Only a few steps south of the cologne-and Dior-adoring army of wealthy patio-hoppers on College, two regular joes get out of their pickup and walk into San Francesco’s on the east side of Clinton south of Henderson.
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They head for the back of the little shop, where for more than 40 years the store has been steadily filling bellies with amazing veal sandwiches.
“We have a flow of regulars who want something authentic,” says Andy, whose family has been running the place since the 80s. “The family just wants to keep it this way,” he assures me. That also means the huge religious posters are staying on the walls.
The neighbourhood’s seen an exodus of young Italians to a Woodbridge promised land of double garages.
But across the street, Bitondo’s hasn’t left Little Italy circa 1967 behind either, keeping old signs and a hand-painted pizza guy – you know, with the baker’s hat and mostaccio.
“People come here and say, ‘Keep it the same,’ so we do,” says Leo, who’s flipping pizzas while chatting with me.
The comfy, unpretentious and very orange inside remains, along with an old Coke fridge and tabletop Pac-Man.
For the starving student with $3 to their name, nothing beats a $2.75 pepperoni slice, with a quarter left over to best the Pac-Man high score.
Cops certainly know where it’s at. Wait long enough and an emergency vehicle is bound to pull up for a pit stop.
The Monarch Tavern, on the west side, used to be a war veterans’ hotel. Andy shows me a photo of the neighbourhood crowding the intersection on VE Day.
“In the 70s, a Mob bomb went off in there, and at one point they had girls dancing upstairs,” Andy says. The upper floor, where you’d often find police officers unwinding, was one of those dim watering holes where, thanks to old liquor laws, women weren’t allowed.
It’s cleaned up since, becoming the home of smoked meat den Caplansky’s. If you want to find it, look for lost 905ers.
pault@nowtoronto.com
