Once Upon Fostoria - Time to Eat
December 28, 1997, article two

This is the second in a series of articles containing the reminiscences of some of our older fellow Fostorians. We hope the articles will stir pleasant memories in some and acquaint, others with the manner of life and living in Fostoria, mostly in the period before World War 11.

When our last "Once Upon Fostoria" article concluded, we were on the subject of the Black Cat. Helen Sour recalled that, "The Black Cat was such a nice place to go. They were very convenient. You could sit and visit with people. They never cared how long you stayed."

Helen grew up in nearby Amsden (Sour's farm) and can recall when Fostoria had a wide assortment of family restaurants to suit everyone's tastes.

Mickey's Tea Room was on South Main St. Dorothy Gamertsfelder said that Mrs. Mickey went into the tea room business after Harbaugh and Mickey's closed. Harbaugh and Mickey's was a drug store that did a bang up lunch business.

A popular specialty of the house was a ham salad sandwich and a milkshake. Downtown workers flocked to Harbaugh and Mickey's Mickey's Tea Room knew how to keep a good thing going. "It was," said Dorothy, "tremendous."

Lillian Thaxton worked at Mickey's Tea Room during the 1930s, the Depression. "I was a waitress there and helped cook in the kitchen," she said. "I got 75 cents an hour plus tips which was maybe a quarter or 50 cents altogether if I was lucky because nobody had any money."

Another spot that enlivened South Main was the Hays Hotel. "The Hays Hotel was one of the nicest things about Fostoria," said Evelyn Barringer. "They served delicious food. They had round tables with white linen tablecloths. I lived in Bettsville and I felt like I was really going out when I went there. I'll never forget that as long as I live."

Dorothy remembered another function the Hays served for its guests. "Salesmen used to come here on the railroad and the streetcars (interurbans)," said Dorothy. "On real hot summer evenings, if you went down Main St., you'd see these men sitting out front in rocking chairs."

That image evokes a very sociable impression. You can wonder how many new friendships were struck or how much baseball was argued in those rockers in the summer heat.

Sunday morning church services concluded, a chicken dinner might just hit the spot. That was the Sunday specialty at the Civic Nic Nac which was located on North Main in the vicinity of the current location of the Elks Club.

Dell's has been serving up its famous roast beef dinners and sandwiches to famished Fostorians since 1934 (the same year John Dillinger robbed the First National Bank).

One member of the nostalgia group at the Good Shepherd Home said, "We always ate at Dell's. When you walked in there, it was like old home week. Everyone in there, you knew them. The step by the back door had kind of a hollow in it. The story is that it's worn by all the people who sneaked in the back door.

"Then they had what you called, ‘rush the growler,' when you went in with your little tin pal and got a bucket of beer."

My favorite tavern in Dayton was a cozy neighborhood spot in the Belmont area. There, if you brought in your own jug (and a couple of bucks), the bartender would cheerfully fill it with your preferred brand of draft beer. People would then take their brew home to enjoy. This practice persisted into the 1980s. The patrons of this establishment probably didn't even know they were rushing the growler.

But whether you rushed the growler or not, after you were done eating dinner, it was often time for ice cream at one of the surprising number of ice cream parlors around town.

Paul Carbin's family owned the Double Dip Cone Shop on Tiffin St. and that double dip of your favorite flavor would cost you a nickel around 1932.

According to Dorothy Gamertsfelter you could walk into Tony's Ice Cream Parlor (J. Miller) with that same nickel in the late 1920s. "That's where we all went after school for a cherry coke."

Joe Corl's ice cream shop was in the Alcott Building. The Alcott Building and the Hays Hotel once occupied the site of the Park ‘N Shop Lot downtown before fire destroyed both structures in 1962.

Lillian Thaxton recollected that Corl's had a nickelodeon. After school, some ice cream, a little music and dancing was the order of the day for her and her friends.

Well, friends, that concludes this installment of recollections about Fostoria's past. Next time we'll begin with some memories of Fostoria in the days before the horseless carriage became commonplace in America.

By the way, do you think those ice cream parlors did a good business in the winter? They must have because my niece, Lynn, always says, "it's never too cold for ice cream."