This section of Gardner is at the top of the food chain – The Gardner News

This section of Gardner is at the top of the food chain – The Gardner News

When Pearson Boulevard first opened as a thoroughfare through South Gardner in October of 1953, Lila’s Lunch would be the first place of business to be located on that street.

Dr. Charles Sauter owned the land next door to and behind his South Main Street home, where Pearson Boulevard would eventually be developed.

Lila Allain had originally opened a small restaurant at her home at 69 South Main St., which was later configured into the new road that would one day become the direct link from South Gardner to Route 2 when the highway first opened in 1963.

Lila’s would also be the first of nearly a dozen eating spots that would eventually crop up along Pearson Boulevard over the years, including several burger joints as well as a number of national franchises like Kentucky Fried Chicken, Taco Bell, Wendy’s, Friendly’s and Dunkin’ Donuts.

In addition, City Dairyland, was once located right next door to Lila’s at 161 Pearson Blvd. It included a variety store and a lunch counter that featured homemade doughnuts. It was located there from 1962 until it was destroyed by a fire in the late 1960s.

Meanwhile, Lila’s Lunch was in operation from 1954 to 1955 before it was sold to Albert DeGrace, who opened it as Al’s Kozy Kitchen from 1956 to 1963. Later, when Doris Page purchased the business, it was renamed Page’s Kozy Kitchen from 1964 to 1970.

Joseph Fredette and his wife, Judy, kept things “Kozy” with the opening of Judy’s Kozy Kitchen from 1971 to 1975.

The business then closed and remained vacant for several years before Alice Messier opened the short-lived Alice’s Restaurant in 1983.

It again changed hands and names in 1986 when Sue Swift and Kathy Caron opened Neighbors there. Then from 1988 to 1990, Angelo Scaglione opened The Cozy Corner.

For a time, the place was also known as the Pearson Pantry. Later, it was opened as the Chair City Diner by former City Councilor Jeff Palmieri and was also called Little Sisters.

In 2008, it became known as Gabby’s Place, named for the daughter of the present owner Rosa DaCosta who opens the restaurant each day for a breakfast and lunch menu.

DaCosta noted the eatery was named for her daughter Gabriella (Gabby), “but it’s also a good place to come in and gab,” she quipped.

Over the years, as the area from South Gardner to Route 2 developed, many more places of business dotted the area along Pearson Boulevard, and several new eating spots were added.

A&W Root Beer opened a franchise at 122 Pearson Blvd. in 1961 and was noted for dispensing frosty mugs of root beer along with their signature Papa Burgers, Mama Burgers, French fries and onion rings.

One year later, yet another burger stand opened when Hawkeye Hamburgers made its appearance at 144 Pearson Blvd.

Among some of the other original businesses along Pearson Boulevard were Gardner Trust Co. (1958-1961), Stop & Shop (1956-1971), Larry’s Texaco gasoline (1958-1960) and Parady’s Cleaners (1956-1970).

A&W was located where the present Horrigan Cleaners does business, while Parady’s Cleaners was housed in the building that is now Williams Restaurant, and Hawkeye Hamburgers is currently the site of Chair City Auto Sales.

New businesses (in parenthesis) moved into the original buildings like Saveway Oil Co. (Gardner Auto Sales), Stop & Shop (Heywood Rehabilitation Center) and Tappin’s Package Store (South Gardner branch of the GFA Federal Credit Union).

After Route 2 opened, the other side of Pearson Boulevard was developed with the opening of Gardner’s first shopping plaza, debuting on Nov. 12, 1964.

W.T. Grants became the first store to inaugurate the modernized Gardner Plaza. Before that time, Grants had occupied a spot at 18 Parker St. in the Michelman Block, lost in a maze of downtown department stores that included Woolworth, Park Snow, Sears & Roebuck and J.J. Newberry.

Eventually, a drive-in branch of the First National Bank, a Sears & Roebuck catalog outlet, Don’s Beauty Shop, Brooks Pharmacy and a Friendlys franchise opened for business in the plaza.

Today, the Gardner Plaza also features The Insurance Place, Subway, Aubuchon Hardware, Rob Roy Hair Stylists, Yen Yen, Ocean State Job Lot, Rite Aid Pharmacy, Patriot Pizza and Staples.

Other well-known businesses that still do business along Pearson Boulevard include KFC (formerly branded as Kentucky Fried Chicken and present there since 1970), Horrigan Laundromat, which started in 1967 as Maytag Laundromat, and Anthony’s Liquor Mart, which also debuted there in 1967.

Wendy’s opened in the Gardner Plaza in 1985, while Mister Donut opened in 1970 and later became a Dunkin’ Donuts, but it is currently closed in that spot.

Comments and suggestions for Then and Now can be sent to Mike Richard at mikerichard0725@gmail.com or in writing to Mike Richard, 92 Boardley Road, Sandwich, MA 02563.

Published at Fri, 11 Jun 2021 10:02:35 +0000