Barone’s in Toluca Lake Will Close

Barone’s Famous Italian restaurant in Toluca Lake will serve its last rectangular pizza Sunday, making way for a new two-story building on Riverside Drive.

The restaurant--which once attracted celebrities including John Wayne, Lucille Ball and Jane Russell--lost its lease and will close after nearly 30 years. The original Barone’s, opened in 1945 on Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks, has another seven years left on its lease.

Tony Arpaia, who owns the restaurant with his brothers-in-law Frank Monteleone and Joseph Izzo, said he has a lot of good memories from the restaurant but realizes that perhaps it’s time to go.

“I’m in my twilight years now, and my doctor wants me to slow down,” said the 75-year-old Arpaia, who had heart surgery three years ago. “I guess it’s meant to be.”

Of the restaurant’s 50 employees, 40 will be laid off and 10 will be transferred to the Sherman Oaks location, including one waitress who has worked at the Toluca Lake restaurant since it opened. In turn, 10 employees at the Sherman Oaks location will lose their jobs.

“The only thing I’m sad about is the help,” Arpaia said. “Of course, they can go on unemployment, but that’s not enough to live on.”

The restaurant’s kitchen equipment, furniture and stained-glass windows will be auctioned off in March. Following demolition of the restaurant in mid-April, a two-story mixed-use building will be completed by early September, said Bob Green, whose family has owned the 10,000-square-foot property for 40 years.

The ground floor of the contemporary building will house three restaurants including a Koo Koo Roo and a Topz. The second floor will house Spaff Animation, Green said.