In a past episode, the story of Flynn's Drug Store at the northeast corner of Maple and Sargeant Streets was explored. It's now time to move to this intersection's southeast corner, where some of the history of the Tonelli business will be told.
In 1918, shortly after returning from World War I service, Louis A. Tonelli worked for Louis Lucchesi and Peter Luvisi at their confectionery store at the corner of Maple and Sargeant. Mr. Tonelli became a partner with Mr. Lucchesi in 1924 and subsequently purchased the store outright in about 1937. At the time, the Tonellis lived nearby at 149 Sargeant Street, later moving to 246 South Street.
Louis Tonelli died in 1940, and his widow, Gina Tonelli, daughter Lola, and their high school-age son, also named Louis A., ran Tonelli's Luncheonette.
Louis Jr. graduated from Sacred Heart High School in 1941 as Valedictorian of his class. He entered the military in 1943, leaving the restaurant behind with his mother and sister during World War II.
In 1946, Louis Jr. returned from active duty and, together with his brother-in-law, John Kennedy, conducted a successful and innovative restaurant operation. The restaurant was a popular lunch spot for the students at Sacred Heart High School in much the same way as the P.O. Spa and the Phoenix Luncheonette, both on Dwight Street, were popular with the St. Jerome and later Holyoke Catholic High School students. The Pine Street Holyoke High School students frequented Emily and Jenny's Lucheonette, owned by the Berena family, on Sargeant Street.
The Tonelli and Kennedy partnership resulted in the restaurant being updated to enhance the dining experience in 1946. The company advertised when it had not previously done so. They promoted their Italian dishes and several lines of candies and chocolates. They made available for carry-out hand-packed, super-premium, 14% (cream) ice cream.
In 1953, they promoted carry-out spaghetti with or without meat sauce. A separate corporation was formed to prepare, pack, and freeze their spaghetti sauce in quart containers for distribution to the many small AG markets in Holyoke and the surrounding area. The sauce was advertised to be enough to feed a family of six.
Innovative thinking continued in 1954, when the restaurant installed a pizza oven. They advertised that a pizza order would be ready for pick-up in 30 minutes. I do recall that their hot pizzas would be placed on cardboard and slid into a flat paper bag. Many toothpicks would be placed atop the pizza to avoid making contact with the bag.
In 1956, they opened a second location for catering and to operate as a luncheonette. This was located at 1745-1747 Northampton Street.
The restaurant supported many sports and civic events. Tickets were sold for many events at the restaurant.
In 1958, Meesrs. Tonelli and Kennedy had their sights set on a significant change. It was reported that they were interested in purchasing Gleason's Rathskellar.
Tonelli's Luncheonette on Maple Street was sold to Robert G. Cavanaugh and Edward G. Lally, who continued the business under the name of Nello's. The Tonelli and Kennedy partnership continued the Northampton Street partnership.
In October 1959, a year and a half after making overtures to purchase Gleason's, the sale took place.
In 1962, the Northampton Street Tonelli's location was managed by James McCarthy. A massive fire on May 18, 1966, destroyed the business, then known as Ridgewood Caterers, owned at the time by Paul Donoghue, along with the Ridgewood Pharmacy and Russell's Super Market. Since 1967, and as of 2025, Friendly's Restaurant has occupied the Northampton Street site.
Citations:
Newspapers.com (paid subscription): Citations: Holyoke (Massachusetts) Transcript & Transcript-Telegram; publication dates and pages are shown.
Ancestry.com (paid subscription), Price & Lee City Directories, Holyoke, Massachusetts.
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