Let's pretend we're back in the late 1940s or early 1950s. We're driving north along Peninsula Drive, almost to Presque Isle.  When we get to 6th Street, we look to the right and we see a restaurant shaped like a fish. That’s right. A restaurant shaped like a fish.    

The Big Fish Restaurant was the place to go in Erie County six or seven decades ago.  You drove up in your car, you walked through the giant doors in front, and you could then place an order for fish... inside a building that looks like a fish!  What could be sweeter?

Gene Ware, a local historian, remembers The Big Fish.

"It was a fish.  It looked like a fish. And you went through the doors into it.  It was really different,” he says. 

Gene frequently went to The Big Fish with his dad back in the early ‘50s. 

"My dad had a boat anchored off Ferncliff.  He also loved the peninsula. Either way, whichever one we were going to, we had to stop at The Big Fish and get a fish sandwich,” says Gene.  

According to a menu dated 1951, customers would pay 25 cents for a fish sandwich. A fish lunch with French fries, coleslaw, and a hot roll would cost 75 cents. Want a milk shake with that?  It was 25 cents.

"It was a great place,” says Gene.  “Everyone stopped there on their way to Waldameer, on their way to the park, or just out for a Sunday ride. Sundays you couldn't get near the place.  It was packed." 

The Big Fish served Lake Erie blue pike, a species that became extinct due to overfishing.   Gene says when the restaurant replaced the disappearing blue pike with perch, most customers quit coming and the restaurant closed in the mid ‘50s.

It's now 2024. Millcreek Township is implementing a plan to beautify Peninsula Drive near 6th Street.  The area is known as "The Gateway to Presque Isle." Would it be possible for a restaurant shaped like a fish to make a comeback?  Or is it too quirky for modern times?  I showed township supervisor Jim Bock some pictures of the large-mouthed drive-in.  He liked it.

"Honestly, I think it would be awesome, Jim said. “I really think it would be a novelty for the area. It's just a matter of where it would fit in in the Gateway District."

Gene says The Big Fish Restaurant opened every year in the spring.  It closed for the winter season.   The only seats were picnic tables outside of the restaurant.  He says tourists loved the place.