DAYTON TIRE
Dayton tire, in Cranston, was owned by Leon Kayarian
and had a big building right next to 95 north. It was so well known that the
traffic reports used to refer to back up on 95 all the way back to the
Dayton Tire Building! everyone driving north would check out the electric
"crawl type sign" that had the time and temperature to see if they'd be late
for work. He had a character of himself done with a big smile, wearing a
blue suit and shouldering a Dayton tire on his left shoulder, on the building
about 10 ft high. remember? He put tire on lots of RI cars with his
"buy 3 get one free" slogan. Then he gives the customer a watch with his
cartooncharacter on it's face. He used to run commercial where in he'd say
"Let me replace those daaaagerously bald tires" .
making fun of his totally bald head.
Dayton tire, in Cranston, was owned by Leon Kayarian
and had a big building right next to 95 north. It was so well known that the
traffic reports used to refer to back up on 95 all the way back to the
Dayton Tire Building! everyone driving north would check out the electric
"crawl type sign" that had the time and temperature to see if they'd be late
for work. He had a character of himself done with a big smile, wearing a
blue suit and shouldering a Dayton tire on his left shoulder, on the building
about 10 ft high. remember? He put tire on lots of RI cars with his
"buy 3 get one free" slogan. Then he gives the customer a watch with his
cartooncharacter on it's face. He used to run commercial where in he'd say
"Let me replace those daaaagerously bald tires" .
making fun of his totally bald head.
He's my uncle. He's comp insane. In an inoccesnt hilarious way
ReplyDeleteGreat guy! Always positive to me everytime we talked!
DeleteGeat guy! Always a pleasure to talk too..
DeleteMy dad drove limos for him. Him and Louie. Ahh the good ole days. Thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteCleaning out my basement and came across a half-dozen Leon Watch Club gold cards from 1991 promoted by Woods Service Station. Good times.
ReplyDeleteI was just telling me coworker this sorry and decided to look him up, so I stumbled upon this page.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid, (probably sometime between 2006 and 2009) my mom and I were walking down atwells Ave in providence and happened to buy a box of strips of fried dough from a local grocery store. We didn’t want to eat it all so we were offering it to people when we walked by. Several people enjoyed it with us until eventually we came across a couple of elderly gentlemen in front of a cafe. My mom offered them some and one who was in an all white suit with white leather shoes said “just the smallest piece.” My mom said no, take the biggest one, and handed it to him. He stood up and said “come with me.” I was young and kinda taken aback, but he put his arms around our shoulders and walked us down the street to an old Cadillac. He put the key in the trunk and got really nervous. When he opened it it was literally full of cookies. He explained he also likes to do nice things for people and gives cookies out to the people at the bank, the post office, or kind strangers. He was moved by mom giving him the biggest piece of fried dough and wanted to do something nice back. Then he asked for our address and my mom, the friendliest person on the planet, writes it down for him. A few days later we get a small package in the mail. When we opened it, it contained a watch with a leather band, and a white watch face. It had a cartoon of a genie in a bottle and said “make a wish” on it. I looked closely at the face of the genie and it was the man with the cookies! It had his watch website printed on it, which doesn’t exist as of the last time I checked several years ago. It cracks me up to this day when I think about it. I tell the story often. It was the wildest encounter for a kid, but it made a huge impression and still makes me smile.