Golden Dawn auction set Thursday

By SAMANTHA PHILLIPS

sphillips@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

The closing of the Golden Dawn restaurant in 2017 was more than just the end of another iconic Youngstown fixture.

Patrons struggled to say goodbye to the gathering spot where families and friends ate, drank and laughed together for more than 80 years.

“I miss everything,” said Jill Mayfield of Boardman. “You walk in, and everyone knows your name. You felt like part of the family.”

The restaurant felt like home. The food was homemade. The Naples family knew most customers by their first name.

Whether the Youngstown restaurant will open again and welcome the patrons back home likely will be determined Thursday in an online auction.

‘NOTHING FANCY’

Mary Julian, one of the late co-owner Carmen Naples’ daughters, remembers the Dawn fondly.

“It was very nostalgic, it was like going back in time,” Julian said. “It was nothing fancy. It was good ol’ homemade food, it was my grandmother’s recipe, her sauce, so you got good food. Carmen and Ralph were like icons in Youngstown. Everyone knew them.”

Melissa Dubaj of Youngstown recalls going to the Golden Dawn with fellow members of the Youngstown State University Greek Life before every home football game to enjoy breakfast and Genesee schooners [beer glasses].

The last time she went there, during the last week it was open, the bartender told her she had the last schooner of Genesee on tap.

“I was such a big admirer of the framed wedding pictures they put on their wall and always said I wanted to have my own wedding pictures there,” she said.

While she may not have a wedding photo framed there, she fondly remembers a photograph that was taken by former Vindicator photographer Nikos Frazier of her sharing a kiss with her boyfriend at the bar on their last visit.

Julian lived in the apartment above the restaurant for a few months with her seven children while her house was being built.

“I would tell my dad I needed four pizzas, he would tap the ceiling with a broom. That was my cue that the pizzas were ready. My kids loved it, they didn’t want to leave,” she said.

The Dawn was a second home to her.

“It was like burying my father all over again when it closed. The smell when you walked in, it felt like home. Like one big family,” she said.

MEMORIES

The Golden Dawn served breakfast, lunch and dinner. It was known for its signature jumbo sandwiches and schooners of beer.

Patrons still remember the first meal they had there.

Mayfield recalls going to the Dawn for the first time in the 1990s when her boss told her they would go to a “very fine establishment” for a work lunch.

She remembers the exact meal: the signature jumbo sandwich, which had sirloin beef, melted provolone, lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise.

The Golden Dawn quickly became Mayfield’s go-to place to spend time with friends and family.

She and her family would always pay the Dawn a visit on Christmas.

“They had a fabulous breakfast; the best pancakes you ever had,” she said.

Jillian Smith of Canfield also has a vivid memory of her first encounter at the Golden Dawn.

“The food was impossibly good,” she said. “Strong, rich flavors that felt like it had been cooked by someone who meant to cook it for you, not mass produced and frozen. I think I got some kind of omelet with potatoes. My stomach hurt from how much I ate, but I didn’t mind.”

Over the years, Mayfield became good friends with the Naples family. Whenever she was going through a rough patch in life, she would stop by the Dawn to see which Naples family member was there so she could get their perspective.

“I miss being able to go there knowing I could see my friends, the Naples boys. I ride by there and it makes my stomach hurt,” she said.

Former co-owner Johnny Naples, who helped operate the restaurant after Carmen and Ralph died in 2015 and 2016, respectively, said the restaurant welcomed everyone.

“When you walk in the door, you are greeted with open arms, and a smile – we treat you like family,” he said.

Julian echoed that sentiment.

“You would go in there and see people who worked in the steel mills and you saw judges and politicians and stars like Ed O’Neill. It was just a mix of people, but everyone was the same when they went in there, nobody was treated any different, from celebrities to people who didn’t have a nickel in their pocket,” Julian said.

UNIQUE DECOR

The restaurant’s aesthetic was unique. The bartenders wore white button-up shirts and black ties that matched the checkered black and white portion of the floor. The neon “Golden Dawn” sign popped against the green and white-striped wallpaper.

