Chicken chain, it’s still home to a restaurant: Lowell Street Cafe. It's located on Lowell Street at Rockfern Street. Here's the link to its Facebook page (and here's its website).

Don’t cook tonight, call Chicken Delight! – Part 2

As I mentioned yesterday, Lorain’s Chicken Delight outlet was located near the intersection of W. 21st Street and Leavitt Road (State Route 58). Previously, the 2229 W. 21st Street location was the home of United Rent-Alls.

Chicken Delight made its appearance locally around 1964. (It was not in the November 1963 Lorain Telephone directory.) George and Nell Robinson were the owner/operators.

Here’s an early ad (below), one that ran in the Lorain Journal on April 16, 1964.

Here’s a June 5, 1965 newspaper ad from the Journal, as well as a 1965 phone book ad featuring the well-remembered chicken-topped delivery vehicle.

Here’s a 1966 Lorain Telephone book ad, promoting pizza. (I wonder if chicken was one of the choices of toppings?)

Here’s a large 1968 Lorain phone book ad.

And here’s the 1970 Lorain phone book ad (below).

In the early 1970s, the litigation involving the Chicken Delight franchisees and the corporation resulted in many restaurants abandoning the brand and joining other chains. Thus, beginning in the 1973 phone book, Lorain's Chicken Delight store became Chicken Galore. The Robinsons were still the owner/operators, and would continue to be until they retired in 1993.

Here’s the ad from the 1974-75 Lorain phone book.

By 1978, the popularity of the restaurant's pizza apparently resulted in a name change: Chicken 'N Pizza Galore. Here's the phone book ad from that year's directory. Note the "Serving Lorain Area Since 1964" tagline.

But by the time of the 1984-85 Lorain telephone directory, the restaurant was once again listed as Chicken Galore. Its nicely-designed ad featured a Chicken Galore logo that was reminiscent of Chicken Delight with its chef-hatted chicken.

By 1991, the restaurant name had been adjusted once again to reflect the popularity of the ribs. This ad (below) from the phone book that year also included the Chicken Galore mascot: Chicky Galore.

As I mentioned above, original owners George and Nell Robinson retired in 1993. But the business continued on as Chicken & Ribs.

The store remained at the 2229 W. 21st Street location until around 2005, when it was briefly listed in the phone book at 203 W. 9th. The business then moved to 5520 Oberlin Avenue.

The restaurant’s listing disappeared as of the 2008 phone book, bringing an end to the Chicken Delight legacy in Lorain.

Today, Chicken Delight is a Canadian company. A handful of U. S. stores are still scratching out a living, in New Jersey and New York.

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UPDATE (April 15, 2018)
Since this post, I found the Grand Opening ad for the Lorain store. It appeared in the Lorain Journal on Feb. 11, 1964.

Don’t cook tonight, call Chicken Delight! – Part 1

Since I did a big post on Kentucky Fried Chicken a few weeks ago, it only seems right to pay tribute to the chicken that crossed the road into the city of Lorain several years before the Colonel: Chicken Delight.

I’m sure many of you remember the location of Lorain's Chicken Delight outlet at 2229 W. 21st Street.

(I did a very brief blog post on Chicken Delight back in May 2009 here when I was writing about pizza).

According to a history of the chain on Wikipedia, it was actually founded the same year as rival poultry pioneer Kentucky Fried Chicken. But for many years, Chicken Delight was the dominant chicken chain.

Here’s a visual feast of vintage Chicken Delight images, including early promotional material and memorabilia, plucked from the internet from various sources for your enjoyment. Tomorrow, we’ll look at some vintage local ads.

Early franchising brochure

Vintage Chicken Delight ashtray

Who can forget the iconic Chicken Delight delivery vehicles with the mascot on top?

The mascot (who has no problem serving up his own tasty kind on a platter) was featured prominently on matchbooks and in ads.

1967 magazine ad

Hills Bros. Coffee Ad – March 5, 1968

Yesterday's blog featured a Cutlass ad that may very have helped define my parents' choice of cars (assuming that they were susceptible to newspaper advertising).

Continuing that line of reasoning, here's an ad that may have led to Mom and Dad choosing Hills Brothers as their all-time favorite coffee.

The ad – which took up 3/4 of a page – ran in the Lorain Journal on March 5, 1968 – 50 years ago this week.

