staten island advance.

celebrating a slice of island history.
a street sign honors both a man and the port richmond legend he created.
9.29.2003

Those who knew him best say Carlo Denino, the late owner of Port Richmond's noted Denino's Pizzeria, wanted nothing more than his family, good food, a pinochle game and a winning racehorse.

But yesterday, on the spot where his cherished Staten Island eatery was born, a small army of people gathered to give him a slice of Staten Island itself.

Carlo Denino's Way, located on Hooker Place at Port Richmond Avenue, honors the late pizzarateur on the corner where his life's work stands.

More than 100 people -- family, friends and local officials -- crowded the signpost yesterday, crying and laughing as stories about the patriarch were shared during the unveiling ceremony.

"Every time I go by now, it's a piece of him," his daughter, Carla Denino, said.

The establishment started as a pool hall in 1937, but when Denino took it over in 1951, he turned it into a pizzeria with an open-door, open-arms attitude that still exists today.

The first-rate pizza aside, Denino's is the kind of place that people say holds fond memories for families, mostly because Denino made everyone feel at home, but never wanted anything in return.

His kids say he would have been annoyed that anyone was making a fuss over him at all.

"Maybe that's why it rained," his daughter said.

The rain cleared away just before the event began.

FDNY sirens blared in salute as the Denino family unsheathed the new sign. After a blessing, some of the onlookers released white balloons, which drifted dove-like into the sky.

Plans to rename the street were put into action more than two years ago, but the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center, delayed things.

City Councilman Michael McMahon (D-North Shore) spoke at the ceremony, explaining that "the reason we do these street signs is to celebrate the lives of beautiful people."

"In placing this sign on the corner ... we have a reminder of all that Carlo worked for," his wife Palma said. "We can remember Carlo's way."

At the post-ceremony celebration, there was plenty of remembering.

Crouching over food and sidestepping giggling children, friends and relatives of Carlo Denino (who died in 2000) rehashed memories about the big-spirited man, mostly about his seemingly boundless generosity.

The phrase "he was like a father to me" was uttered often, and followed by retellings of vivid memories, such as Denino's penchant for picking wild mushrooms from the side of the road, or of the time he brought a laundry basket full of vegetables to a friend's office, or the endearing way he called everyone Grace or Smith because he couldn't remember their names.

"If you were a horse, he'd know your name," Palma Denino joked. (Fittingly, only 10 minutes into the party relatives were asking after a card game.) The atmosphere Denino created in his restaurant has been kept up by his children and grandchildren, who now run the establishment.

Rose Zancocchio, Denino's sister, is known by all who frequent Denino's as "Aunt Rose." At a spry 84 years old, she still plays hostess, a job she calls "the best therapy in the world."

She won't divulge the secret ingredient of the family's success ("If I tell, it won't be a secret!" she said), but Denino's son Michael had a word or two about it.

"We have a lot of pride in this place," he said. "It's hard to live together and work together as a family, but we have a lot of love between each other."

Sounds like Mr. Denino got his way.