Some old pics of long gone places

Ahhhhhh....simpler times.

There just isn't enough money in bowling. I remember both those places pretty well. I used to bowl at Ottawa Lanes.

We used to go to Putt Putt a lot, but that business was run to pay the taxes and maintain the property. The owner actually owned a whole string of similar business all over the place and sold the property when the time was right. A smart man, he has two miniature golf courses remaining to him which he'll sell as the market matures.

I used to eat at the Griddle Cake all the time. Of course when I was there they had Song's Korean Karate and the Fred Astaire Dance Studio on the second floor. I think Classic Cuts has been there forever.

The lady who owned the Griddle Cake ran a good restaurant, but she tended to be disagreeable. She generally ran the back and left customer service to someone else. The waitresses were always nice and the food was first rate.

The building was ideal in many ways, mainly location, location and rent. The landlord was a man named Peckinpaugh, who was nice enough but who was something of a cheap skate. The building had very little insulation so it was cold in the middle of winter, and when the afternoon sun hit the back side of the building in summer the occupants roasted.

Thanks for posting the pictures, breaker.

Love the nostalgia, thanks for posting.

Nice pictures, many memories. I grew up in that area and my mother still lives in the house.

Love the pics... I remember some of these places from when I was a kid :)

Griddle Cake coffee shop on Monroe and Talmadge. Awesome pancakes -

What is in its place now? I can't picture this.

Geez, breaker, you and I lived parallel lives. I used to work at Showcase Lanes, but Birdie King II was my game of choice down in the game room. But, I played the Gorf game at Putt-Putt for hours on end. And, my sister used to work at that Little Caesers. Too funny.

The shopping center with Little Caesar's originally held a drug store with fountain, a Stride Rite Shoe Store, a Baskin Robbins at the end and a couple of other small stores.

The Griddle Cake was basically across from Franklin Park airport/mall on the SW corner of Talmadge at Sylvania. It moved to a shopping center in Sylvania just before Bill Knapp's on Monroe. It went out of business some years ago.

Great picture of Putt Putt across from Burger King.

Starlight Plaza in the 5800 block of Monroe was originally the Starlight drive in theater. There was also a Franklin Park drive in about where the original cinemas were on Monroe west of Talmadge.

We moved from Toledo to Dayton back in 1986, so you can imagine my surprise when I was driving down Monroe back in '92 and saw there was no more Franklin Park Drive In. Couldn't believe it. Progress, I guess.

I also have a pic of the Talmadge Plaza shopping center where the Little Caesar's is located. When I was there, it was a Shale's drug store and Sportfame was the big anchor store. I'll get that and a few more pics up.