Golden Dawn to remain Youngstown icon after owner’s death

By KALEA HALL

khall@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Golden Dawn

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Employees and patrons share their fondest memories of Ralph Naples and the Golden Dawn

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Special to the Vindicator The Golden Dawn has been a longtime hangout for everyone in town. This picture dates back to the 1940s.

The green-and-white-striped wallpaper is a subtle backdrop that makes the neon-lit “Golden Dawn” lights pop.

The lights brighten the dimly-lit restaurant and bar on Logan Avenue that screams Youngstown, from the outside to the inside, with its Youngstown State and Ursuline High School decor.

But even with the lights, there’s a slightly somber atmosphere given the recent loss of the establishment’s owner, Ralph Naples, who died Monday at age 96.

“You ain’t going to find many people like him,” said Johnny Naples, Ralph’s son. “He worked here almost 60 years.”

Ralph worked at the bar until about six months ago. After his death, and even before he had to stop working, customers and admirers of Ralph would talk about the memories of him at the Golden Dawn.

“The man is a legend,” said Mike Rounsley, who has worked at the restaurant about three years.

Around the half-circle, wooden-top bar early Tuesday afternoon, Rounsley and others talked about Ralph and his late brother, Carmen, who died in August 2015 at age 94.

The two hard-working brothers inherited the classy bar and restaurant from their Italian-American parents, Andy and Mary Naples, who founded it in 1934.

The “classy” part comes from the Golden Dawn’s old-school feel. No credit or debit cards are accepted there. The bartenders serve customers in a white button-down shirt and tie.

And it’s a no-nonsense kind of place. Swear once and you get a warning. Swear twice and you are nicely told to leave.

“One of the secrets to the success of the Golden Dawn is the fact that Andrew Naples was very precise about the way he expected people to behave in the bar,” said Thomas Welsh, author of “Classic Restaurants of Youngstown.”

The Golden Dawn started after Prohibition, when the saloon atmosphere was what people knew. Customers weren’t allowed to spit inside the Golden Dawn, and there was no rough bar banter inside.

“They created a safe environment for people,” Welsh said.

Ralph and Carmen kept it that way, and Johnny plans to also.

The memories of two inseparable brothers – Ralph, who wore the long-sleeved white shirts, and Carmen, who wore the short-sleeved white shirts – also will live on.

“We would like to expand,” Johnny said. “We would like to make the kitchen bigger.”

Johnny says the bar-restaurant will stay in the city.

“We are an icon in the community,” Johnny said.

The restaurant is known not only for its unique atmosphere, but for its food, including homemade pizza with a special recipe from Johnny’s grandmother.

“It’s a very unique mixture,” Johnny said. “It’s handmade and kneaded.”

Customers, from business professionals and government officials to retired steel workers, would go to the Golden Dawn just to see the Naples brothers.

They “wanted to make you feel comfortable,” Rounsley said.

The Golden Dawn has customers of every generation.

Paul Hartwig enjoys a visit there once a week. His 89-year-old mother also frequently visits.

Hartwig likes the camaraderie there.

As for Ralph Naples, Hartwig says: “Nobody I ever met had a work ethic like that man.”

The inside of the Golden Dawn pays homage to the roots that built it and the family behind the business.

“It’s like so many places that have been around forever,” Welsh said. “Those places really are symbols of continuity.”

Even during all the changes throughout the Mahoning Valley – from the Great Depression, loss of the steel mills and a major drop in the local population – places such as the Golden Dawn remain.

“We have lost a lot,” Welsh said. “It’s refreshing for people to know that a business has survived and it remains in the hands of the family.”