Landmark restaurant in downtown KC closes down after 78 years

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Italian Gardens, a downtown Kansas City restaurant that had been a favorite of local power brokers and visiting celebrities, has closed after 78 years.

A note taped to the door Monday said the restaurant, was "out of business." The management thanked its customers, but listed no reason for the closing.

"It's tough, it's tough; but you make decisions in life and you live with them," John Bondon, president of the restaurant, said Monday night.

Bondon declined to comment at length because as a member of the Jackson County Sports Complex Authority he was focusing most of his attention on the shooting of John Friedman, the authority's executive director. Friedman, shot Sunday at a car wash, was hospitalized in critical condition.

Years of splendor

Italian Gardens was founded in 1925 at 13th and Walnut Streets, and in 1933 moved to its current location near 11th Street and Baltimore Avenue, with the help of a $1,500 loan from one of its waitresses. Its name temporarily changed to The Gardens during World War II because of anti-Italian prejudice.

Years ago, when downtown Kansas City nightlife was more lively, the restaurant served customers including singer Frank Sinatra, actress Katharine Hepburn and baseball star Joe DiMaggio. Actor Anthony Quinn had a birthday party there, and the singer Frankie Avalon once found sanctuary in the restaurant when hundreds of fans were chasing him down the street.

Carl DiCapo spent 46 years at the restaurant, moving from cashier to chairman of the board. When he retired six years ago he shut the door on that part of his life and has rarely returned.

"It's a sad day for me, but life goes on," DiCapo said.

He said he was proud of the Gardens' legacy.

"It was the oldest restaurant run by the same family in the state of Missouri," DiCapo said. "We were hands-on, there from the time that people came in the door. And we offered them the best food possible for a good price. But so many restaurants have closed downtown. You can't live by lunch alone."

Jerry Gaines, permanent director of the Missouri Restaurant Association, said Italian Gardens survived for so long because the restaurant owners also owned the building it operated in, so they weren't forced out by a landlord when business slowed down.

In the 1960s and 1970s, politicians, business people and blue-collar workers gathered at a large "community table" to talk over the issues of the day, Gaines said.

"They'd smoke a cigarette in the days when you could smoke in a restaurant, and they'd have wine on occasion or sometimes for no occasion," he said.

"It's going to be sorely missed," Gaines said. "There are too many places to eat, too many chains, and people don't go back downtown to eat. You're going to see more independents bite the dust."