From the September 3, 1968 issue of the Windsor Star, is this ad from Hi-Ho restaurants.
Hi-Ho was a local chain of drive-in burger joints, that was founded in 1937. A letter was sent by the owner to Walt Disney asking permission to use “Hi-Ho”. A letter was sent back telling him to go ahead, no problem. Try that today! 🙂
I’m sure some of the readers out there have some stories of the place to share, so seeing as this was before my time, and long before I was ever in Windsor, I’d love to hear any stories….
My great-uncle used to take us to breakfast at the west end location after the early morning mass at Assumption. It was a pretty big deal for us as kids.
The founder apparently ran Placefortin in Emeryville as a sort of “encore” with menu items from the Hi-Ho but as he grew older retired from the business. Last time I stopped by that location it was a Chinese restaurant – but they keep the “original purveyors of the…” Hi Ho menu items on the front of the restaurant. Don’t be fooled though!
I’m not sure what the proper connection is but for a time at least the Double-H on Walker road just north of Ottawa was supposedly run by a former Hi-Ho operator. I’m not sure what its status is now. They run a busy diner there anyway.
Interesting….I don’t reconize any of these buildings tho…do they still exsist? I’m sure they have been covered, and stucco’d or whatever….but wonder if they are still around…and what business are in them today?
The Grumpy Burger was the best.
Ross – Sandwich St. @ Prince is still standing. It’s in the parking lot of another building (Vollmer?), the Howard one @ Grand Marais, is long gone. I had a photo of that building when it was another diner and I tried tracking it down. As best as I can figure, it was lost when the expressway went in.
The Walker Rd. location near the airport doesn’t look familiar. It does kind of remind me of the old Country Style that was pulled down for a car wash maybe 10 years ago?
5240 Tecumseh Rd E., comes up today as the Maple Leaf resturant. If you’ve ever been in there, it’s painfully obvious that the building has undergone expansion and renovations, so it wouldn’t surprise me to learn the building is in there somewhere…
Thank you for the memories! It was the one on Tecumseh East that I remember! In the age of B.A.C. – Before Air Conditioning, when it got toooo hot to cook, that was my mother’s escape for the family.
The Canadian Transportation Museum south of Essex did a big tribute to Hi Ho last year. The Fortin Family was profiled in the very odd local film called The Rise and Fall of the Grumpy Burger, which had virtually nothing to do with Hi Ho, surprisingly.
From an exhibit I put together last year at Art in the Park; the poster was entitled “First Drive-In in Canada”:
“The Hi Ho Drive-In began on Sandwich Street on the west side of Windsor, Ontario, in 1937 by Aimee Fortin. Hi Ho was the original fast food drive-in restaurant in Canada, featuring “curb service.†The Fortin family asked for and received permission from the Walt Disney Company via a simple letter, to use the trade marked Seven Dwarfs and the “Hi Ho†name for their restaurants in 1934; no lawyers were involved. Hi Ho eventually expanded to four locations but closed in the late 1970s.”
Andrew, I have photos if you are interested in posting them
Walkerpub… Please send them along, I would be happy to post them.
Wow, with the Disney cartoon branding, Hi Ho could have really given McDonald’s a run for their money. They could have even entered a joint venture with Disney to sell their restaurant franchises internationally. This place sounds more appealing than Burger King and Wendy’s. Anyone know why it failed?
The HI HO on Walker still stands, it’s currently Champions Roadhouse…..
Thanks Bob!
I remember riding my horse through the drive thru at the Hi Ho on Sandwich. This would have been early early 80’s……80-81 ish….
I recall going to the HI HO on Sandwich St. back in 1972 when my husband and I were dating. It seems to me they had a delicious Strawberry Pie…or was that at the Big Boy? The place was a real “hot spot” on Firday nights back in the 60’s and 70’s. Those were the days!
David, I think that the Hi-Ho would have come up short and would have been dwarfed by McDonalds 🙂
The one on Howard Ave is still there it is the Ivy Rose.
Had the pleasure of eating at all four locations as a youngster. Our family of four would usually make an evening of it in the car, starting with a drive, then a meal before the drive back home. My favourite was the Walker Road spot, as we would load up with hot dogs, fries and milkshakes then proceed to park beside the Windsor Flying Club and watch aircraft activity. That lead to a keen interest in aviation that remains to this day. I also remember the Sandwich location, with its billboards by the parking lot that displayed the seven little people and their muse. That would have been in the 1960-67 era, before A&W arrived on Central Avenue with their Teen, Mama, Papa and Baby Burgers and the large cold glass mugs of root beer. At both Hi Ho and A&W, you had to roll down the window beside the driver’s seat so that the tray bearing the bounty of greasy treats could be attached to the car. Ahhh, that smell of fried white starch still sets off the saliva glands.
