Memories of Old Stone Villa Part 5

This 1970 Lorain phone book ad (above) for the Old Stone Villa was sort of a last hurrah for the restaurant, which disappeared from listings in subsequent editions.

But it wasn't long before the distinctive building located at the intersection of three main Lorain County routes became the home of some new businesses. One of the first was Big "T" Flying Carpet, which ran the ad below in the February 10, 1972 Amherst News-Times.

Here's another Amherst News-Times ad (below) for the company, this time from October 3, 1974.

And here's another from March 1975 (below).

Later (by 1980 for sure), the former Old Stone Villa became the longtime home of T-N-T Antiques, run by Ted and Helen (Toots) Stanziano for more than 28 years.

These September 2008 'ghost' street views (below) from Google Maps shows the Old Stone Villa after the fire that ultimately resulted in the building's demolition.

Today the building's former location is a parking lot (below) and the Old Stone Villa is but a memory.

A recent view of the former Stone Villa property

But for Linda Harding, it's still a pleasant memory. 

Mary and Samuel Ross at a catered event
in the dining room

As she noted, "My Grandparents came here from Italy, learned the language and built the Stone Villa. It was successful for its time. I think it brought people together, which I think was my Grandmother's intent, so in that respect, it was successful. What she didn’t know was that it gave me wonderful memories of her, and a long lasting work ethic. 

"Oh, and I might add, my love of cooking and feeding people as well.”

Special thanks to Linda Harding for sharing her stories and photos.

Memories of Old Stone Villa Part 4

A Lorain Journal ad from June 15, 1939

Ads for the Old Stone Villa appeared in the Lorain Journal occasionally through the years. Since it was located on Oberlin Avenue well south of the city limits – just like the Airport Tavern, another frequent newspaper advertiser – perhaps that’s not too surprising.

Sometime around the mid-1950s, the word ‘Old’ was dropped from some ads and directory listings.

1955 Lorain Telephone directory ad

As Linda Harding mentioned in her reminisces, she watched the land adjacent to the Old Stone Villa being developed. The ad below for Jet Auto Sales, which ran in the October 30, 1958 Amherst News-Times, uses the Old Stone Villa as a landmark for directions to the car lot.

So does this August 4, 1960 Amherst News-Times ad for the Jet Auto Wash.

By 1968, promotion for the restaurant was going in a new direction. The ad below, which ran in the Lorain phone book that year, promotes the Stone Villa restaurant as the House of Beef.

By the time of the 1969 phone book, the ‘Stone Villa’ name was dropped and the restaurant was simply the House of Beef.

Next: the rest of the story

Memories of Old Stone Villa Part 3

Linda’s grandparents, Mary and Samuel Ross (at left) and her Uncle Gene (at right),
posing in front of the Old Stone Villa

While I was researching the Old Stone Villa, I contacted Linda for some more reminisces about her grandmother, and perhaps some snapshots of the restaurant.

She wrote, "I found a couple of photos. Mostly I have my memories. 

"I just turned 60 and I think memories of being with my Grandmother are some of my best, if not the best. And, memories of being with her in the restaurant are so so good. 


"I remember all that stainless steel all around. And her making my sister and I cheeseburgers with Velveeta cheese on the flat top. Watching her toss homemade coleslaw in a huge stainless steel bowl. She washed all her dishes (no dishwasher) with a sprayer on a long hose. I remember her serving lunch to locals and not charging them, saying “Well, he comes here all the time.” 


"She loved feeding people. She would send me to the Lawson store next door to get lemon pies for the restaurant. I loved going to the basement to get those skinny little bags of salted Mr. Peanuts and watching the man come to empty the juke box, I’ve never seen so many dimes in all my life, he'd always give me a couple. All those dimes must have meant the bar was a happening place! 

That’s Samuel Ross, Linda’s grandfather, behind the bar. “Pretty fancy,” noted Linda.

