Excerpts from my book "Farmers and Nobles"
Shortly before the NY World’s Fair opened in 1964, my Uncle Frank and Aunt Dolly opened Frank’s Luncheonette on 108th Street in Corona, Queens. At the time I was thirteen and very excited, as they hired me to work there on weekends and summers while the World’s Fair was open. The Fair (as we called it) was only a few blocks away and we would often have tourists and bus drivers come in to eat. In fact, after the fair closed, bus drivers would drive 50 to 60 miles out of their way to dine at Frank’s Luncheonette and kibitz with Aunt Dolly. Uncle Frank drove trucks when he was young, and later worked as a baker at Leonard’s Up the Station, and ran a fish store in the Bronx for several years.
Frank’s was a small place with only eight or ten stools and no tables. But we did good business and a lot of take-out. At the front there was a candy and cigarette counter and a place to hold the Daily Papers. Then the lunch counter and soda fountain with a back room with the stove and griddle. We also had the soda cooler that kept the bottles in cold water.
My duties included stocking the candy and cigarettes, putting together the Sunday papers, making fountain sodas and malts (yeah real malts), egg creams (yum), and ice cream sundaes. As time went on, I would make the rice and chocolate pudding. I would also deliver orders to some of the local businesses. However, the very best thing about working at Frank’s Luncheonette was the perks. Aunt Dolly was a great cook, as was Uncle Frank. So I had my pick of menu items. My favorite was the eggplant parmigiana or the meatball hero. Uncle Frank would make onions on the grill with a load of butter and paprika that would smother your cheeseburger- always a great choice. On cold days, a nice bowl of chicken soup. Breakfast was a Pechter’s corn muffin, buttered and grilled, or one of their cheese danishes. And of course, anything from the fountain, whenever I liked!
Believe me, we had some great characters. My aunt and uncle rented the place from “Butch”, who also happened to be my Aunt Ann’s cousin. Butch was a taxi driver, and his home was behind Frank’s Luncheonette, with an alley, where Butch would park his car. About once a week, we would hear a loud scraping sound as Butch would get a little too close to the wall of the store.
“Rocky the Barber” (Pal Rocky) would come in for a chat and his Gini Stinkers (di Nobili cigars), quite aptly named.
My cousin’s husband, Al, would deliver the bread from Leonard’s bakery every day and order a cup of coffee (10 cents) and leave me a 90-cent tip!
Cousin Lou Mina (Mina’s Fuel Oil) would come in and say to me, “I’ll have a soda…. JERK,” and laugh. I later worked for Lou and boy, do I have some stories about that job.
My dad, who worked for the NY Daily News at the time, would come in sometimes and if he ordered a tea, it had to be filled right to the very top of the cup.
After my tenure, my cousin Cathy (Frank and Dolly’s daughter) worked there, and my sister Lori too. Eventually Frank’s son Lou took over for a while.
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