East Cleveland History

RONDINI’S RESTAURANT

My family’s favorite restaurant, when I was growing up in East Cleveland during the 1940s and 50s, was Rondini’s Italian Restaurant. Rondini’s was located on the South side of Euclid Avenue near Coit Road. It was a real treat to go there for a special family night out. I loved the spaghetti with meat balls and parmesan cheese and Italian bread with lots of butter. We couldn’t afford to eat out frequently so Dad often picked up spaghetti and meat balls to go. It was good at home but going to the restaurant was really special.

As I’ve written in previous postings, the shopping area on Euclid Avenue between Taylor Road and Coit Road was the center of our shopping life. We could easily walk there from our home on Shaw Avenue and Plymouth Place. I often went on errands to pick up things we needed there. After the war in 1945 we had a car and would drive up there when the whole family was going or we had a lot of things to buy.

During the 1940s and 50s some of the stores in the area included: grocery stores, drug stores, a barber shop, two bars, Berniers Radio and Record Store, Hann Heating, Hoffman Ice Cream Store, Jack’s Donuts, and Rondini’s Restaurant.

Rondini’s was a family business. At that time two Rondini brothers were in charge and one of them was always there to greet customers. Both of those Rondini brothers had sons, who were my classmates at Prospect School, Kirk, and Shaw. The son’s names were Ronald and Arthur Rondini. Ronald loved to sing and was a frequent cast member on the Gene Carroll amateur hour on local television. Unfortunately Ronald died young and wasn’t able to pursue his show business career.

Arthur was involved in the family business from a young age and went on to become an Executive Chef at area restaurants including the Blue Grass on Northfield Road and the Tangier Restaurant in Akron. He and his family now live in Canton, Ohio. In a recent series of interviews, I asked Arthur to tell me the history of Rondini’s Restaurant and his part in that history. What follows is based upon those interviews.

My friend, Arthur Rondini, was named after his Grandfather, Artuto Rondini, whose name was Americanized to Arthur. Artuto was a top chef in Italy, who immigrated to America early in the 20^th century. He first moved to Pennsylvania and later came to Cleveland where he had family including Chef Hector Boiardi. After years working for others, Artuto decided he wanted a place of his own. So he opened a small diner at 15500 Euclid Avenue in East Cleveland in 1935.

Because he didn’t speak good English, Artuto was having trouble developing his business. At that time Artuto’s sons joined the business. First to join was Arthur’s Father, Leo. Leo’s name in Italian was Primo, which means he was the first son. Leo quit his job as a bartender to help his Dad run the business. As the business grew and expanded, Leo was followed by his brothers Russell, also a chef, and John, a business man. These Rondini brothers helped their father expand the small diner into one of the top Italian restaurants in Cleveland. From 1940 to 1956 the little diner added space in stages until it had four dining rooms, a lounge bar and a state of the art kitchen, the largest in Cleveland.

Here is a picture of Artuto and his three sons in the new state of the art kitchen at Rondini's Restaurant. From left to right they are Leo, Russel, Artuto and John Rondini.

My friend, Arthur, joined the business in 1950, when he and I were both 10 years old. That was the beginning of Arthur’s career. While I was playing baseball, Arthur was working with his grandfather before and after school and, of course, all summer. Arthur told me the following about his early days in the restaurant. “Daily we would cook 50 gallons of Rondini's meat sauce, 20 gallons of marinara, 120 lbs. of spaghetti, 120 lbs. of meatballs, 40 lbs. of mushrooms, and 40 lbs. of Italian sausage. We also made homemade ravioli (meat & cheese).”

Arthur and I graduated from Shaw High School in 1958. At that time I didn’t have a clear idea of what I wanted to do in my life. Arthur, on the other hand, had begun his career eight years earlier in his family’s Restaurant. He went to John Carroll University, where he learned about the business side of running a restaurant.

