Vic Zodda

Vic Zodda's
Jefferson Avenue at Greenwood Road

WAY BACK THEN: 239 Buxton Avenue, Newport News, VA

		Images by Steve Silsby (FHS - '72) of NC - 01/11/06 Thanks, Steve!
		01/16/06

THEN:

*1960 Anchor, p. 178*	Courtesy of Dave Spriggs ('64) of VA - 05/09/04 Thanks, Dave!	Courtesy of Dave Spriggs ('64) of VA - 08/22/05 Thanks, Dave!	Courtesy of Dave Spriggs ('64) of VA - 08/22/05 Thanks, Dave!
04/13/04	05/09/04	08/22/05	08/22/05


NOW: Sam's Spaghetti and Steakhouse		NOW:
		Vic Zodda's Landing 700 Settler's Landing Road Hampton, VA 757-727-9700
Image by Dave Spriggs ('64) of VA - 05/14/04 Thanks, Dave!	Image by Dave Spriggs ('64) of VA - 05/14/04 Thanks, Dave!	Courtesy of Dave Spriggs ('64) of VA - 04/19/04 Thanks, Dave!
05/15/04	05/15/04	04/19/04

	This HAS to be the MIDI for a romantic Italian restaurant: You can just see Tramp nosing the meatball across the plate to Lady .... and both of them eating the same strand of spaghetti leading to an "inadvertent" kiss ..... - Dave Spriggs ('64) of VA -05/31/04 Oh, yes - it's perfect! Thanks, Dave!

	I have a story about Vic Zodda's Restaurant. First of all, my family HARDLY EVER went out to eat. When we did it was to Bill's BBQ or some other sandwich place. Well, I was hounding my parents to go to Vic Zodda's one Sunday after church and Daddy finally caved and took us there. We all ordered spaghetti and meat balls. We were eating along and I noticed these little white things in my food and announced that there were worms in my spaghetti! Well, my mother started digging around in her food and I guess saw the same thing...I cannot remember what my father did or said but he was probably looking into his food as well...then I realized that the tomato seeds were sprouting...and those little white things were the sprouts! Of course by that time I had ruined the meal for everyone else at the table...so I happily ate my spaghetti while they watched and waited. Needlesstosay we NEVER WENT back there again! Even now my mother has an aversion to Italian food...and Chinese food as well! Just give that lady a piece of chicken! - Jean Poole Burton ('64) of RI - 08/25/05 WILD GIGGLES!!! What a hoot! Thanks, Jean!

	When I was home last month I took many pictures around Newport News and Hampton. As I drove down Buxton Avenue, my mother [Dorothy (Harton) Silsby, HHS ‘42] pointed out an old building just off of 25th Street and said it was the site of the original Vic Zodda's Restaurant. The address is 239 Buxton and it is now owned by a fraternal organization. I asked Tim Rogers (Hampton HS - '66 - of VA) about it and he replied with this email: Steve, check with your mother on this. The place she said was Vic Zodda's I remember as Johnny's Dine and Dance in (1956-9). Maybe it became Vic Zodda's later (I have a very dim remembrance of that being the case). Anyway, this requires more research. Tim/ N4XND I asked mom about what time it was Vic Zodda's, but she didn’t remember. Can anyone else shed some more light on this? - Steve Silsby (Ferguson HS - '72) of NC - 01/11/06 Thanks, Steve! Let's find out!

