BARONE'S BACK: WHERE VALS FIRST HAD PIZZA.

Byline: BRENT HOPKINS Staff Writer

VALLEY GLEN -- When Barone's first opened 61 years ago, there were just 10 tables squeezed inside -- no steak, no music, not yet even pizza.

Back then, it was just a humble little neighborhood joint serving standard Italian fare at a time when there wasn't much to do in the beginning-to-boom San Fernando Valley. World War II was just over, and Jerry Barone and his partners had a little money to turn into a dream.

All the partners except 92-year-old Frank Monteleone are gone. The original restaurant and its satellites have closed, but the old memories and the spark behind them refuse to fade.

Today, Tom Monteleone, Frank's son and a co-owner of the current restaurant, will fire up the ovens for the latest version of Barone's. Six months after it lost its lease on the Ventura Boulevard space it had occupied for 57 years, the restaurant will open anew in the site of the former Matterhorn Chef on Oxnard Street near Woodman Avenue.

``I was raised in this business,'' Monteleone said. ``I started working here when I was 14, vacuuming walls and ceilings, cleaning stuff up on the roof. I worked with every race, creed and everything, and I always got along with everyone.''

And through the years, he had to. He was a busboy, a dishwasher, a caterer and a manager. A tall, neatly dressed man who bears a strong resemblance to actor James Caan, he once calmed down a knife-wielding employee who threatened to kill a co-worker for supposedly impugning his honor. Monteleone also made a lot of pizza.

In between his stints at Barone's, Monteleone ran a pair of steakhouses that bore his name, an upscale experience he hopes to replicate in the new restaurant. Though he is adding a piano bar, fresh seafood and top-choice beef, the restaurant remains, at heart, the same neighborhood place his dad and relatives opened up way back in 1945.

That place, which soon became one of the first to serve pizza in Southern California, played host to countless first dates, birthdays and family get-togethers. It was never the flashiest or fanciest, but the food was consistent and the atmosphere pleasant.

``It gave you the excuse to come to the Valley when no one even knew where the hell the Valley was,'' said Jerry Hurwitz, a longtime North Hollywood resident who drove over the hill on dates in high school back in the 1950s. ``We used to double-date back then and go out to get dinner at Barone's for the square pizza.''

That square pizza could have disappeared if Monteleone had not been able to find a new facility and the finances to purchase it. The Valley Economic Development Center stepped in with an $800,000 loan to help him buy the building and dress it up a bit.

``Everyone thinks of this as a suburb with no history, but the Valley has a history and a culture that needs to be preserved,'' said Roberto Barragan, president of the Van Nuys-based nonprofit. ``You let these places go, and what'll replace them? Chili's on one hand, or some new guy who crashes and burns within six months.''

Monteleone, with nearly 50 years in the business, didn't want to let the restaurant die. His father, who formally retired in 1989 but still plays an active role in the restaurant, wouldn't stand for it.

``There are certain people who can never get out of the business,'' Tom Monteleone said. ``The ones who did are the pencil men, who see a nice profit and they're gone. Then there are guys like my dad, who get in at a young age with love and passion.

``I'm the same way. I'd die of a broken heart or loneliness without this place.''

brent.hopkins(at)dailynews.com

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Barone's Famous Italian Restaurant