Arthur helped out at Rondini’s, when he wasn’t away at college, until his father, Leo, died in 1962 at the age of 49. By that time Rondini’s had reached its peak of growth and success and Arthur’s Uncles continued to run it. In 1969 tragedy struck in the form of a fire. The restaurant was a total loss. At that time there was some discussion about how to continue. The Uncles had the option of using the insurance money to rebuild the restaurant in its former place or move to another location. It was decided to rebuild at Euclid and Coit. As happens in these cases, the building cost more to replace than the insurance settlement. In spite of that the Uncles were able to reopen in a new building. The restaurant survived for a while but by about 1980 the business had become unsuccessful and Rondini’s was no more. The building still stands as Tucker’s Casino, which recently celebrated 40 years in that location.

ARTHUR RONDINI EXECUTIVE CHEF

Arthur’s amazing career was just beginning as Rondini’s was in its decline. He knew exactly what he wanted to do and set out to accomplish it. His first job after leaving Rondini’s was at the Sommerset Hotel in Shaker Heights where he was an apprentice chef. His boss there was the manager, Billy Wineberg. Billy left the Sommerset when he was selected as the manager of the new Caesars’ Palace Casino in Las Vegas. Billy offered to take Arthur with him. After talking it over with his wife, Arthur decided to turn down that opportunity and stay in Cleveland.

Arthur had the idea that he would get the experience he needed working for Country Clubs. He explained to me that it was hard to break in to those organizations. The club managers hired a chef, who brought in his full team of employees. When a chef left he usually took all the staff with him. When Arthur approached the chef at the Shaker Heights Country Club, he was told that there were no positions available. Not to be deterred, Arthur proposed that he would work on Sundays free just to get the experience. On the third Sunday the chef came to Arthur with an envelope containing a check. “I thought I was doing this for free,” Arthur told the chef. The chef responded that he had been impressed by the fact that Arthur worked harder and got more done than most of his regular employees.

After working for several country clubs, Arthur decided he was ready to become a chef himself. He applied to the Blue Grass Hotel for their open position for an Executive Chef. The manager asked him how much experience he had. Arthur responded, “14 years”. “How could you have that much experience? You are only 24 years old”, the manager said. Arthur then explained about working at the family restaurant since he was ten. Well, he got the job and became an Executive Chef at the age of 24. He was at the Blue Grass for 8 years and the manager said that he hired him just to see if it was true that he had 14 years of experience.

Arthur’s next big restaurant experience was at the Tangier Restaurant in Akron. This was a big and successful venue featuring dining, catering, weddings, banquets, and entertainment. As Executive Chef, Arthur was responsible for all the food services. This seems like a lot of responsibility and it was. However, Arthur told me that in some ways it was easier than some of his country club jobs. At the Tangier he had six assistants, who were responsible for different aspects of the work. At other jobs he would directly manage over 30 people.

After leaving the Tangier, Arthur worked as Executive Chef for several country clubs in the Akron/Canton area and as a consultant to others. He is 80 years old now and ostensibly retired. However people still come to him for advice and help from time to time. He lives in the Canton area with his wife of 60 years, Carol. His long and successful career in the food service business is a tribute to his family and the family business, Rondini’s Italian Restaurant in East Cleveland, Ohio.

Epilogue

I wrote this essay in 2020. It was a great experience working with my friend Art Rondini and I learned a great deal about the restaurant, which was so important to me and others who grew up in East Cleveland back in the 1940s and 1950s. More importantly I was able to write about Art's life and great career as an Executive Chef.

Sadly I learned that Arthur Rondini has passed away since the above essay was written. That fact makes it all the more satisfying that I was able to capture this great and important life story. Many of you have responded to this essay and your comments also are a testimony to Art and his family. RIP.

