The closing sign at Ed's Drive In caused a Jackson man to quit his job and take out a bank loan to save the cherished hamburger joint on U.S. 43.

Owner Ed Harris, 71, had decided to close the diner after operating it for four decades. He started as an assistant manager before he bought the business in 1984.

"After 41 years, this was enough," Harris said. "I figured if I was going to do anything with the rest of my life, I better get to it."

New owner Billy Wimberly, 49, will keep the grill sizzling.

When Wimberly heard about the closing, he quit his job at TEC Construction and put up his house as collateral on a bank loan to save it.

After years of struggle, the Holiday Auto Theatre, one of the few drive-in theaters in Ohio, is up for sale

Butler County's last drive-in movie theater, one of only a handful in the country open all year long, is up for sale. Its owner says it's not likely a buyer will continue the operation. Tools

The Holiday Auto Theatre has been open on Old Oxford Road since 1948. But, after fighting with the county for seven years to add more screens needed to make the business viable, it's likely this will be the end of an era, owner Fred Baum said.

The property is listed for $650,000 with Re/Max Alpha of Oxford.

"The reason for this is actually pretty simple," theater spokesman Jeff Zeismann said. "The extra screens enable somebody to go to a movie this weekend and come back next weekend and see a different movie. It allows repeat business to cycle through quicker."

Zeismann said it's nearly impossible to survive as a single-screen theater in a multiscreen world with declining box office sales.

Preservationists fear the opening of a Glendale multiplex could force the historic Ridgewood Theatre to close its doors for good - about a decade shy of its 100th birthday.

The Ridgewood, designed by architect Thomas Lamb and first opened in December 1916, is believed to be one of the oldest continuously operated theaters in the country, having never closed for renovations during its 89-year run.

But residents think the upcoming opening of a Regal Cinemas multiplex in the Shops at Atlas Park, an office/retail complex on Cooper Ave. between 80th and 83rd Sts., will bring too much competition for the Ridgewood.

Karen Colizzi Noonan, president of the Theatre Historical Society of America, said the Ridgewood's managers need "to look at their programming and amenities, and mount an offensive to ensure that they remain at the top of people's minds when they are making their entertainment selections."

Want a better burger? At Smitty's on North King Street, they've been turning them out for 50 years.

The late Ethel D. Smith, who started the business with her husband, Paul, described the old-fashioned drive-in as "a kitchen and a curb." There is no dining area, just a few picnic tables. Customers are served in their cars, complete with a tray attached to their window, just as it was done in 1956.

Paul Smith, 76, now retired, said the secret ingredient to their longevity is no secret - just fresh meat and hot buns.

"Not many burger places warm their buns," he said.

Not many burger places have customers who've been loyal for decades, either.

Rosa Little has been coming to Smitty's Better Burger for more than 30 years. She and the owners talk like old friends.

"The hamburgers are so good," she said. "I also love the fried chicken; it takes a while, but it is good.

"I like the atmosphere, too," she said, looking around the parking lot.

Homemade root beer has flowed for a final time at Bob's Root Beer. The Fallon institution closed its doors over the weekend after being in business for 46 years.

The drive-in originally opened as an A&W Root Beer franchise in 1960 and became Bob's Root Beer two years later. Its owners say competition from new restaurants in town siphoned business from them.

Plans call for the property to become a used-car lot.

Elizaville, NY

The tiny hamlet of Elizaville, NY, has a new resident, the former Eat Well Diner from Lebanon, PA. Elizaville is nestled about 2 miles east of US route 9 and about 5 miles north of Red Hook. Arriving this week, the diner has lost it's added roof and now looks much closer to its original state than it has in years. As of Saturday, the diner sits on its foundation, and just awaits a building in the back for a kitchen, and your typical preparations, although it will still take months to finish everything.

Owner Brian Pitcher was busy at work in the Elizaville Deli, which sells sandwiches, dinners and doubles as a country market. One customer came in to tell him that strangers have been asking him where the new diner in town is located. Brian is no stranger to the diner business, having ran the West Taghkanic Diner, before selling it to one of his employees, Rob Eisner.

Within 45 minutes of opening for the season on Wednesday, the staff of Rudy's prepared nearly 100 orders. And the lunch time crowd hadn't come in yet.

Like the birds returning north after the winter, area residents flocked back to the historic little restaurant nestled on the shore of Lake Ontario at The Loop.

Despite the snow, slush, chunks of ice bobbing in the frigid water and biting windchill Rudy's threw open its doors to welcome another season – as sure a sign of spring as the first sighting of a robin.

Several vehicles began parking in front of the eatery almost an hour before it was scheduled to open. About a dozen Oswego High School students, mostly seniors, took time off from classes to be among the first patrons of the year.

Urban legend holds that if the "tardy" students return with some

Rudy's fare for their teachers, they won't be marked absent.

"Yes, I've heard that. I think it's true," said Kaitlyn Clark, one of the students.

Historical review panel persuades owners not to use stainless steel.

After more than an hour of give-and-take with the owners of the Tamaqua Diner, the borough's Historical Architectural Review Commission on Monday approved plans to restore the eatery to the way it looked in the 1950s.

The owners, brothers Christos and Vasilios Argiros had wanted to make the restaurant, at the corner of Cedar Street and Route 309, look like a 1950s diner, replete with neon tube lighting and lots of shiny stainless steel on the original arched roof and front of the building.

The Argiroses, who bought it about 10 years ago, also plan to redesign the interior to reflect the 1950s style.

But the review commission, armed with old photographs of the building, once called Taylor's Diner, contends the restaurant never was the polished stainless steel, rounded-edge 1950s classic.

The diner was built in the 1930s and, Commission Chairman Dale Freudenberger said, it now has a 1950s appearance. The review commission, which advises Borough Council but has no authority of its own, had ''issues'' with the stainless steel, he said.

"Diners," said Harold Kullman, "are in my blood."

Kullman, 81, is heir to a diner-building tradition begun by his father, Sam, CEO of the Tierney Diner Car Company in New Rochelle, N.Y., in the early 1920s. His father founded the Kullman Dining Car Co., originally located in Newark, in 1927.

Kullman entered the family business after serving in the U.S. Army in World War II. He had degrees in business and accounting from Bucknell University and had been sent by the Army to study engineering at the University of Wisconsin. His son, Robert, joined the family business in 1969, when the company began extending its modular construction process to all types of buildings.

Now the 178,000-square-foot manufacturing floor of Kullman Industries is Kullman's domain.