Many of you will recall The Villa, the famous restaurant in Tyrone, owned by the Panasiti family. We’ll follow the history of this family that came to live in Tyrone in 1920. Our guides will be Jennie Panasiti Wolfe and Mary & Joe Panasiti.
Domenic Panasiti came to the United States around 1902 from the city of Tripi, located on the Island of Sicily, Italy. He settled in Johnstown and after a few years returned to Italy to marry Santa Patti. They returned to Johnstown and over the next ten years were blessed with six children. James (Jimmy) was born in 1908, Anthony (Toni) in 1910, Vincenzia (Jennie) in 1912, Margaret (Mickie) in 1913, Carmenlinne in 1915 and who died at sixteen months of age, and Joseph (Joe) in 1917.
Domenic worked in area coal mines, then for the B&O railroad, and later for a dairy in Johnstown. In the evenings he ran a shoemaker shop. While working for the dairy, he had an attack of appendicitis. After his surgery he was not allowed to lift the heavy crates of milk and had to look for another job.
Domenic wanted to open a grocery store; however, there was an organization in Johnstown called the “Black Hand” that one had to pay for protection to keep a business running, and he wouldn’t do this.
A cousin who lived in Tyrone, Joe Zang, wrote to Domenic stating he was going to return to Italy and wanted to sell his grocery store. Domenic made arrangements to come to Tyrone to look over the town and the business. He decided to purchase the store, so in 1920 the Panasiti family moved and became residents of Tyrone.
Santa wasn’t pleased to be moving from her home and friends in Johnstown to this small, smelly town. For a short while they lived in the Zang home, on 10th St. Then they bought a double house on the same street that had been owned by the Stover family.
Domenic and Santa both worked in the grocery store, which was located across the street from their home — next to the Sausser home on 10th St., behind the now Jones Building where Givler’s gas station was located. Located on 10th St. between Pennsylvania Ave. and Blair Ave. was a Chinese Laundry, the William Huff Restaurant (owned by Rev. Norman Huff’s father), the Jean Sausser home, the small Panasiti store, and the Aladdin Theater.
Domenic wanted to expand his business to carry more goods, so in 1921 he purchased the Koon’s Candy Factory building, located across 10th St. between the Hoover & Stanley Meat Market and the Garman building. The new store carried fancy fruits, vegetables, pastas, and a complete line of Italian meats. There was a large, glass case containing many varieties of macaroni and pastas that were supplied by the Cumberland Macaroni Company.
The Panasiti family lived, worked, and played in the area of 10th St. The children attended Washington, Logan, and St. Matthew’s schools, and all were graduated from Tyrone High School.
Sunday afternoons were the favorite time of the week during the early years of the Panasiti family. The store was closed, and Domenic would take the children on trips in his Model T truck. Santa would pack a picnic basket of food, and off the group would go. The trips often were to Pittsburgh to the museum or the zoo. They also would travel to Gettysburg to the battlefields or out to Bedford Springs.
Jennie remembers playing games and roller-skating on their home block along 10th St. with her good friend, the late Betty Finnegan (Simpson). She recalled sledding down Jefferson Ave. and 12th St., and she smiled when she remembered the poor trees in front of the Rectory at St. Matthew’s that took such a beating when you could not make the turn there.
Other activities, like swimming at the Athletic Park, the Paper Mill dam, and the quarries were permitted only for the boys in the family. Jennie remembers that when a young girl reached the age of thirteen in those days, she became a young woman and was no longer permitted to play with the boys.
The Panasiti home always was filled with music. Jennie remembers her father playing the accordion, with Joe Zang on the mandolin, and Toni Zang strumming the guitar. The family came alive with music. There were many parties and picnics with family and friends.
The entire Panasiti family worked in the store as they became old enough to do chores. Jennie and Mickie were learning the fine art of cooking from Santa. Jimmy and Toni helped their father with ordering, stocking, and deliveries.
During their high-school years the Panasiti boys played sports and participated in music programs. Domenic believed a son needed to have many talents to help him through life; a musician always could make a living. Jimmy played the clarinet and saxophone, and Toni and Joe played the trumpet.
Jimmy, while playing in a band in Philipsburg, met a young girl named Esther Conway, from Grassflat. They soon fell in love and were married in 1932. This union produced three sons Jack, Douglas, and Scott.
When President Roosevelt legalized beer in 1932, Domenic put some tables in the back of the store where he began to sell beer by the glass to his customers. They also could order sandwiches and soup. He later started a beer distributorship and sold beer by the case to local restaurants and hotels.
On July 13, 1935 Domenic passed away, and Toni came home to help his family run the business. It was at this time that Toni decided to add a restaurant to the store because the large A&P and Acme stores had moved into town.
