Readers recall Grantley Road restaurants
In a column last summer, several readers shared their memories of a Grantley Road restaurant known by several names, including the Bungalow Inn.
Today, I’d like to share yet a few more letters I’ve received about that business and other restaurants on Grantley Road. I hope you’ll enjoy reading about them!
As we mentioned in the previous column, the Bungalow Inn was run by Paul and Andy Spataro. I’d originally listed the name they ran the restaurant under as Palandi’s, which is how I made it out in Paul’s letter; however, upon further investigation, I found newspaper ads from the 1970s listing it as “Pulandi’s: Italian Cuisine.” I’m inclined to favor that spelling for the restaurant name, and in fact, was able to confirm it thanks to a neat letter I’d like to mention.
In it, Carson Mummert of York noted, “At first I couldn’t remember the name, but then I remembered I had a menu from there. And so I dug into my vast collection and I found it! It was called ‘Pulandi’s Bungalow Inn.’ I wrote a date on the back of the menu – it was 1976. I had lunch and Manhattans there once. My club sandwich was huge, and the drinks were strong! … Unfortunately, the place wasn’t there very long.” Carson also came across a menu for the former downtown eatery the Ramona, where he noted coffee was 20 cents a cup! (He also wonders if any readers have ever eaten Montgomery Pie, which is a topic I’d love to talk about in a future column, so send our Montgomery memories and recipes my way!)
Back to Pulandi’s, I also heard from Hal Donley, who noted that Paul and Andrew Spataro were leasing the building for their restaurant from either St. Regis Paper or Stone Container (originally Schmitt and Ault Paper Company). He noted that Paul and Andy were the sons of the original Spataro’s on Philadelphia and Pine streets, which then moved to Roosevelt Avenue. “They served excellent Italian food,” he said.
Finally, I heard from longtime penfriend Yvonne Leiphart about another eatery on Grantley Road, this one a bit earlier. Yvonne writes, “I was a teenager in the ’40s and it being a bar, I was never inside it, so I know nothing about the decor. The restaurant was the ‘Grantley Cafe.’ It was owned by Raymond J. Rankin Sr. and his wife Bessie. The reason I know of it is because the man I later married and their son, Raymond Jr., were best friends. Raymond Jr. later married my cousin. In the late ’60s, early ’70s, Raymond Sr. and Bessie owned ‘The Terminal Cafe’ in the 200 block of North George Street in downtown York.”
Thanks to all of you for continuing to share memories of these former restaurants! I continue to update the stores and restaurants of the past directory with all your notes!
