Alfano's Restaurant in California was a true family business

It has been described as a "haven in the night ... an oasis." And nearly 17 years after its doors closed for the final time, Alfano's Restaurant remains a major part of California's history and a powerful and poignant memory in the minds of those who savored its presence.

"We closed in December 1990," said Patsy J. Alfano, who ran the establishment the final five years of its existence. "It was taking up a lot of time, too much time, and I thought it was the right time to let it go."

Alfano is the son of the late Joseph Alfano, founder of the restaurant that carried the family name and the true meaning of family business for some 43 years at 250 Third St. in California. Dairy Queen Brazier is now located at the site.

"My father bought the business from Newt Coleman in 1947 after he returned home from the service during World War II," Patsy said. "He had worked for Mr. Coleman before going into the Army and had expressed a desire to go into the restaurant business after he got out. He liked the idea of being his own boss, and he enjoyed working with the public in that kind of setting."

Joe's brother, the late Frank "Fritz" Alfano, also a veteran of World War II, made it a partnership a few years after his discharge from the U.S. Army.

Fritz Alfano's son, Joseph Anthony "Joey" Alfano, explained that his father was a graduate of Douglas School of Business in Monessen and initially went to work at Allied Chemical Co. in Newell.

"Dad had an office job at Allied, but he thought it would be nice working with his brother," Joey Alfano said. "They were very close, and they made a great business team. Uncle Joe did the cooking, and my father handled the register and the books."

Joe, who died in 1974, and Fritz were the sons of the late Patsy and Rose DiMaria Alfano, and their mother played an important role in the operation of the restaurant.

"Grandma had a lot of the 'secret' recipes for such things as chili, bean soup and sausage," Patsy Alfano said laughingly. "She owned a cookbook that no one else could read because it was written in Italian. But I don't think she ever used it. She went by the old 'a little bit of this, a little bit of that' theory. When a recipe called for a cup of something, my grandmother never used a measuring cup; it was always a coffee cup. She would tell us, 'They said a cup, and this is a cup.' Funny thing is, everything she made tasted great."

Pete Petroff, a lifelong resident of California, has attested to that.

"There's no way you can forget Alfano's, not if you lived in California," Petroff said after Fritz Alfano died on Oct. 8, 1985. "I can still smell those hamburgers on the grill. And the bean soup. Just ask Mooner Rice, he'll tell you. He loved that bean soup. It was like eating at home."

Petroff also recalled there was a time when Alfano's Restaurant was open all night. It was, he remembered, like "a haven in the night ... a beacon welcoming you in."

"It was always there," Petroff said. "You'd be out on the town somewhere, and you'd get back late. But you couldn't go home unless you stopped in to see Fritz or Joe and have a hamburger or some pizza."

Patsy Alfano said the restaurant was open 24 hours a day, seven days a week -- even on holidays -- until 1970.

"(The family) figured it was time to slow down a bit," Alfano said. "They were busy when the school (California University of Pennsylvania) was in session, but it wasn't that way when the students went home. My dad and uncle decided to close on Sundays and cut back on the hours the rest of the week."

In addition to the Alfano brothers and their mother, who died in 1980, the family touch at Alfano's included Joe's wife, Evelyn, and Frank's wife, Mary.

"They worked from early in the morning, preparing for breakfast and lunch, until closing around 7 or 8 p.m. after dinner during the week and between 5 and 6 on Saturday," Joey Alfano said. "I remember my father leaving the house around 7 o'clock in the morning and not getting back most nights until 8:30 or after. My mother, Aunt Evelyn and grandmother would take the orders and wait on and clean tables. Lunchtime seemed to be the busiest, most hectic time. It started around 11:30 a.m. and ran until after 1 p.m. But there were many times when, even though they had closed for the day, my dad and uncle would reopen if customers came to the door. They hated turning anyone away even if the 'Closed' sign was up."

Bruce Wald, a writer in California University's Public Affairs Office, remembers the friendliness of Alfano's well.

"To me, Alfano's was one of the greatest things in the history of California," said Wald, former sports information director at Cal U. "I didn't arrive there until the fall of 1980, but I'll never forget them. I loved to watch Fritz or Patsy making The Alfano Special sandwich; putting the egg on a pile of meats and cheeses at the end was an awesome sight and even better to eat. There also were the spicy morning sausage for breakfast, great Friday fish specials and ground beef on the pizza. On Saturday I would go there for breakfast and then call for takeout by 3:30 because they closed at 4 o'clock."

Wald also recalled that Alfano's was "more or less the official restaurant" of California University's men's basketball during Jim Boone's tenure as head coach.

"Patsy was president of the Sixth Man Booster Club for a while, and they had great early morning meetings there," Wald said.

Secret family recipes notwithstanding, the key to the Hunger Buster menu at Alfano's was that the family bought and made everything fresh.

