The Food and Drink Establishments of 321 Babbitt Rd

Someone in my Euclid '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s Euclid Memories group asked what the restaurant at 321 Babbitt Road was called in the 1980s. I was curious, so here we go.

1975 - 1982 Rustler Steak House

 

Rise and Fall of Euclid Super Kmart 1200 Babbitt Rd

It's the Spring of 1995, and Euclid, Ohio already has a K-Mart. The one on Euclid avenue, up on the hill. The old Euclid Clarkin's. In January of 1995, Twin Valu shuttered it's hypermarket at 1200 Babbitt road, leaving almost 400 people without jobs.

Since then, the 180,000 square foot retail giant has sat vacant. City officials toy with the idea of rezoning the commercial property back to industrial use. Before Twin Valu erected it's warehouse like superstore, Addressograph Multigraph Company, a newly merged entity, opened it's plant on the site in 1932. AM International remained here until 1978, relocating to Los Angeles. The plant stayed open until October 1982.

25571 Euclid: H. Trattner, DiBella's and Armao's Pizza

In a recent Facebook thread about another restaurant on Euclid avenue, someone commented about the pizza shop with jukeboxes on the tables. That restaurant was called Armao's Pizza.

Armao's was in a small strip mall on the North side of Euclid Avenue, very close to Babbitt road. The strip mall was built as the Euclid-Babbitt Shopping Center. Frank Homan's building was six units and he began renting them out in 1956.

Cleveland Plain Dealer, October 12, 1956

Pre 1924 Camp Wise Euclid Postcard

 

Here's an old postcard of Camp Wise, while it was still located in Euclid.

Today the camp would have been on the lake around Lakeshore and Babbitt Road. In 1907, it was simply stop 133 on the Shore Line. 

The property was purchased in 1907 by Samuel D. Wise, having formerly been known as Stein's-on-the-Lake. The existing structures, 15 cabins and 1 hotel, were used for the boys and girls who camped there.

Camp Wise relocated in 1924 to Painesville, Ohio, so the postcard above was taken sometime between then and 1907, the inaugural year. Camp Wise is still going strong, 115 years later.

After Camp Wise departed, the city opened the Euclid Village Civic Club, an existing building converted into a dance club.

Though all the human inhabitants had moved on, one humid August night in 1924, the first year of the Euclid Village Civic Club, a swarm of bats descended on dancers, swooping and spreading terror. The bats were gassed to death and collected off the dance floor, proving once again, humans ruin everything.

Edit to add: This map shows in a recent aerial, where the camp property lines were. The Euclid Lakefront Community Center is on the property.

830 Babbitt: Topolovac, Mihelichs IGA, Hometown Restaurant, Paradise Island

I was contacted by a reader who asked me about a Euclid restaurant she had a family connection to - 830 Babbitt Road.

Here's some of the history of what is today Paradise Island Saloon.

The first part of the current structure was built in 1918. I don't know when the house was zoned commercial exactly and am also having trouble resolving who owned the property prior to the 1940's. It was a functioning grocery store, as can be seen in the photo below, in 1928.

The residence and store was probably rented by Valentine Topolovac and his family.

Citizens for Euclid Square Mall

Euclid, Ohio, 1973.

It's short and to the point: Citizens for Euclid Square Mall. And it existed as a group that fought for the installation of the now long-gone Euclid Square mall. They were battling Carl Milstein and Milton Roemisch who really REALLY poo-pooed the whole idea.

Euclid Square Mall - The Death Knell!

I guess we can now officially call Euclid Square Mall what most of us have been calling it for years: a dead mall. I know because I saw it called that on Cleveland.com.

Now a firm in Georgia is interested in the property, to bulldoze the 1977 structure and badly dilapidated out-parcels and build new.

This comes just days after the news of Amazon renting space for 5 years here in Euclid.

Read: Euclid Square Mall, now dead, could be demolished for massive industrial project (photos)

Big Boy at 263 Babbitt Road Says Goodbye

Andrew wrote a fantastic history of a little known restaurant by the name of Lawson's that turned into a Big Boy.

