Little Joe’s
Little Joe’s was a very famous Italian restaurant in Los Angeles. And it was located just where you’d expect to find a very famous Italian restaurant: In the middle of Chinatown.
The institution started life in 1897 as the Italian-American Grocery Company at the corner of 5th and Hewitt Streets. One account says its founder-owner was Italian-born Charley Viotto. Another credits a man named John Nuccio, also an Italian immigrant. Around the turn of the century, the city’s Italian immigrant community relocated to the North Broadway area and the market followed in 1907, settling into the ground floor of a three-story hotel at Broadway and College. Eventually, the market turned into a restaurant and the hotel was torn down and replaced by a building that was just a restaurant — and a very nice one.
Along the way, the name was changed. After World War I, a number of Italian-American businesses changed their names to de-emphasize Italian heritage and some theorize that this prompted the restaurant to become Little Joe’s. In 1922, John Nuccio (who if he didn’t found the establishment seems to have acquired it by then) retired and sold out to his best friend, John Gadeschi. Nuccio’s son went to work there after serving in World War II and when he married Gadeschi’s daughter, control of Little Joe’s returned to the Nuccio family and remained there ever after.
In the forties, Little Joe’s became a favorite hangout of Hollywood stars. It is said that when W.C. Fields was staying at a nearby hospital to deal with alcohol abuse, he sometimes slipped out and hustled over to the bar at Little Joe’s for cocktails. When the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in the fifties, Little Joe’s became a big hangout for fans of the team. Located not all that far from the stadium, it was a place to go before a game or — better still — after, when players were known to stop in. If the game was being televised, some people would decide to not hassle the parking and just watch it at the bar in Little Joe’s.
Over those decades, the neighborhood morphed into Chinatown. Little Joe’s was eventually the last major business for blocks around that wasn’t Asian in ownership and/or commerce. Business declined. It may have been the city’s oldest Italian restaurant but it was not its most convenient. As the building came to need major renovation, the Nuccio family decided it didn’t warrant the investment and Little Joe’s finally closed down in December of 1998. It was announced that the structure would be razed and an apartment and retail complex called the Chinatown Blossom Plaza would be built in its place at a cost of $162 million. But those plans fell through and the last time I was down there, the old Little Joe’s building was still standing, signage intact, fenced-off and looking pretty sad. Reportedly, a new shopping plaza is finally being erected there now.
Click above to see a Little Joe's menu (PDF)
I was only there once. For years, my family and I had heard of Little Joe’s. It was a very famous place to slurp pasta and everyone in my family was eager to try it. Everyone but me, that is. At the time, my favorite Italian restaurant was Zito’s which was much closer and where we never had a meal we didn’t love. So why travel all the way downtown to try a place which, at best, might be just as good? Good question. And the answer was that my Aunt Dot was on a “try new things” kick, lecturing us that there was something wrong with a person who stuck with the same old, same old. In 1969, on the day I graduated from high school, it was decided we’d follow the ceremony with a big family outing to some restaurant. Somehow, though it was my Graduation Day, I didn’t have a vote in the matter. We were going to Little Joe’s.
It was a long drive and a long wait for a table, and then the food failed to thrill us. When that happens in a place like that, you wonder if something’s wrong with you. After all, thousands and thousands of people have raved about the cuisine. It can’t be as bad as you think it is, can it? How could they be open all those years and have such a great reputation with mediocre cuisine? But they lasted a long time without, obviously, my business. Guess we just caught it on an off-night.
12 Responses to Little Joe’s
Leave a Reply
Little Joe’s was an important part of an almost forgotten era. It’s sad that this famous restaurant is no more, but time marches on. I knew a lot of people who were regulars there. It came across like an Italian restaurant, but its spaghetti wasn’t anything spectacular. It was more of a popular hang-out, especially during the 1950s & 60s. I appreciate the pictures of the building & menu. I’m using features of LJ’s in the novel I’m writing. The menu was very helpful.
