Photo courtesy of my friend Gary Licko. Jeff Levine advises that this photo, cropped from a much larger image of the area, was taken by Bob DeGise of Florida Photo around 1950.
Kelly's was located on the south side of 79th Street, opposite Mike Gordon's Seafood Restaurant on the north side which is now being developed as a condo site.
From a guest: "One of the highlights used to be a trip or two to Kelly's for some nibbles and a big chocolate soda or malted. My aunt moved to Miami in, . . 1951? and in the summer of 1952 my mother brought me down on another vacation and I'm still on it, never went back. By then it was Billy's. Mike was one of the owners, Pearl one of the carhops and Papo, the Cuban cook, made wonderful BBQ sandwiches. For a couple of years I lived in the apartment building across the vacant lot just west of Billy's so Billy's virtually became my second home. I could be found there at almost any time of the day or night. The North Bay Marina building became Billy's "Dining Room" and Billy's was a major hangout for lots of kids from Edison. My God! Those years were so exiting and so much fun, always somethin' goin' on. How sweet it was." WBH MEHS 57