YSU and Ursuline football memorabilia were featured on the walls of the establishment, and it was tradition for people to hang out at the Dawn before and after football games. Pictures of co-owner Carmen Naples from his football playing days also adorned the walls.

“I was immediately struck by the character of the place,” Smith said. “It had that feeling of being from a different time. The furnishings were simple but comfortable. The staff was familiar and genuine.”

The Naples family kept the establishment classy.

“No loud talking, can’t get out of hand, no swearing – especially the F-bomb,” Naples said. “We were very respectful, and we wanted customers to respect us.”

One old-school policy that the Golden Dawn held on to over the decades was accepting only cash – no credit cards. But if customers forgot to bring cash, it wasn’t a problem.

They could pay it next time.

“People always came back and paid for it,” Julian said.

Mayfield remembered a time when she brought a friend to the Golden Dawn and her friend didn’t have enough cash. When they came back to pay the bill, it had already been taken care of.

“There was that trust, and respect people in the community have for that family,” she said.

HISTORY

The Golden Dawn was started by Andy and Mary Naples in 1934. It was one of the first places in Youngstown to receive a liquor license after the end of Prohibition in 1933. The restaurant went through a series of moves before landing at 1245 Logan Ave. in 1946,

according to The Vindicator files.

Carmen and Ralph Naples inherited the restaurant and ran it together well into their 90s.

Two of their sons, Johnny and Phil Naples, became co-owners after their deaths.

YSU communications professor Dan O’Neill said when he thinks of the Dawn, he thinks of the kindness Ralph and Carmen extended to his brother who was on Social Security disability.

“My brother spent most of his time at the Dawn sitting at the bar as a ‘regular’ being treated with respect and dignity for a decade or more. We, the O’Neill family, can never forget the graciousness and goodness of Ralph and Carmen and the whole Naples family toward us,” he said in an email.

Julian has many fond memories of the Dawn, many of which include her father and her uncle Ralph Naples.

“I was listening to Ed O’Neill’s story about the Golden Dawn on The Vindicator [Louie Free Brainfood from the Heartland] talk show, and he was telling stories about my dad and my uncle. That’s why I liked working there, I would hear stories about my dad and uncle, and about all the work they did for people, their friendships.”

In 2012, after Julian retired from the Air Force, she told her father she wanted to work at the Dawn because she was bored.

Carmen Naples was in his 90s at the time and still bartending.

“He said, ‘Oh honey, we have enough waitresses.’

“I said no, I want to bartend and he said my uncle wouldn’t go for that,” Julian recalled.

“I wore combat boots for 30 years; I think I can wear a shirt and tie,” she recalled telling her father, while laughing.

“So, the next day I came in with a white shirt and tie.”

She was a bartender until 2016 when she had to stop due to health issues.

LEGACY

Johnny Naples said he admired his father, Ralph Naples, and his work ethic.

He said he plans to participate in the auction.

“I want to continue my father’s legacy, to get the Dawn back up again and keep it in the Youngstown area,” he said. “It’s been in the Youngstown area for over 86 years.”

What does he miss most?

“The people, the customers, the patrons, seeing their faces, their smiles.”

Notable figures would stop at the Golden Dawn.

Former Vice President Joe Biden stopped by the restaurant in 2010, when he was on the campaign trail for former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland. YSU President Jim Tressel and actor Ed O’Neill were known to frequent the establishment, and NBC cameras followed rock star Tom Petty to the restaurant after a performance in the 1980s.

NBC broadcast election results from the Golden Dawn in 1978, and many national outlets visited the restaurant in 2016 as Mahoning County became the epicenter of union Democrats deciding to vote for President Donald Trump.

A Trumbull County probate judge ordered the auction after a family dispute over the property.

Byce Auction is hosting the online auction. Final bidding ends at 4 p.m. Thursday.

Opening bid started at $50,481, which a ByceAuction representative said is 80 percent of its appraised value.

The auction includes the establishment’s liquor license plus all contents and equipment. The restaurant offers dining seating for 76, bar seating for 19, a fully equipped kitchen, full basement, a separate upstairs apartment and a paved parking lot.

The auction is live at byceauction.com.