MANSFIELD — There are places in Mansfield that I’ve often heard talked about but will never see, places from the past that live on only in stories and conversation.
One of those places is – or was – Saprano’s Bar, a downtown beer and pizza joint that closed its doors 35 years ago.
The bar was sold off and longtime proprietor Joe Saprano died in 1987. With the development of the carrousel district the building itself is long gone, but for years Joe’s daughter Tina has kept one of the old bar booths stored in her basement.
Recently it was dusted down and installed in City News, the cigar store on Main Street operated by Tina’s cousin Suzy. This caught my attention and Suzy suggested that if I was interested I should meet with the “Saprano Girls” to hear the story.
So I got together with the five cousins – Tina, Suzy, Terry, Missy and Anne – for a chat about the old days.
Tina told me Saprano’s Bar had first opened in the forties, and had in fact been at three different downtown locations over the years.
“It started off further north, past 5th Street,” she explained. “Later on it was where Two Cousins pizza is now. And then finally up near where the carrousel is.
“In the early days it had a restaurant,” she continued. “More than just pizza and subs. That was until about the mid-60s.”
“Did they have the first pizza in town?” asked Suzy.
“Well, I think so,” said Terry, “that’s what people have told me.”
“Right,” said Missy, “because Leaning Tower came after that.”
“Dad would make the spaghetti sauce,” said Tina, “although grandma’s was better. He made his own sausage for years, and grandma made the bread.”
So it was your dad Joe who ran the bar?
“Yes,” said Tina, “along with Mel.”
Who was Mel?
“Joe’s brother. Missy’s dad.”
“Wait a minute,” I said, “I’m never going to get this straight. We need to stop here so I can work out a family tree.”
So there were five Saprano brothers. Joe (father of Tina) and Mel (father of Missy) who ran Saprano’s Bar. Sam (father of Suzy) and Ben (father of Terry) who ran City News. And Charley (father of Anne) who worked at the Post Office.
The five brothers were the sons of Charles and Theresa Saprano, who arrived separately in the U.S. from Sicily in the early years of the 20th century and met in Cincinnati.
“OK,” I said, “now we can move on.”
“Well, let me tell you,” said Terry, “Uncle Joe would’ve been one of the most unforgettable characters you’ve ever met.”
They showed me the caricature of Joe that adorns the bar booth.
“Even in the dead of winter he’d wear shorts. The brothers all called him Schnozz.”
“Steve, back then the whole town was booming,” said Anne. “Everything was close together, like how cities used to be, you know: butcher’s, fruit stands, hardware stores, everything right there, before the malls and the shopping centers. I wish you could’ve seen it.”
I asked Tina if she worked at Saprano’s herself.
“I worked there during the summer when I was in high school,” she told me, “at the restaurant. But I wasn’t allowed to touch the beer bottles.
“When I was old enough I’d hang out and drink there. It had become a gathering place for college kids, kids our age. But even then dad would make sure the drink I got was ridiculously weak. Very protective, our fathers were.”
Tina explained how Joe’s attitude to college kids changed rapidly as he altered his business to fit the times.
“Around 1969, I was a senior in college and I came back to town for a wedding. I brought my boyfriend home with me, long hair and everything, and dad wouldn’t even talk to him.
“Then I came home the following summer and these were his clientele! Long-haired potheads. I mean he was even selling rolling papers at the bar.”
Tina told me that eventually the bar had go-go dancers and went by the name “Jeepers A Go Go.”
“Weren’t the dancers even in cages at one point?” she said.
“Oh wow!” laughed Anne. “I’d forgotten some of this stuff!”
“Once,” said Tina, “dad announced the dancers would be topless. But it was a gag. The dancers that night were men.”
“Joe was getting older but he still had it,” said Suzy. “Once in his sixties he punched a guy out at the bar and he was so proud!”
“Dad wanted to retire,” said Tina, “and he sold the bar in ‘82. But then he went on to manage Sons of Italy.”
“One of the clubs for the ethnic families,” said Terry. “They used to be so popular but now the children don’t want to go there.”
“But then,” continued Tina, “around ‘84 or ‘85, Sons of Italy got raided for gambling. Joe was so mad, because a bunch of the clubs got raided but only Sons of Italy was mentioned by name in the paper. Also, he thought he’d already paid off the right people!”
Suzy laughed. “These guys were always on the edge of it. Getting arrested for the gambling, on probation at City News for selling Playboys to underage kids … I mean they were in their seventies and they were on curfew!”
“But you know,” said Tina, “they grew up tough. Started off as kids selling newspapers at 4th and Main.”
“I’ll give you a little family history,” said Terry.
“The name, by the way,” said TIna, “even though it pisses me off when people spell it ‘Soprano’ now – that was how it was spelled in Sicily. It got changed. It was an Ellis Island thing, you know.”
“So there were five Saprano brothers here,” said Terry. “And their father Charles – our grandfather – was one of five brothers in Sicily. But he was the only one who came to America.
“And Grandpa Saprano was disinherited by his parents for coming to America. His brothers all had reputable jobs and weren’t going to leave.
“When he left for America, his mother Rose came to the train station. His father wouldn’t even come to say goodbye. His mother gave him her wedding band and said – in their dialect – ‘I engage you, Charles, for life.’ Then that was it. He never saw them again.”
Saprano’s Bar may be gone, but next time you’re passing City News pop in to see the old bar booth. And if you have any memories of the bar yourself, please share them here!
