Who remembers Café Giovanni? An industry pro recounts its harrowing opening day.
My business partner, Giovanni Leone, his wife and I were opening a fancy new restaurant at 15th and Market Street in lower downtown. Not evencolumnist Dick Kreck had heard the term LoDo at that point, and it was years before that Johnny-come-lately Hickenlooper rolled the first keg out of the Wynkoop. On the day we started demolition, I glanced up through the dust and debris to watch a woman pull down her filthy pants, squat and take a dump in the entryway.
Doug the bartender, Steve the pastry chef, Tim and Virginia in the kitchen, our cleaning guy, Keith, my business partner’s wife, Jan, and a few others worked enthusiastically the morning of opening day, getting ready for our first night with paying guests. John Imbergamo , Vilis and Marilee Berzins, Giovanni and Janette Leone at the Downtown Denver Inc. awards in March 1981, where Café Giovanni won the highest award.They herded us all into the kitchen, rounded up our wallets, purses and jewelry, threw the empties on our spiffy new floor and ripped the phone off the wall. They liberated the gold chain with an Italian horn from around my neck and my college ring. They angrily repeated the demand for money.
I joined the others in the walk-in after that exchange, and the robbers told us not to come out until they loaded all the liquor in our storeroom into their getaway vehicle and escaped.
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