Olde English Fish 'N Chips Ad – March 1970

Yesterday's post spotlighted a few businesses at the Lorain Plaza Shopping Center on Oberlin Avenue, circa March 1970. Today's post concerns a restaurant that was around during that same time period, but further down Oberlin Avenue to the south.

Olde English Fish 'N Chip Shoppe was located at 4286 Oberlin Avenue, in the building that today is the home of the popular Diso's Bistro (seen at right).

(I first wrote about Olde English Fish 'N Chip Shoppe back here in 2011.)

Above is an ad for the restaurant that ran in the Journal on March 9, 1970.

Hank Cartwright was the entrepreneur behind Olde English Fish 'N Chip Shoppe. He already had enjoyed a successful track record with several Pizza Hut franchises, as well as having launched his own fast-food taco chain called Taco Boy.

Thus Olde English Fish 'N Chip Shoppe was Cartwright's attempt to launch another chain. As noted on this blog last week, Arthur Treacher's Fish & Chips entered the Lorain market at that same time.

After a few years of fish head to fish head combat in Lorain, Olde English Fish 'N Chip Shoppe sank into the briny deep – while Arthur Treacher's kept pip-pipping right up into the 1980s.

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After my post on Arthur Treacher's – as well as an email I received from Giant Eagle GetGo last week promoting its Beer-Battered Cod sub (called The Captain) – I had fish & chips on the brain.

So last Friday, I enjoyed a great meal of exactly that at Martino's International Café in Vermilion (located in the former Ponderosa Steakhouse building).

Oberlin Avenue Businesses – March 1, 1970

Here’s kind of a neat photo, especially for anyone who grew up on the west side of Lorain in the 60s and 70s.

It ran in the Lorain Journal on March 1, 1970. It depicts the signs of the various businesses located in and around the Lorain Plaza Shopping Center at the intersection of Oberlin Avenue and Meister Road.

The photo looks north, from the vantage point of the Lorain Plaza stores located on the western wing facing Oberlin Avenue.

Besides the Lorain Plaza Shopping Center sign itself, we see the signs for Sandy’s Hamburgers, Kroger, Sunoco and the edge of the 76 sign in front of Jack’s Union Oil at the far left of the photo.

In the foreground is a sign for Towne House Barber Shop, located at 3311 Oberlin Avenue, and one of the businesses in the shopping center. Its neighbors in the center were Hallmark Cleaners (3319 Oberlin Avenue) and the Oberlin Avenue Branch of the Lorain Public Library (at 3317 Oberlin Avenue).

I remember going into that library branch as a kid, long before I ever set foot in the Main Library. I have yet to find anyone else who remembers it!

The caption for the photo is interesting, because it identifies the major shopping districts of Lorain at that time: Downtown, Central Lorain and South Lorain. (Strangely, it did not include the Westgate Shopping Center and W. 21st Street area.)

Anyway, I drove over to Lorain Plaza yesterday to grab this “now” shot of today’s sign clutter. I even parked in front of the former location of Town House Barber Shop (now vacant) to get it.

As you can see, amazingly, Sunoco is still there, off in the distance. But in the fifty years since the 1970 photo, all of the other businesses are long gone, their former spaces occupied by equivalent conpanies; Sandy’s (McDonald’s); Union Oil (Valero); Kroger (Apples).

Elyria's Leap Year Twins – Feb. 1960

Tomorrow is February 29, a date which we all know only comes around in a leap year, every four years.

Well, here's a cute story from the pages of the Lorain Journal from the leap year of 1960. It's about Harry and Thomas Wallace of Elyria – twins born on Feb. 29, 1912.

The article points out that since they only celebrate their birthday every four years, the middle-aged men were just turning twelve in 1960.

Here's the article as it appeared in the Journal on Feb. 15th, 1960. Although they were twins, they were quite different in likes and dislikes, as the article humorously notes.

Both men served their country during World War II; Tom in the Navy, and Harry in the Army.

Thomas passed away in May 2000, and Harry followed in 2005.

Old Log Cabin Whiskey Ads – Feb. 1950

Gee, this is turning out to be a pretty boozy week here on the blog. Oh well, (hic!) let’s get to it.

Back in February 1950, the Lorain Journal was still a drinking man’s newspaper. I’ve mentioned before how the paper back then was full of ads for hard liquor every day.