YOU CAN’T GO HOME AGAIN

My home from 1940 until 1953 was located at the corner of Shaw Avenue and Plymouth Place in East Cleveland, Ohio. Those were the first years of my life. That house was a very important part of that life. Some of my earliest memories took place there. I can remember sitting with my Mom listening to Bing Crosby on the radio while Dad was working the night shift. I also remember standing in the front yard and asking my dad why all the people were blowing their car horns and seemed so happy. He told me it was because the war was over. It was VJ day. Most of all I remember the people, my friends and neighbors. They were all important to me.

My home was a three family house located at 1719 and 1721 Shaw Avenue. It was a three family because my dad, my grandfather, my uncles and other family members converted the third floor to a full rental suite when he bought the house in 1940. They added a dormer, which included a full kitchen, bathroom, and extra bedroom making it a full two bedroom apartment. Dad did this because it was the only way he could afford to buy a house for his family. It was still the great depression in 1940. Dad was a young father with a family to support. He was working the night shift at National Acme Co. He didn’t have a car so he walked to work. The idea was that we would live on the third floor and rent out the suites on the first and second floors. The City of East Cleveland required that Dad obtain a rooming house permit for the third floor suite. The permit required that the suite meet city requirements and be renewed periodically. As far as I know we were the only legal three suite house in the neighborhood.

The house was built at the end of World War I making it about 20 years old in 1940. We lived on the third floor until my sister was born in 1944. We then moved to the first floor and rented out the third floor. The new tenants were a widow lady named Mrs. Hastings and her daughter, Grace. Mrs. Hastings worked in the home decorating department of the Higbee department store on Public Square. Mrs. Hastings died sometime after we moved; but Grace stayed until she moved in 1962. Over the years we had a couple of different tenants in the second floor apartment. Russell Neff and his wife were there when we moved. Russell was a World War II veteran, who served in the South Pacific.

The first floor apartment had two bedrooms and by 1953 became too small for our family. Dad found a nice three bedroom house on Nela View Road in Cleveland Heights. He chose that house because it was in the East Cleveland School District. Moving day was very traumatic for me. I remember standing in each room of the empty apartment and remembering all the things I had experienced there. That included things like the penciled messages I put on the plaster walls before Dad put up the wallpaper. It also included the basement where I had my model train set and in which we had many parties with my neighborhood friends.

Dad kept the house as a rental property for several years after we moved to Nela View. When Jean and I got married in 1962, Dad rented the third floor apartment to us. We only stayed for several months, because I got my first post college job in Chicago in June of 1963. That brief stay at 1721 Shaw Avenue was an example of going home again. After we left, Dad sold the house. It was becoming a burden to hold a full time job and maintain his rental.

Without Dad to maintain it, the house fell into decline. At one time, I did some research on the ownership of the house. It had transferred owners frequently, often with banks holding title and taxes being delinquent. The tax value of the property continued to drop as time went by. It has been vacant and vandalized for many years. Finally it happened. I was taking a friend on a tour of East Cleveland last spring. We went to see his old house on Brunswick near the old observatory. I then took him down Taylor Road on the way to see my old house. As we turned onto Shaw from Euclid Avenue and drove toward Plymouth, I started to say there is my house. The shock was that the house was not there. East Cleveland had recently received some funding to tear down vacant and vandalized buildings. All around town you can see vacant lots with 4X4 posts around them. One of those is now at 1721 Shaw Avenue.

Over the years I have gone back to that house in my memories and in my dreams. A few days ago I had a dream in which my mother and I were inside the Shaw Avenue house. I don’t remember any details about the dream except the end. At some point I said to my mother, “We can’t be here. We have to get out”. At that point I ran out the front door. When I turned around, the house was not there. It was a vacant lot with 4X4 posts around it. Tom Wolfe was right. You Can’t Go Home Again.

Here are some pictures of my house over the years

I tried to find pictures with a full view of the house with no luck. I guess we never took pictures of the house, only pictures of people around the house mostly in the front yard. I was able to find a picture on Google maps taken in 2014 after it had been vacant and vandalized.