That’s when he got into the restaurant business. He stayed in the salon business for about 10 years until the late 60s, when he decided he needed a major life change. Bill, Scialo attended beauty school while working selling lunches by cart at the Empire State Building & making Gyros at a takeout restaurant near City Hall. He left the service and its homophobia in 1957. He attended PS 23 and PS 130 in Seward Park High before entering the Navy as a radio operator at the age of 18. He was born at Saint Vincents hospital in 1935, baptized at Saint Anthony’s Church on Houston Street, and lived with his family in Little Italy on Bayard Street. Joe Scialo the son of Italian immigrants was a born bred native New Yorker, and his roots show.
We have a diverse variety and we have regulars that only come on weekends because they’re out of the city and also, straight couples who say, “hey that place looks interesting let’s go there”.
The “Monster” patron, Joe pointed out is “every man”. He and his beloved bar have been a haven for gays and lesbians who have been overlooked & underserved by a bar scene dictated by failure: fly by night trends, body consciousness, design mania, or substance-abuse.