"We had a lot of things delivered daily," Mary Alfano said. "We bought ground meat, bread and buns at the grocery store (Sheehan's) in town, but we also had meat deliveries from Jaycee Foods in Charleroi and vegetables and fruit from Central Produce in Uniontown. It had to be fresh every day. Our customers expected good food, and that was the only way to do it."

Mary Alfano recalled that while hamburgers and cheeseburgers were favorites among their customers, hamburger meat also was a popular topping on pizza.

"People liked the unique items on our menu," she said. "Joe created a lot of different sandwiches -- hoagies, submarines, pizzaburgers -- and everything was different from what you would find elsewhere. The fish sandwiches on Friday were very popular. It was prepared fresh in the morning and we had dozens of takeout orders as well as a rush during lunch."

Joey Alfano recalled watching his mother slice cheese for pizza and sandwiches and sandwich meats "fresh off big blocks."

"She made that slicer move," he said fondly. "She also would make fresh cole slaw by slicing heads of cabbage into shreds and then adding the other ingredients. There was a lot of effort and pride put into everything made in the restaurant and into the service to our customers. That's why it was so popular and successful."

His Aunt Evelyn also painted a lasting image.

"Homemade sausage was a popular topping for pizza and my aunt had a secret recipe," Alfano said. "(Sausage) was made into patties and then broken into pieces and sprinkled on the pizza. The patties also were used for sausage hoagies that were similar to pizzaburgers. Aunt Evelyn and my mother also prepared a homemade batter for the fried fish sandwiches."

Like his cousin Patsy, now an associate broker with Northwood Realty Services, Joey began working at the restaurant when "I got old enough."

"I started by helping to deliver orders to customers and cleaning dishes and tables," he said. "This was always my primary role even into my early 20s. As I got older, I also would help make pizzas, especially on days that were extremely hectic for lunch. It was non-stop at times, especially during Cal U's Homecoming or the (Christmas) holiday high school wrestling tournaments at the university."

For many years the front window of the restaurant carried this hand-written sign: Alfano Diner ... Munch und Speilen Haus.

"That definitely rings a bell with me," Patsy Alfano said. "The influence that World War II had on my Dad is evident in the lettering on the glass. That remained on the front window until the early '60s."

Alfano's Restaurant also once housed a pool hall in the back of the building that also had apartments on the second floor. Chief Morano ran the establishment, which also included some friendly card games, before he moved next door.

"A lot of guys learned how to play pool there," Pete Petroff said in a 1985 interview. "It was great. You could get something to eat out front and then go in the back and shoot some eight-ball."

When Morano moved his tables and cue sticks to the adjacent building that formerly housed the state liquor store, Joe and Fritz Alfano turned that part of their business into a dance hall. It featured dimmed lights and a large Wurlitzer jukebox with such popular songs as "Love Is Strange" by Mickey and Sylvia, "Only You" by The Platters, "Billy's Blues" by Billy Stewart and "You Belong to Me" by Jo Stafford. Jukebox outlets also were connected to the system on the main counter and in the booths in the dining room.

The dance area provided a more relaxed atmosphere than school gym dances; that is, boys weren't on one side of the floor and girls on the other side.

Members of the California Community High School Class of 1957 recalled at their recent 50-year reunion at Nemacolin Country Club that a "big night ... a special date" was going to The Hollywood Theater for the early show and then eating at Alfano's later.

"The kids enjoyed being there," Mary Alfano said. "The place was packed on Friday nights after the high school football games. There were never any problems. Kids came from all over the area, not just California, and they got along well. They respected Joe and Fritz and didn't cause trouble."

Respect is a word that also reflected on Rose Alfano.

"No one dared get out of line with our grandmother," Patsy Alfano said. "She was small in stature but commanded respect from everyone, customers and family alike. People have told me many times about how she made sure they ate everything on their plate. She walked around checking on everyone, just to be sure everything was OK."

In addition to Chief Morano's pool hall, other neighboring businesses over the years included Sismondo's Italian Store.

"What a great place that was," Mary Alfano said. "Mr. Sismondo would set up barrels filled with fresh olives and other delicacies outside the store. And the slabs of baccala (dried cod fish) would be strung between the poles in front of the building. There was such a great aroma permeating from inside and outside his store."

In addition to working at the restaurant, Patsy Alfano, a 1969 graduate of California Area High School who earned a business degree from Duquesne University in 1973, also had experience in the corporate food management profession before turning to real estate 11 years ago. He and his wife, Apryle, live in California.

Joey Alfano, meanwhile, graduated from CAHS in 1984 and from the University of Notre Dame with a bachelor of business administration in accountancy degree in 1988. He also earned a master's degree in business administration (concentration in finance) from the University of Connecticut in 1997. He and his wife, Kasia, both work for Aetna Inc. and are the parents of two children, Dominic Randal, 9, and Isabella Alexandra, 6, and reside in Farmington, Conn.

While Alfano's Restaurant served its last meal in 1990, part of the family tradition remains at the site.

Mary Alfano, who lives in California, works part time at Dairy Queen.

And no doubt perpetuates that special touch the Alfano family always brought to the table.