Aku Aku, Toledo, OH (restaurant)

Picked up this great menu from the Aku Aku. I really love these modern abstract art menu's (like the Boston South Seas one) that have that Picasso quality to them. Back "when it was modern to be primitive."

Inside Image:

Back:

Created by Ad Art Litho

Did a quick little search Ad Art Litho and shockingly it seems like they might still be around.

Ad Art Litho Menugraphics

Address: 3133 Chester Ave
Cleveland, Ohio 44114
United States

Phone: (216) 696-1460

The plane! The plane!

[ Edited by: tattoo 2013-05-11 14:07 ]

What a stellar find! I have never seen this anywhere before! Great Aloha Jhoe's-style modernism....can you post some full shots of the inside?

That is spectacular! Is it just a food menu or is there a drink menu page with illustrations?

Here's the complete menu from front to back. It does have the drinks in it but without drink illustrations.

Looks as if this menu was pre 1964 as there is no zip code but only a zone code. Very cool find.

Saw this on Ebay. Lighter from the Aku Aku. On Ebay now if you collect this place.

Very cool lighter. Couldn't find it on Ebay as it is probably no longer listed. Found these photos of a custom made light fixture that probably was part of the tropical diorama. The owner said they purchased it in the 1970's when fixtures were being sold off.

It's weird how your mind can go on a tangent and you get to looking up things from your past.

I was looking up Notre Dame High School in Toledo, which is where my mom went to high school. Notre Dame was at one time located on Bancroft near Monroe Street - right at that major intersection. There's a book on Toledo architecture that has a photo of the school as it existed before it was razed in 1960. It sure looked a lot different than the Town House Motel that replaced it!

I was born and raised in the Toledo area, and remember the Aku Aku. My first job out of high school was at this office that was run by a colorful Italian character. He took the office staff out for lunch one day to the Aku Aku. I don't remember much about it, except that the place definitely had a reputation, and it was so exciting to be having lunch there. The place was packed. Toledo movers and shakers ate there for lunch. This would have been around 1971. I smoked back then, so maybe I had a matchbook cover from the place. I used to grab them whenever I went to a restaurant. I guess we should have hung on to all of our matchbooks from that era. They might be worth something to a collector of Toledo memorabilia.

Just thought I would add this.

Dining room in Town House Motel where Birns spent much of his time.
Motel in Toledo where Alex Birns was on Saturday July 6th.

July 17, 1963

"A Toledo physician early this morning told The Plain Dealer he treated the missing Alex (Shonder) Birns for an injured right hand.

Birns is sought for questioning in the connection with the murder of Mervin L. Gold.

Dr. Lawrence Raymond said Birns called him to the Town House Motel in Toledo on Saturday and asked that his hand be treated.

"He said he mangled in in the car door," the doctor related.

"The laceration was dirty and a little bit infected. I don't recall what time of day it was, but I am the physician for the motel."

In another explanation Birns told a chambermain he hurt the hand setting off a firecracker on July 4th."

Front view of Town House Motel and Aku Aku

[ Edited by: bdzmusicprod 2018-07-04 11:27 ]

Here is a lovely story of a visit to the Aku Aku with unexpected entertainment in April of 1970. I have a poster advertising that engagement that has been in my home near the Aku Aku since 1977. Sadly, I never was there when there was entertainment. I did see this artiste several years later at the Chicago Theatre where she had been dragged out wrapped in blankets under arrest with newsreel coverage in 1933. It was a great act! https://www.enewscourier.com/opinion/columns/crumbs-of-candor-sally-who/article_d7a490a6-2309-11ec-abca-dfa48e4ba643.html

[ Edited by GlenwoodToledo on 2022-09-05 13:51:29 ]