The brand whose advertising appealed to me the most was Old Log Cabin Whiskey. (I wrote about it before, back here, as well as here.)

The ads were both charming and manly. Here’s one that ran in the Journal on February 3, 1950.

I love the typography, as well as the imagery. The log cabin in the ad is a great symbol, depicting a cozy, comfortable refuge from the cold.

The same feeling is being evoked in this ad (below), which ran in the paper four days later on February 7, 1950. A slightly different layout, but the message is the same.

Seventy years later, today’s whiskey drinkers seem to have gone soft – or elitist. You can buy whiskeys flavored with exotic flavors such as cinnamon, apple, honey, peach and even peanut butter (yuck). (The honey flavor sounds good, though.)

But Old Log Cabin is still around for those flannel-shirt wearing men who smoke pipes, chop their own wood and prefer to drink alone in their woodland refuge.

Courtesy Batch 206 Distillery

Here’s the link to the website for Batch 206 Distillery, the current makers of Old Log Cabin.

Carling's Black Label Ad – Feb. 26, 1950

Yesterday the blog paid a visit to Stone's Grill in Downtown Lorain circa 1950. Well, here's an ad for something that might have been served there: Carling's Black Label.

This particular ad took up 3/4 of a page of the February 26, 1950 edition of the Lorain Journal – 70 years ago today.

Black Label Beer has been a favorite topic on this blog for quite a while.

The ad is interesting to me because it's from the time period before the brand adopted its iconic label design (shown below) circa 1955.

Seventy years later, the label design seems to be in flux. The art on the can available locally is still designed with a nod toward the beer's Canadian heritage.

But it looks like the latest bottle design in the U. S. (that is, if the internet is to be trusted) looks quite nice, a refreshed version of the classic label.

The Canadian products supposedly look like this (below). I looked for some the last time I was in Windsor but was unable to scare up any. (And I was afraid to ask the clerk lest I look like some kind of hoser.)

Over in England, the brand goes simply by a shortened name: Carling. And here's what it looks like there. I’ll bet it goes great with fish and chips.

Stone's Grill Ad – 1950

Back in December (here), I mentioned Stone's Grill on my post about the Helfrich building.

From about 1929, Stone's Grill was located at 822 Broadway. Then in 1950 or so, the business apparently moved right next door to 818 Broadway.

And that's where Stone's Grill was located when this ad (below) appeared in the Lorain Journal back in January 1950.

Note that at the bottom of the ad, it says that it is "Next to Russine [sic]."

The ad's interesting for a few reasons. Predating today's ubiquitous sports bars, Stone's had a 'life size' RCA Television with a 6x8 foot screen, all the better to watch wrestling, boxing and other sports, in addition to musicals and dramas. (Although Tom & Jerry were listed in the ad, the battling cat-and-mouse's cartoons were not part of the bar's TV viewing options; for the uninformed, Tom & Jerry is also the name of a drink.)

What caught my eye in the ad was the unusual heading with its negative image.

Of course, I had to take it into Photoshop to reverse it. And here's the result.

Arthur Treacher’s Opens in Lorain – Feb. 1970

Fifty years ago this week, Arthur Treacher’s Fish & Chips opened on West 21st Street in Lorain, right across from the Westgate Shopping Center.

Here’s the article that appeared in the Journal on Sunday, February 22, 1970 – two days before the Tuesday opening.

It sounds like the fish and chips served at Arthur Treacher’s was pretty authentic. According to the Journal article, the great grandson of the man who opened the first fish and chips shop in London in the mid-1800s was involved with the Arthur Treacher’s organization.

Here’s a teaser ad that appeared in the Journal on February 26, 1970 announcing that the restaurant was now open. The ad was as tall as a full page of the paper.

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Arthur Treacher’s is a well-remembered part of Lorain’s fast food restaurant past. My original 2011 blog entry on the W. 21st Street store is one of my all-time most visited posts. Click here to revisit it, and find out how long the store was open, and what came later.

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Today, sadly, the former restaurant building on W. 21st Street is a forlorn site. Somehow it’s managed to evade the ever-popular Lorain wrecking ball (or excavator, if you prefer).

The only indication that this was an Arthur Treacher’s
is this entrance sign with the original Old English lettering

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If you have a taste for Arthur Treacher’s, there’s still one on Rockside Road in Garfield Heights, by Jove!