The expression “Central Avenue strip” was not unique to Toledo. In Los Angeles, Central Avenue had become a celebrated center of Black nightlife and jazz by the 1930s, and the stretch of clubs and businesses was subsequently remembered as the “Central Avenue strip.” The expression has appeared in a few other places as well, but in those instances strip is consistently lowercase. Only in Toledo have I found Strip capitalized.
Having some familiarity with the slogan, I was certain it got its start in the early 1980s. However, my initial research shows that it appeared as early as 1976.
Further research found that the slogan goes back even further! An October 12, 1959, ad in the Toledo Blade for Cathy’s Colonial, on Central Avenue just west of Douglas Road, calls it “The Famous Central Avenue Strip.”
It appeared again in December.
Whether that represented an established local expression or simply an advertiser’s colorful description remains uncertain. I found no other ads that use the phrase. Perhaps an event at the time made it briefly famous? Perhaps Cathy’s Colonial is what made it famous!
By the 1970s, however, “Central Avenue Strip” had become firmly associated with Toledo’s growing concentration of automobile dealerships.
In 1983 Yark replaced Papenhagen on the Strip.
In the early ’90s the Central Avenue Strip got its own jingle!
The Central Avenue Strip jingle was created by Ken R. Deutsch, who owned a commercial jingle studio in downtown Toledo. The Ken R. studio opened in 1979 and was located on the sixth floor (Suite 612) of the former Whitney & Currier Building at 515 Madison Avenue. In 1984, the studio relocated to the second floor of 1806 Madison Avenue.
RTM contacted Ken Deutsch to ask about the jingle. Deutsch responded in writing:
“An advertising agency that represented the car dealers in the Central Avenue Strip asked me to produce a jingle for them. I wrote it in the ’90s and produced it in my studio and delivered it to the client, who was very happy with the result. Then sometime later, one of the dealers dropped out of the organization and another one came in, and they asked us to re-sing the jingle, which we did. This happened a couple more times, and so there were three or four versions of the Central Avenue Strip jingle floating around. Unfortunately, when I sold my studio, I only saved two of them.”
