BARONE'S TOLUCA LAKE CLOSES DOORS TODAY.Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY Dennis McCarthy may refer to:
It all began at the corner of Ventura Boulevard Ventura Boulevard is one of the primary east-west thouroughfares in the San Fernando Valley; as it was originally a part of the El Camino Real (the trail between Spanish missions), Ventura Boulevard is the oldest route in the San Fernando Valley. It was also U.S. and Beverly Glen in Sherman Oaks in 1945, where the Casa De Cadillac dealership is located today. The Arpaia brothers, Tony, Frank and Mike, had just mustered out of the Air Force and were looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. a business venture together with their brother-in-law Jerry Barone. An Italian restaurant was on their minds. The men were standing on the sidewalk talking to Noun 1. talking to - a lengthy rebuke; "a good lecture was my father's idea of discipline"; "the teacher gave him a talking to" lecture, speech rebuke, reprehension, reprimand, reproof, reproval - an act or expression of criticism and censure; "he had to a sign contractor, asking him how much it would cost to take down the old sign on a restaurant called Bartos - then occupying the site - and replace it with the new name they wanted for their restaurant: Italian Kitchen. ``He said $240, and we didn't want to spend that kind of money for a sign,'' Tony said Thursday, getting ready to bring an era to an end. ``So, we asked him how much it would cost us to drop the T-O-S on the sign up now and add O-N-E-S. He said $19. That's how we became Barone's.'' Tony Arpaia laughs. It's one of the few laughs he's allowed himself the last few months while preparing for today, the day Barone's in Toluca Lake serves its last famous rectangular pizza and plate of spaghetti and meatballs Noun 1. spaghetti and meatballs - spaghetti with meatballs in a tomato sauce dish - a particular item of prepared food; "she prepared a special dish for dinner" . Ill health and the end of his lease have prompted Arpaia to finally call it quits quits adj. On even terms with by payment or requital: I am finally quits with the loan. [Middle English, probably alteration (influenced by Medieval Latin at this location, leaving only the Barone's in Sherman Oaks open after today. The original Barone's proved so popular with its rectangular pizza that it moved to a bigger restaurant at its present location on Ventura Boulevard in 1949, and later added the Toluca Lake location in 1970. By then, Tony's brothers-in-law Frank Monteleone and Joseph Izzo had joined the business as partners. Why make rectangular pizzas when everyone else was doing round? I asked Tony. He leaned across the table and in a low whisper told me the secret, like it was the formula to the atomic bomb atomic bomb or A-bomb, weapon deriving its explosive force from the release of atomic energy through the fission (splitting) of heavy nuclei (see nuclear energy). The first atomic bomb was produced at the Los Alamos, N.Mex. . ``You could fit more in the oven,'' he said. So that was it. You could fit more in the oven. Waitress Ginny McKinney walks by on her way to the banquet room banquet room n. A large room, as in a restaurant, suitable for banquets. to serve the North Hollywood Kiwanis Club luncheon meeting - the same order she's been taking on the last Thursday of every month for the past 25 years. ``You finally going to get our orders right?'' asks Dan Clark, president of the club. A few of the men laugh, but you can tell their hearts aren't in it. The end of an era is never as much fun as the beginning. They don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. where they'll meet from now on, Clark says, but wherever it is, it won't be as good as Barone's, and they won't have Ginny McKinney to kid around with. Before the lunch is over, this colorful waitress, who has been taking orders in this restaurant since it opened in 1970, will be named an honorary member of the North Hollywood Kiwanis Club. She's one of only a handful of the 50 employees at the restaurant who will continue to have jobs at the Sherman Oaks Barone's. But it won't be the same, she admits. ``This place has been a big part of my life for almost 30 years,'' Ginny says. ``We're all going to miss it a lot.'' The words cut through Tony Arpaia like a knife. This is the toughest part of closing, he says. Letting people go. People who have been like family to you. That's why he's been on the phone almost every day since the decision to close was made, calling up other restaurant owners restaurant owner n → dueño/a or propietario/a de un restaurante in the Valley, telling them if they need any good help, he's got some. He's gotten a couple of good leads, Tony says, but only a couple. It's tough out there today, the restaurant business. Trina Ann Arpaia, Tony's wife, reaches across the table and squeezes her husband's hand, trying to coax Same as coaxial cable. coax - coaxial cable a smile out of him. ``Everybody's sad in this whole area that we're closing because they don't want us to leave,'' she says. ``But, it's time It's Time was a successful political campaign run by the Australian Labor Party (ALP) under Gough Whitlam at the 1972 election in Australia. Campaigning on the perceived need for change after 23 years of conservative (Liberal Party of Australia) government, Labor put forward a .'' The couple was getting away late Friday for a couple of days at the Ritz Carlton in Pasadena to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. But they'll be back in time for the final Sunday brunch today at their restaurant, Trina Ann says. She and Tony wouldn't miss that for anything, saying goodbye to their longtime customers and friends. Everyone agrees it should be pretty emotional because the end of an era is never as much fun as the beginning. CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO Tony Arpaia, one of the owners, with longtime waitress Ginny McKinney. David Sprague/Daily News |
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