	Well, I was pleased to see a discussion about the original Vic Zodda's restaurant in the 1/13/06 newsletter. Since there seemed to be some difference of opinion about the site, I called Vic and asked him about it. Yes, Vic is still alive and kicking, lives in Ford's Colony here in Williamsburg, and plays golf every day. Holly (Hill Campbell - Hampton Roads Academy - '72) and I were at a party at his house on Christmas Day, and I happened to ask him a lot of questions about the restaurants, dates, etc. I told him that there was an ad for his restaurant in the 1954 Anchor and wondered when the first restaurant opened. (You may recall that he came to Newport News as the business manager for the Newport News Dodgers, Class B farm team of the Brooklyn (now LA) Dodgers, not as a restaurateur.) He told me that the first restaurant was opened in early 1954 (he also told me the exact date, but I forgot it). So, when I saw the item in the newsletter, I called him again, a few minutes ago, and told him about the item in the newsletter. He verified Steve Silsby's (Ferguson HS - '72) information - that, indeed, the address of the original restaurant was 239 Buxton Avenue. He said that Johnny's Dine and Dance was close by but that it fronted on 25th Street, not Buxton Avenue, and it was not ever in the same building as the restaurant. I am going to send the URL to Vic's wife, Mary, who is very active on the Internet, and maybe she will 'join'. At any rate, if anyone wants to know anything about Vic or his restaurants, he will be very pleased to find that there is still interest in them. - Bill Campbell ('54) of VA - 01/13/06 WOWZERONI!!! Thanks, Bill!

	My BMW (Beautiful Marvelous Wife) Eva Ellis Madagan ('61) of FL has just confirmed for us that Vic Zodda's Restaurant was indeed located at 239 Buxton Avenue in Newport News. She said that she used to see it out of her bedroom window when they lived on Buxton Avenue, across the marsh grass of Salter's Creek which was between their house and the restaurant. This is in response to the comment of Steve Silsby (Ferguson HS - '72) of NC - 01/11/06 - "Vic Zodda's and More" in this Newsletter. I wanted Eva to respond to the Newsletter, but being a working girl she is not taking the time to participate right now. So, I am passing along her comments to confirm that Vic Zodda did have his restaurant at that location for several years before moving to Hampton on Mercury Boulevard. A Fraternal Organization occupied the building when Vic Zodda moved. - Joe Madagan ('57) of FL - 01/03/06 Thanks, Joe - and Eva!

	Carol In reference to the building at 239 Buxton Avenue. I remember it was just behind a service station on the corner of 25th And Buxton. A bunch of us kids had a favorite tree on the creek, beside the place where the building was constructed. The tree had a very long and large diameter rope attached to it, which we would use to swing out over the creek. When the tide was high during the summer, we would sometimes get up enough courage to swing way out and let go into the creek. What fun. Anyway the building was a restaurant, but was renovated as a Moose Lodge in the fifties. Johnny’s Dine and Dance was just down the street in the 1400 block of 25th Street between the tire company (which had a very large tire setup as a eye catcher out front) and the Creek. People would discard their old Christmas trees in the empty lot between Johnny’s and the Creek, which the children just loved. I remember building forts out of them with Delano ('62) and Downy ('61) Wray in '54 or '55. God Bless - Richard Dawes (NNHS/HHS - '62) of VA - 01/13/06 Thanks, Dicky!

	As for Vic Zodda's Restaurant, the only place I remember it being was on Mercury Boulevard. (I think!) Must have been TOO YOUNG to remember it on Buxton! HA - Sarah Puckett Kressaty ('65) of VA - 01/15/06 GIGGLES!!! Thanks, Sarah!

	My mother worked for Vic Zodda's for 26 years when it moved to Mercury Boulevard. I worked there also to pay for my father's funeral. I met a lot of cool people, like Tiny Tim, The Pips, Liz Taylor and Minnie Pearl. - Linda May Bond Crayton ('66) of VA - 01/16/06 COOL! Thanks, Linda May!

Bella Notte

Oh this is the night, it's a beautiful night
And we call it bella notte
Look at the skies, they have stars in their eyes
On this lovely bella notte.
Side by side with your loved one,
You'll find enchantment here.
The night will weave its magic spell,
When the one you love is near!
Oh this is the night, and the heavens are right!
On this lovely bella notte!

"Bella Notte" from "Lady and the Tramp" midi courtesy of http://www.rachelle1981.homestead.com/midi.html,
at the suggestion of Dave Spriggs ('64) of VA - 05/31/04
Thanks, Dave!

"Bella Notte" from "Lady and the Tramp" lyrics courtesy of http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/classicdisney/bellanotte.htm,
also at the suggestion of Dave Spriggs ('64) of VA - 05/31/04
Thanks again, Dave!

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