Mom and Dad were super loyal to Hills Brothers. For decades, it was the only coffee they ever drank. When it was on sale at Marc's, I would pick up three or four cans for them. Once, they had thirteen cans of it in the cupboard!

(I always thought Hills Brothers was pretty good, and it probably helps explain why I'm not a coffee elitist today. However, now I drink Tim Hortons coffee – the choice of millions of Canucks – each morning.)

Interestingly, Hills Brothers was one of the few coffees with an actual advertising mascot. In this case, the turban-wearing coffee drinker was known officially as the "Taster." (The iconic figure is immortalized in the form of a bronze statue, which you can read about here.) I think he gave the can a lot of character.

Here he is as part of a vintage easel-backed point-of-purchase display, courtesy of liveauctioneers.com.

Unfortunately, the coffee-sipping Arab was 'canned' in the 1990s.

The reasoning behind his retirement is explained in this interesting article. The article also reveals that the brand is now enjoying increased popularity nationwide because of a recent redesign of the packaging.

And here's a link to a whole Pinterest page devoted to Hills Brothers coffee packaging, signage and history.

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What’s your favorite coffee?

Do you like it brewed the old-fashioned way, where you open a can (or bag) and scoop it into a basket/filter? (To me, smelling that ground coffee is the best part!) Or are you a pod person?

Be sure to leave a comment!

Crazy for the Cutlass

Here’s an ad for the Oldsmobile Cutlass that may very well have had a big impact on my parents. It ran in the Lorain Journal on March 5, 1968 – 50 years ago today.

I’ve mentioned before how my parents were loyal Oldsmobile customers. But the Cutlass would eventually be their favorite car of all time.

They started their long-running Olds connection with a new 1963 F-85 as the family car. But when we began to take cross-country family camping trips – towing a fold-up trailer – a bigger car was needed.

Thus the F-85 became Dad’s work car, and my parents purchased an Olds Delmont 88. They didn’t keep it for very long, since it didn’t have air conditioning and we were planning a major trip Out West. So they got rid of the Delmont and bought a Delta 88. That car was still one of the smoothest-riding cars I’ve ever been in. It felt like you were floating while riding in it.

Meanwhile, a variety of cars had served as transportation for us kids. We had inherited Grandma’s 1963 Buick LeSabre, which my older brother drove to Admiral King High School. We also had a used early 70s Chevy Impala which my sister drove to LCCC.

So eventually we needed another used car, and the choice was a 1971 Cutlass with bucket seats. It was the first of many used green Cutlasses, many of them purchased from Milad’s in Amherst.

Over the next six or seven years, a variety of used, green Cutlasses graced the Brady driveway. Looking back, I think we had almost every model year from 1968 to 1973 represented. (I think we were missing a 1970 in there.)

The Cutlass with a built-in maraca that I drove
during my senior year at Admiral King 

When my Dad got rid of his F-85, he replaced it with a used 1968 Cutlass. My parents also bought a used 1969 Cutlass (with cool mag wheels) from some teenage shyster. It turned out that the driver’s side window had been broken at some point, and the door sounded like a cheap maraca when you opened or closed it. It also leaked broken glass out of a small hole in the door. But I happily drove it during my senior year.

We also had a 1972 Cutlass (green – what else?), purchased from one of my mother’s co-workers at U. S. Steel. That was the last of the green ones; my parents had moved on to a 1973 burgundy Cutlass Supreme. (They later had a Cutlass Ciera.)

The 1972 Cutlass lasted the longest. It went down to Ohio State with us, and when my younger brother finished college in the early 1980s, the Cutlass came back to Lorain. I bought it from my parents and held on to it for a few years out of pure nostalgia, but it was too difficult trying to keep two used cars going. The Cutlass also had a nasty habit of conking out unexpectedly when I least expected it.

One story I like to tell is how I was living at the Overlook in the mid-1980s with two cars – the 1972 Cutlass and a 1976 Buick Skylark. It was winter, and I was heading out to a big band gig. (I think it was New Year’s Eve 1984.) I wanted to take the Skylark, which had good tires, but the battery was dead. But when I went to take the 1972 Cutlass instead, one of its tires was flat! So I ended up changing the flat, and then driving the Cutlass over to the Skylark and jumping it.

I can’t remember if I was late for the gig.

The nicest and best car I ever owned was an Olds Achieva back in the mid-1990s. I sure loved that car. But did I ever buy a new Cutlass myself?