My fondest memory of Little Joe’s was back in the eighties, Mike Sciosa came into dine. Tommy Lasorda showed up and had a loud discussion about Mike waisteline. Needless to say it was off to the ballpark without pre-game dinner.
On a recent trip to my mom’s house I found a little box of “In Memoriam” cards from my grandfather’s funeral (1909 – 1975) and in that box was a book of matches with “Little Joe’s Italian Restaurant” on the front… The address on the cover reads “900 No. Broadway, Los Angeles, Calif.”. My grandfather worked in the advertising business in LA… Don’t know whether he would’ve been entertaining clients or drinking away his blues at Little Joe’s. Either way – wish I could check it out… After all there’s a little bit of family history there. Too bad it’s gone (or is on it’s way to demolition). Thanks for the history on it!
My grandfather took ‘business’ lunches there @ least once or more times a week for years and years. They knew him by his first name and when he arrived they sure he was seated immediately and since he tipped very well, he was treated well. We often ate there after Dodger, Ram, and any other game or play or event downtown. We never had a bad meal there or got tired of it! 55 years later I rate all Italian food by” the Little Joe’s standard”.
My grandfather was close friends with John Nuccio. Every important family event resulted in supper at Little Joe’s. When my employment assigned me to a Civic Center office, I had lunch every Wednesday at Little Joe’s – the sausage and peppers lunch special. I was fortunate to be a part of their closing “Last Supper” and came away with a few momentos. I really miss that place.
It is sad that all the great restaurants such as “Little Joes” and the “Brown Derby” have disappeared. I know Jay Nuccio, his wife, two sons and daughter. Terrific people! He has a restaurant in Palm Springs and also the owner of the Crazy Horse in Orange County.
I used to sell newspapers at Broadway and College streets in the early 60′s. I used to keep my papers in one of the loading docks of the restaurant. My brother would by fans in Chinatown and sell them to couples in the restaurant. We miss Little Joe’s.
My dad owned Treasure Tones Paints in East L.A., and many times, when he took me to work with him–he would stop by “Little Joes” That was in the late 30′s and early 40′s. I remember walking through a Italian delicatesson, to get to the restaurant. My dad was always facinated by the huge wheel of cheese. It was about a foot thick and about 3 feet in diameter. That wheel of cheese was cut in half, and one side had a price of–let’s say: $1.00 a slice and the other side of the same cheese was priced at a $1.50 a slice–THE SAME CHEESE, AND MY DAD TOLD ME THAT THEY SOLD MORE AT THE $1.50 PRICE–SAME CHEESE!
Went to Little Joe’s twice & found it disappointing both times. However, both times were near the end of their tenure.
A place I did like, near Little Joe’s (& other places around town) was The Velvet Turtle. C’mon Mark, time for an entry on that chain.
In the early 1960′s, I was in a group of management trainees with Union Bank in Downtown Los Angeles. We were learning to be loan officers.
Part of our training was to collect delinquent auto loans. The rationale was that if we saw enough bad loans, we would recognize them before they were made.
As loans approached 90 days in arrears, we were required to recover the collateral. Little Joe’s is where we met for dinner every Thursday evening before spreading out across Los Angeles to repossess automobiles.
It was a valuable experience, as I went on to a successful 45-year career in commercial banking, including chartering and serving as founding president of two banks.
My parents would spend their wedding anniversaries there for many decades. They always got the clams and bring the shells home to me as a sourvenier. I never experienced it before it closed. Now it’s interiors are sometimes used for movie set locations.
My parents married in 1939, and they went to Little Joe’s on dates. My dad worked for Westinghouse on 2nd Street and my mother worked at Union Hardware on Alameda. They continued to frequent Little Joe’s for decades. I remember going there before going to see the Ice Capades and Dodgers as a child. Relatives from Minnesota loved going to Little Joe’s when they were here on visits. I always ordered Half and Half, half spaghetti and half ravioli. Loved the sawdust on the floor. The bread was wonderful too.