On March 7, 1936 the restaurant was opened in the back of the grocery store. The kitchen was in the rear of the building near the tables. Jennie left her job at the Reliance Clothing Factory, in Tyrone, to become the cook and help her ailing mother with the store.
Santa had been making and selling her “special recipe” for spaghetti sauce in the store. The sauce was in such demand the Panasitis decided to sell pasta of all kinds topped with this special sauce for their main dishes. Customers would come in and choose the pasta they liked in the front of the store. The pasta was then prepared in the kitchen and served with the special sauce.
On March 17, 1936 the flood hit Tyrone and the restaurant and store were ruined. The hard work put into the restaurant from January to March had been washed away. Down, but not out, the Panasiti family voted to try the restaurant business again but without the store. A new and even better restaurant was planned. They gutted the first floor of the building, making a dining room with the kitchen in the back. Jimmy and Toni thought that the restaurant should look like a villa; therefore, a unique, Spanish-style front was designed, reminiscent of a place in the country. They reopened their doors on April 20, 1936 and thus began The Villa Restaurant.
In 1939 the Panasiti family bought the Hoover & Stanley building next door. The kitchen and dining room were enlarged. In 1948 the adjoining building that housed the Salvation Army was acquired. The new addition made it possible to have three separate dining rooms. Each dining room was decorated with its own theme. The formal dining room was for the customers who chose a more elegant dining experience. The bar & grill room was for the casual or working-attired customers. The standard dining room was for any style of dining, especially for family groups.
The Villa’s menu consisted of live, Maine lobster, which you could select from the tank; top-quality steaks; seafood of all varieties; chicken, beef, and pork prepared many ways; an outstanding selection of Italian dishes; and soups, salads, and desserts. The bar was well-stocked. The Villa at this time hired a full-time chef.
When World War II started, Tyrone became filled with travelers, many of them soldiers. The Villa had people standing in line around the corner to get a meal. Both the Pennsylvania House and the Arlington Hotel were very busy, and the Waring Canteen on Pennsylvania Ave. seemed to have a revolving door.
Toni had met a young telephone operator, Bernadette “Bun” Donnelly, who often lunched at The Villa. When Toni was drafted into the Army in early 1940, just before he was shipped to the South Pacific in 1941, they were married. Later, they were blessed with seven children.
Jennie had been dating a young man named John Condo, who worked with Alex Steele doing display work for businesses in the Tyrone area. Jennie and John married on December 4, 1940.
Mickie married a local young man, Frank Ferrari, in 1942. Frank worked at his Uncle Joseph Racasi’s beverage business. When Joseph passed away, Frank and Mickie purchased the business. The business is still located in the same place on 14th St. and is known today as Logan Beverage. Frank and Mickie were blessed with two beautiful girls, Judy and Mary Frances.
Joe married Mary Szczerba, of Huntingdon. They met at a dance at the Huntingdon VFW club in 1945. They married on June 18, 1949 — with three priests performing the marriage ceremony. Joe continued to work at The Villa restaurant most of his life.
In 1955 Santa passed away, leaving the children to continue carrying on the Panasiti family traditions.
The Villa was an acclaimed restaurant in Blair County for forty-three years — from its beginning in 1936 until the aging family members sold it in 1979 to Rodney Johnson. Jennie attributed the success to their loyal employees, some of whom worked at The Villa for more than thirty years. The Villa survived only a few years out of the capable hands of the Panasiti family. It was closed, then later leveled, and the area became a parking lot.
One claim to fame of The Villa was it being highlighted in the March 1953 issue of Good Housekeeping magazine. Dorothy Kilgallen, known as the “Voice of Broadway,” included The Villa in one of the spots in her “Big Night in Altoona” story. In the article she says, “The Villa Restaurant is in Tyrone, Pa., but is the place most people in Altoona consider Altoona’s top restaurant. Its menu is as elaborate as the menu at Lindy’s in New York, and the very best people in Altoona frequently have to wait for tables.”
Several people performed in The Villa’s formal dining room including Jim Temfonte, Henry Day and June & Jack Dahl. Many celebrities stopped to dine in Tyrone at The Villa as they traveled through Pennsylvania. Jennie remembers that Harry James, Gene Krupa, Sam Jase, Dorothy Kilgallen, Lee J. Cobb, and Bette Davis (whose daughter attended Grier School) were regular customers over the years.
On September 16, 1996 at The Casino at Lakemont, The Villa Restaurant was inducted into the Blair County Business Hall of Fame — for the Panasiti Family’s “significant and lasting, positive impact upon the commerce of Blair County and upon its residents.”
Share your memories