"Big news was when she got her electric fryer, she fried her chicken in it. It was next to the back door of the kitchen to the right as you walked in. I didn’t know much about the bar side, but I think it was busy at night."

The gang at the bar

Next: the history of the Old Stone Villa continues

Memories of Old Stone Villa Part 2

As hard as it is to believe, the building that eventually became the Old Stone Villa started out as a schoolhouse.

You can see a school indicated in the 1896 map detail above, located at the end of Oberlin Avenue where North Ridge Road and Cooper Foster Park road crisscross.

But how did the school become the Old Stone Villa?

It was explained in this short article that appeared in the Amherst News-Times on July 22, 1938.

****

NEW NIGHT CLUB TO OPEN TONIGHT
The Olde Stone Villa, a new night club, will open tonight (Thursday) in the former stone school house at the corner of North Ridge Rd. and Oberlin Av. Sam Ross, former owner of the LaPorte Inn, is proprietor of the new place.

The building has been re-built. It lately was occupied as a gasoline filling station operated by the Kolbe Bros. but was destroyed by fire some time ago, leaving only the stone walls standing. Using these stone walls as a base the architecture has been changed to represent an early American Inn.

****

The opening of the Old Stone Villa was also announced in the pages of the Thursday,  July 21, 1938 Lorain Journal (below).

And by the time of the 1938 Lorain City Directory, the Old Stone Villa settled in for a listing that would appear for more than thirty years.

Next: More of Linda’s reminisces

Memories of Old Stone Villa Part 1

1970 Lorain phone book ad

Although I try to have my blog topics planned out weeks in advance, sometimes I rely on pure serendipity to guide me on what to write about next. And quite often it pays off in a way that I never would have imagined.

That was the case recently, when I planned to write about Lorain restaurants – and was looking for one to research that I hadn’t already written about in the past.

That’s when I remembered that late last August, I had received an email from Linda Harding of Florida.

She wrote, "Wanted to tell you my Grandma and Grandpa built the Old Stone Villa in Lorain which is now an Antique Store or Floral Shop.

"I was born there in 1955, was just 6 years old when we moved to Florida. We lived in Amherst. But, my Grandma owned the corner where 'The Place' (as my family called it) was, I believe there was a gas station, Jet Car Wash, Lawsons, and a couple other local businesses.

"Those were my best childhood memories spent in her restaurant with my Grandma. She lived down the road on Foster Park. It was a big beautiful home, with a big deer in the front yard.”

Remembering Linda’s charming email about her grandmother, I decided that the Old Stone Villa would make a great blog topic. So I recently contacted Linda again for some more reminisces, and did some research of my own.

You’ll hear more from Linda as this story unfolds.

Next: From schoolhouse to villa

Philbo House Fun

Well, it’s the end of the week, and since I’ve been writing about restaurants lately, it’s a good time to post some articles about the Philbo House (now the Angry Bull) recently sent to me by regular contributor Rick Kurish.

You might remember that back in November, Rick had sent me a 1949 ad (below) that revealed that after Joseph and Bela Herring sold the Bohemian Tavern, they opened Herring’s Tavern on Lake Road, seven miles west of Vermilion. (As you remember, Herring's Tavern later became the Philbo House.)

In Rick’s latest email, he wrote, "I have attached two newspaper articles from the Chronicle-Telegram. The first is from July 22, 1961, and dates the opening of the restaurant as well as the origin of the name.”

Indeed, Rick’s article (below) includes the names of the men associated with the Philbo House: Phil Provenza and Bob Arheit.

July 22, 1961 article from the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram

Rick noted,"The second article on the clambake is from September 16, 1961."

September 16, 1961 article from the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram

Rick also commented, "Interestingly, Joe Hering is supervising the clambake and it sounds like this isn't his first bake. I couldn't believe the preparation involved --- I thought you just washed them off and baked them for a period of time.