Right on T, you’re makin’ me hungry for a healthy helpin’ of beef fried in lard, or some damn shit.
We were afraid to go to the west end in high school ‘ cause of the rough crowd that was supposed to frequent the joint.
Black greasy hair,rolled up shirts sleeve smokin’Player’s Navy cut,with a mickey of whiskey under the seat, and two hot numbers in the back of a ’57 chev, lotsa chrome, ‘n noise, ‘n Del Shannon blarin’ from the Big 8.
The grandson (and front man of Windsor alternative rock band “King Kool Flipped”) of Hi-Ho founder Amie Fortin set out to make a documentary about this historic Windsor chain when another filmmaker came along and made a documentary about the guy making the documentary – The Rise and Fall of the Grumpy Burger!
For info check http://grumpyburger.com/
It airs on TVO November 19, 2008 at 10:00 PM.
If you go to the Maple Leaf Restaurant on Tecumseh E. and order the Maple Leaf burger you are getting the grumpy. Their gravy is the same as the Hi Ho and you can pretty well get everything as the Hi Ho. They had to change the name of the Grumpy because the HiHo had a patent.
The Maple Leaf Burger is very good and does remind me of the “Grumpy Burger”.
I do miss the HI HO, many fond memories.
The Howard location is where the Ivy Rose Restaurant stands today
HIHO – that’s my family history.
I still know how to make a cheese hound just like they did.
It’s all in the golden crust.
I spent my entire late teen years living at the Tecumseh Road Hi-Ho. My buddies and me used to jump in my ’52 Hudson & later my ’58 Chevy, and bomb back and forth between the A&W on Central Ave and the Hi Ho. Eatin’ burgers, fries, drinking coffee and cruisin’ for chicks. Some of the best times of my life. Man I miss that.
Loved the HI HO, even better loved windsor at that time,Went ther lots as a teen in the mid 70s,went to the tecumseh location,always cool cars,went to school at wf herman,worked at walts auto service and drank a few glass of beer ay the Canada Tavern and racing at checker flag,all long gone.Sad.
The Walker Road location was the second incarnation on that site. My mom worked there as a car-hop in the late 50s. The original building was quite small and was take-out and curb service only. It was originally located on the south side of the lot across from where the new building went up.
and don’t forget the juke boxes on the wall at each table..insert your coin and listen to the best music ever…those definately were the days….
This is a question for WAlker Pub, you say that HI HO first location was on Sandwhich ST. in the reprint of their fifty anniversary it says our first drivein location on site of Starlite Variety on Tecumseh Rd. east near Rivard, whitch is right?
Haven’t Starlite Variety stores been absent from the city for a fair number of years as well?
IF MEMORY SERVES ME WELL THE RESTAURANT PRIOR TO THE IVY ROSE AND HI-HO WAS THE DERBY DRIVE-IN ALSO WITH CAR HOPS ONE I REMEMBER WAS ELSIE BIDINOST
IF MEMORY SERVES ME WELL, THE RESTAURANT PRIOR TO THE IVY ROSE AND HI-HO ON HOWARD AVENUE WAS THE DERBY DRIVE-IN. IT ALSO HAD CAR HOPS – ONE I REMEMBER WAS ELSIE BIDINOST I HAVE ALSO HEARD THE ORIGINAL HI-HO WAS IN AMY FORTIN’S FORMER HOUSE THAT STOOD ON THESOUTHWEST CORNER OF ST.ROSE AND RIVERSIDE DRIVE
Along with Sam Cornett’s remarks re: HiHo on corner of St.Rose and Riverside Dr., I lived next door to one of the car hops that worked at that location. She has since passed so I cannot verify any dates of her employment.
AND WHO CAN FORGET BIG SCOOP ICE CREAM PARLOUR RIGHT NEXT DOOR TO KOZAKS ON OTTAWA ST. not only the ice cream, but their cheeseburgers were the best. unique GREAT taste that the BIG burger restaurants didnt have. dont know why it went down ? lack of business obviously. im glad it was a part of my life and part of my childhood memories. enjoy what you have today, because it might not be there tomorrow.