Ella's

For those who remember Madison, Ella's Deli closed today. It was a great place to bring kids. In season, there was a merry-go-round ride outside (and a miniature of it on display inside), and every portion of the ceiling and quite a bit of the walls was devoted to toys--mostly moving, very many vintage. The tables with glass tops had small toys under glass--a different theme for each table. the picture here doesn't do justice to how full it was of attractions, or how animated it was.

Since the kids are grown, we haven't been back in a long time. The owners want to retire, and nobody has stepped up to buy the place. Yet. Maybe there are overdue repairs that scared off buyers, or maybe they're playing chicken, or maybe it is just fiendishly expensive to keep everything maintained. The place turns up on travel guides, but google only turned up 30,000 references. Odd.

This link is from the Wayback Machine, so it may keep for a little longer than the original web page.