"I first ate at Philbo House in 1970, on a date with my future wife, and several times thereafter. The food, especially the steaks, were always perfectly prepared. Ahh, good memories!"

Thanks for sharing those good memories (and articles too), Rick!

A Tale of Taco Boy and Taco Kid

The Taco Boy restaurant on West Erie Avenue in Lorain, circa June 1969
(Currently the home of Chapman's Food Mart)

Back in July 2011, I did a post on the Taco Boy restaurant that was located on West Erie Avenue across from the Castle (in the building that is currently home to Chapman's Food Mart). The Taco Boy restaurant opened in June 1969, to be followed by a second one on Oberlin Avenue that was part of the group owned by businessman Ken Cassell.

However, by the time of the February 1970 "quick service" restaurant article, the building – located next door to the Pizza Hut – had a Taco Kid sign.

Taco Kid restaurant on Oberlin Avenue circa Feb. 1970
(currently the home of Exhale Hooka Lounge)

So why did the restaurant chain change its name and mascot?

Well, I did some research and here's my theory.

Back in the mid 1960s, tacos were growing in popularity thanks to the Taco Bell chain, and quickly becoming an American favorite. Consequently, other taco chains began to pop up.

One of them was located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, with the name of – you guessed it – Taco Boy. An aggressive campaign to sign up Taco Boy franchisees was launched around May 1969. The parent company took care of site selection and building construction; all the franchisee had to do was come up with the $17,000 required investment.

Here's what the Taco Boy logo looked like (below).

Meanwhile in Ohio, businessman Hank Cartwright had been enjoying success in the restaurant franchising field. In 1964, he and his brother had purchased a Pizza Hut franchise in Lincoln, Nebraska. The brothers later added more units: six in Las Vegas, Nevada and two in Phoenix, Arizona. According to an article in the March 2, 1969 Toledo Blade, “they did so well in the franchise restaurant business that the Pizza Hut company bought back all the franchises for $250,000 and gave them the Toledo-Cleveland franchise area to develop.”

Cartwright opened his first Pizza Hut in Toledo in 1967 and another in 1968. A third Toledo unit was under construction, with two more planned for – not surprisingly – Lorain.

With all this franchise experience and success, it’s not surprising that Cartwright decided to start his own franchised restaurant system, called – what else? – Taco Boy! Cartwright’s Taco Boy mascot even looked vaguely similar to the Oklahoma-based company with the same name.

Anyway, by March 1969, Cartwright had three successful Taco Boy restaurants open in Toledo, with outlets under construction at Bowling Green, Ann Arbor and 44 franchises signed up. His stores must have looked very appealing to Pizza Hut, because by July 1969, Pizza Hut bought Taco Boy and all of Cartwright’s Pizza Huts for $1.2 million.

So Lorain's Taco Boy on West Erie was part of this first wave of franchising.

I’m guessing that once Pizza Hut bought the chain, the company determined that there were too many other restaurants around the country with the name Taco Boy. Pizza Hut probably also noticed that Taco Bell was using its own 'Taco Boy' mascot.

So Pizza Hut came up with the name Taco Kid – and that’s what the one on Oberlin Avenue was called, even though it was still listed in the Lorain city directory as Taco Boy.

Courtesy www.locallimetaco.com
(Click here for the link to this image)

I'm not sure how long Taco Kid lasted as a chain owned by Pizza Hut. (The Taco Kid trademark expired in 1992 according to one of those trademark websites.)

And what did Cartwright do shortly after he sold his Pizza Huts and Taco Boys? He started another restaurant chain: Olde English Fish ’n Chips!

So that’s why it makes sense that Lorain had a Taco Kid, a Pizza Hut and an Olde English Fish ’n Chips – all in a row on Oberlin Avenue.

Unfortunately, both of Lorain’s original taco restaurants disappeared from the city directories by the time of the 1971 edition. I guess they were just a little ahead of their time.