End Of An Era For Smithfield Cafe

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Pittsburgh's oldest restaurant at a single location has closed its doors for good.

Eighty years of coffee and sandwiches at the Smithfield Cafe came to an end on May 25. Soaring rentals and fast food competition steered the cafe into bankruptcy.

At a church festival down the block, long-time customers lined up for halushki and hot sausage, one last time. They received one last hug from café owner John Petrolius.

Former employees worked that final lunch hour without pay, in honor of their owner.

Colleen Kelly, manager for 32 years, contributed the food.

"Once you worked for John," she says, "you didn't quit. You stayed there. And that's what all these girls and cooks and I used to call it my life sentence and now it's over."

John Petrolius practically grew up in the café started by his Greek immigrant father.

"My first day of work I was eight years old and my father looked at me and he said, 'My boy, every time I look at you, I want to see one foot in the air. You'd better be walking or running. There's no sitting here.'

"And I've been running for the last 70 years here," he said.

Another sign of the times: George Aiken's cafeteria-style restaurant, just off Market Square, has served its last rotisserie chicken, its last scoop of mashed potatoes.

Soon the building housing that 43-year tradition will be demolished to make way for an 18-story office and hotel complex. It's the last of 10 George Aiken restaurants.

Back on Smithfield, John Petrolius says goodbye. "We kept renewing old memories. It was just so great. It kind of takes the hurt out."

RELATED LINKS
More Local News
More Reports By Dave Crawley