In 1956, after hitchhiking from Hollywood, California to Miami Beach, Florida (see
part 3 or 4 in this series) upon being thrown out of the Marine Corps
now that the Korean War was over and we (gays) weren't needed anymore I
got my first job in an Italian restaurant making pizza. It was a big
show in a store front window and I learned how to toss it all sorts of
ways so that eventually a crowd would gather and some might come in for a
pizza. I quickly discovered that waiters made more money than pizza
makers and started to look for another job.

I
have spoken a lot about Picciolo's Restaurant at 101 Collins Avenue
near the beach as it was one of, if not THE, best restaurant jobs I ever
had. From the beginning Sam and Dorothy Piccolo welcomed me and made me
feel at home just as their sons Don and Vinnie did. The two waitresses,
who worked with about 10 waiters, took me under their wing and it
wasn't long before I knew everything there was to know about Italian
food from how to cook it to how to serve.

Since
that time I had worked in all kinds of restaurants from 5 star like the
4 Seasons in New York to the Bageland Deli in Fort Lauderdale but
Italian restaurants were always my favorites. On October 15, 1999,
hurricane Irene hit and things were a bit of a mess for a few days like
the phone being out.  Gino stopped by a few days later and we went to
buy tickets for  "Chicago" which was touring and would stop at the
Broward Performing Arts Center. After that we went to Big Louie's for
dinner and I spoke to Sheila, the manager, about a job and she told me
to come back the next day. As these things happen when I got home there
was a message that the manager from Border's called and wanted me to
come in to fill out the paperwork to start there the following week.
Instead I went to Big Louie's where Sheila introduced me to Sergio who
was the head manager and had originated the menu the restaurant had been
using for awhile. I believe at that time Big Louie's had been in business
about 12 years.

I
won't get into the 'mob' bit as EVERY Italian restaurant in the United
States is rumored to be owned by the 'mob'--sorry that isn't true but
even if it was Sergio and Sheila certainly were/are not part of the mob and, as far
as I could tell, though I seldom saw them neither were the owners! On
Friday October 29 I started at Big Louie's and the next day I was given
station 1 and I felt as if I had been working there forever. I started
off working 5 days a week which didn't thrill me but I needed the money
as I had been out of work for 8 months. Tips were good, the kitchen
wasn't a problem, the 3 rooms that made up the restaurant were compact
and close to the kitchen.

Everything
was going great as I was back to going out to the theatre like seeing 
productions of "Torch Song Trilogy", "Chicago" and, of course, seeing
movies and eating out. I was having trouble with my teeth and my car
plus I got new glasses. It was if the world heard I was making money
again and they were lined up to take it all.  Also lined up was Gateway
as I was to find out the more money I made the more money  they got
which would lead to problems later on but then I didn't care. I knew Big
Louie's would be the last job I would have and I wanted it to last
until 2001 when I hit 65 and could/would retire for good. Little did I
know there was bad health news along the road.
Sadly
1999 ended on a real downer as David, Ronnie's cousin, called on
December 8 to tell me that Ronnie had died. I thought of all our great
times working at the Brass Rail in NYC, going to all the theatre
previews on Broadway, the bars all over town and the 35-40 years we had
been friends. All we did came back  as Ronnie's home was in Watertown.