As a Euclid transplant, I don't have as many personal memories as others do, but I remember the last time I ate at Bob's Big Boy on Babbitt. After Homecoming, 1994 at Eastlake North High.

Courtesy of the Euclid Sun Journal, October 2000.

History Lesson: 263 Babbitt Rd. - Lawson's Restaurant - Manners Big Boy

I was looking through the Euclid News Journal and found this picture. It was from June 10, 1971 talking about a new restaurant named Lawson's. I grew up in Euclid and had never heard of a restaurant named Lawson's. Growing up, the only Lawson's I had known of was the Convenient store. They sold bread, milk, and other food. They were most famous for their French Onion dip and chipped chop ham. They had a commercial in the 1970's talking about the freshness of their orange juice. This was before refrigerated trucks.

This help wanted ad for Lawson's in October 1972 lists the address of the restaurant as 263 Babbitt Road. The Lawson's Convenient store was only about 10 feet around the corner from the restaurant.

"LAWSON'S RESTAURANT & MOTELS 16201 Euclid Avenue Cleveland, Ohio 44112, Phone 216-851-2600; Restaurants and Motels in Ohio, Motels in Stow, Montrose, North Canton, Amherst and Macedonia. Swimming pools; Color T.V. and phones in all rooms." According to this postcard from the Cleveland Memory project 4 locations had Lawson Hotel-Restaurants.

By January 1973 the Lawson's at 263 Babbitt had become a Manners Big Boy restaurant. In 3 months the Babbitt location had changed names. Manners-Big Boy was founded by Robert Manners. Manners and his wife in the late 1930's had the first Drive-In in Cleveland. A Drive-In was a restaurant were you would park your car and a waitress would come and take your order. You would never get out of your car. When the food was done, a tray would be placed and attached to your window. You would never go inside which was a revolutionary idea back then. Manners-Big Boy was known for its double-decker hamburger and milkshakes.

In 1956 Manners bought 7 new restaurants. This brought the number of restaurants that Manners owned up to 38.

In 1968, Robert Manners sold his 38 restaurants plus 2 being built to Consolidated Foods of Chicago. Consolidated Foods of Chicago also owned Lawson's Milk Company which ran Lawson's Convenient store. This explains why the quick transition was made in only 3 months from Lawson's restaurant to Manners-Big Boy. The Manners name was dropped from the Big Boys in Northeast Ohio sometime in the late 1970's.

In 1995 Robert Manners died at the age of 90. Today there are only a few Big-Boys left in Northeast Ohio.

Merkel Family Home to The Lakeshore Shopping Center - 1945

The planning of the Lakeshore shopping center began in 1945. It's near the corner of Babbitt and East 222nd St.

In 1945 plans were made to build a shopping center at Lakeshore Blvd. The land was owned by the Merkel family for many years. Wilbur Merkel was the real estate investor for the shopping center. The land was valued at $750,000. The plans in 1945 were to build 26 stores. Parking was for 350 cars. The Merkel family home had recently been demolished in 1945.

The first Department Store that opened in the shopping center was the Burr Department Store in 1948. On the left was W.M.Mullen, Assistant manager and on the right, W.C Croswell, Manager.

The Grand opening of the store was a big event. Mayor Sims was to cut the ribbon for the opening. Dale Harper and the Euclid High marching band was to perform. The Grand Opening ran from May 22nd to May 29th, 1948. Two "Grand Awards" were given out, an RCA Radio and a two-piece living room set.

One of the first restaurants in the shopping plaza was a Howard Johnson's in 1947. It was later replaced by the Tasty Shop and then Charlites.

This picture from the 1955 Euclid High yearbook shows the Tasty Shop, Fisher Foods and Krogers, which were grocery stores. This was around Christmas Time.

This is the August 2014 view with Aldi's, Radio Shack, H.R Block and Subway. The Center is now known as Shore Center Shopping Center.