For almost 66 years, Giardina's Restaurant has been a landmark on Park Avenue.
But owners Rosina and Brossie Giardina, at age 91 and 82 respectively, have decided it's time to close up shop and enjoy their retirement years.
After Brossie lost his help in the kitchen, he knew it was time to go home. His wife, however, would have stayed open if she could have.
"She's in love with that place out there and don't want to give it up," Brossie said. "That's practically been her whole life."
Brossie, who has been the chief cook at the restaurant since the late 1940s, said, "It just got too much for me.
"I had a man who had been with me 42-some-odd years," Brossie said. "I cooked and he cooked. It would take the two of us to do it."
When his other cook, Johnny Bell, decided he wanted to call it quits, Brossie said he couldn't find anybody else who wanted the job, and he couldn't continue to do it by himself at his age.
"I had three weeks by myself, and it was too much for me," he said. "If you lose your health, you lose everything."
Being in the restaurant business runs in the Giardina family. "My father was in the business," Brossie said.
And, his brothers Sam and Joseph Giardina, were in business together in the original Giardina's restaurant on Carrollton Avenue.
But Joseph, who was Rosina's first husband, decided to break off and open another Giardina's restaurant on Park Avenue.
Rosina likes to tell everyone that she was a Giardina before she married. But she was no relation to her husband. She was originally from Atlanta. She said she came to Greenwood to a funeral, met her husband and wound up living here permanently.
"Sam and Minnie (his wife) ran downtown, and Joe and I pulled out and went to Park Avenue," Rosina said.
"It wasn't even in the city limits when we built out there," Rosina said. "There wasn't anything out there when we opened up."
Joseph and Rosina's restaurant opened as a drive-in in November 1936.
But from the beginning, Rosina ran the restaurant with the help of her mother-in-law and father-in-law, Frank and Mary Giardina. Joseph had become ill in the summer of 1936 and was unable to run the business. He died in March 1941.
After her husband's death, Rosina rented the restaurant to Joe George for the next five years.
During that time, from 1941 to 1945, Brossie, who was a brother to Joseph, was away in the military.
When he returned to Greenwood, Brossie married Rosina in January 1946, and they took over the restaurant once again.
The Giardinas started out serving sandwiches and hamburgers, and Rosina's and Joseph's children, Mary Rose and Joseph Jr., helped out.
Mary Rose said they would work after school when it didn't interfere with their lessons.
Giardina's had car hops in the early years who would take the food out to the customers.
In the late 1940s, Giardina's downtown closed, and Rosina and Brossie expanded their Park Avenue business into a sit-down restaurant and started serving steaks and seafood.
A number of booths with curtains were added to provide customers with privacy while they enjoyed their meals. Some of the booths were small enough for two people and others were large enough to accommodate groups of people.
The kitchen also was expanded at that time.
Brossie said they were trying to go after the clientele who had frequented his brother's business downtown. And they got it.
Throughout the early years, the family had living quarters in the back of the restaurant.
Rosina said it wasn't until her children were in high school that she and her family moved into their current home on Grand Boulevard to help take care of Brossie's mother.
A number of famous people have eaten at Giardina's. Some of those people included golfer Jack Nicklaus and actors Steve McQueen and Max Baer.
"We had worlds and worlds of out-of-town business," Joseph Jr. said. People would come from Greenville, Indianola, Belzoni, Cleveland Winona, Tchula and Lexington to enjoy the restaurant's cuisine.
Mary Rose, who has served as a hostess at the restaurant since returning to Greenwood in 1981, said she has done a little bit of everything at Giardina's.
She recalls many times when customers would come in, eat their meals, and then walk back to the kitchen to tell Brossie how much they enjoyed it.
Mary Rose said she had originally hoped that she and her daughter, who also works as a waitress at the restaurant, could continue running the family business. "But if I don't have help, she and I can't do it," she said.
Joseph Jr., 66, has worked at the restaurant most of his life. He's never had another job, and he said he is not sure what he plans to do now that they are no longer open for business.
The family closed the restaurant Aug. 3 to take a month's vacation. But after careful consideration, the Giardinas decided to remain closed for good.
"It was a hard decision," Mary Rose said.
"I'm going to miss all my friends and customers. I sure am," said Rosina.
Rosina and Brossie said they want to do some traveling. But the restaurant has been such a big part of their lives, they're not sure what they will do after that.
Brossie said he will enjoy working in his flowers, cutting grass and working in the yard.
As for Mary Rose, who is 69, she said she plans to find some type of part-time job to keep her busy.
Giardina's may be out of business, but Rosina said she plans to keep the building and property. She said she just couldn't let it go.