I did indeed in the late 1990s. It was a white Cutlass Supreme, and very cool-looking. I ended up driving it into the ground until finally the engine block cracked. I hated to see it go as I knew it was probably the last Cutlass I’d ever own.

It wasn’t long after that that General Motors got rid of the Oldsmobile brand entirely. It was the end of an era. I’ve never been emotionally attached to any car brand since.

And I still get a lump in my throat when I see a refurbished 1960s Cutlass on the road.

Another ad from the same campaign. This ran in the Journal on April 9, 1968.

Dog 'N Suds Ad – March 2, 1968

It's still a little too early for Dog ’N Suds up on North Ridge Road to be open (especially with the return of winter weather). But back in 1968, the drive-in was already open and running ads in the Lorain Journal, such as the tall one shown above that ran in the paper on March 2, 1968 – 50 years ago today.

Dog ’N Suds has been one of my favorite topics here on the blog since I started writing it back in 2009.  

Back on this 2014 post, I pointed out how the timeline of the drive-in has been inconsistent through the years in its own ads. So last week I re-examined old Lorain, Elyria and Lorain County directories more thoroughly to determine once and for all when the place first opened.

I think that I’ve done that – finally.

I feel doggone confident now that the drive-in first opened under its original ownership in late 1963, when it was robbed on October 16 (which I wrote about here). The drive-in’s 2050 North Ridge Road address did not have a listing in the 1963 Lorain City Directory nor the 1963 Dickman Criss-Cross Directory (which covers Lorain County).

The drive-in first appeared in the Lorain City Directory in the 1964 book. And I even found a Dog ’N Suds classified ad looking to hire a ‘Day Car Hop' in the April 25, 1964 ChronicleTelegram.

But in the 1965 edition, the address was listed as vacant. That dovetails nicely with the accepted fact that the drive-in closed under its original ownership and sat vacant for a while.

Then the drive-in re-opened as Eckstein’s Dog ’N Suds, with a Grand Opening ad appearing in the Lorain Journal on July 1, 1966.

The restaurant also appeared under that name in the 1966 Lorain City Directory.

Anyway, Dog ’N Suds was still closed up when I drove by there last weekend. Here’s hoping that Ilene and the gang will reopen it soon and continue serving up more good food and nostalgia at Ohio’s only Dog ’n Suds.

I can just taste that Texas Burger now.

Recently Had a Baby? Drink Anheuser-Busch’s Malt-Nutrine!

Regular blog contributor and researcher extraordinaire Rick Kurish (having already come up with Monday and Tuesday’s topic this week) has certainly noticed how I have tended to “hit the bottle” when it comes to selecting topics for this blog – as recently as yesterday.

Rick recently wrote, "Your recent blogs featuring various liquor and whiskey ads in the newspapers of the 1950s and 1960s, reminded me of a turn-of-the-19th century product produced by the Anheuser - Busch Company. It was called Malt -Nutrine, and was advertised in the local newspapers of the time.

"The two attachments advertising Malt-Nutrine are from the Elyria Reporter of 9/25/1905 and 7/26/1904, respectively.”

As the top ad notes, it was distributed locally by Geo. C. Frederick, Wholesale Dealer, in Elyria.

So what was Malt-Nutrine?

As Rick explained, "It was a concoction of malt and hops with a low alcoholic content of less than 2%. It was sold as an elixir, which was advertised as a “food drink” which was ideal for convalescents and nursing mothers and as an aid for anyone with digestive problems. The product was sold by druggists, and advertisements for the product frequently appeared in doctor’s offices.

"The product was introduced in 1895, and my guess is that the Anheuser - Busch Company saw the handwriting on the wall and devised the product in response to the growing sentiment for prohibition. The product had a fairly long life, and was not discontinued until 1942. However, with the advent of prohibition in 1920, Anheuser - Busch was required to reconstitute the beverage for an alcohol content of less than half of one percent. 

"While the beverage was touted as the sovereign remedy to build the strength of nursing mothers, consumptives, and anyone suffering from a wasting disease, the virtually alcohol free beverage had to compete with Bevo, an alcohol-free beer also sold by Anheuser - Busch during prohibition which helped seal its fate. 

"Needless to say, Anheuser - Busch was overjoyed when prohibition was repealed in 1933 and they could go back to their strength — brewing quality beer.

Thanks as always to Rick for sharing his research!