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Eastside Italian Deli owner Giovanni “Johnny” Angiuli died at the age of 81, leaving behind one of the city’s oldest restaurants and a legion of fans. Along with his late brother Frank, he ran one of Los Angeles’ longest-running delis and was a stalwart of the city’s since-disappeared Little Italy. Described as loud, funny and selfless, the restaurateur and singer could often be found working 70 hours a week at Eastside Italian Deli, personally deciding which sandwiches customers would receive and keeping a running tab for those in need.
He died Feb. 9 of cardiac arrest after roughly a year of health difficulties that included kidney failure and congestive heart failure, according to one of his sons. Eastside Italian Deli, his local legacy and remnant of a community and neighborhood of early Los Angeles, is now operated by his three sons.
“He always made customers feel like family, that’s what they came in for,” said Anthony Angiuli, his eldest son. “They still to this day ask, ‘How’s your father?’” Johnny Angiuli was nicknamed the Singing Butcher from Naples, though he wasn’t from Naples at all: Giovanni Angiuli was born in 1943 in Bari and before he learned the meat trade as a butcher, he was a touring entertainer. The singer performed in Europe, Australia and England before immigrating through Ellis Island in 1956, seeking more opportunities than could be found in post-World-War II Italy.
But his mother hated the cold in New York and his uncle, who sponsored his move, lived in Los Angeles. The family traveled west and when they landed in L.A.
, the local Italian community pointed Johnny to what was then called Eastside Market, founded by Dominic Pontrelli in 1929 in L.A.’s Little Italy; now it’s Victor Heights, straddling the border of Chinatown and Echo Park, the deli’s corner signage looming large over the 110 freeway.
Johnny started at the market in 1959 as a cleaner, then became a butcher, in an era where the now-deli was split into multiple businesses under one roof and separate ownership. He helped man the Maestro Sausage Co. meat case and became a face known around town, personally delivering Italian sausages to Bay Cities Italian Deli & Bakery, Sorrento Italian Market in Culver City and other specialty foods shops.
“He put his life in here,” said Vito Angiuli, Johnny’s youngest son. “He dedicated over 60 years to this place.” When the meat and sausage company moved to expand, and the other market owners retired, they offered Johnny and his brother Frank the opportunity to purchase the entirety of the market.
According to Johnny’s sons, the Angiuli brothers each paid roughly $10,000 and in 1974 they took the reins, then shaped it into the deli Los Angeles knows today. “There’s something about an immigrant owning a business that people admire when they walk in,” Vito said. “They feel like they have a special connection with that person because they brought something from their heritage to America.
People respect that.” The neighborhood and the city were changing, and Johnny and Frank needed to draw customers with more than grocery staples. The brothers quickly began catering and amped up the prepared-food menu, adding a small single-burner stove.
Hot sandwiches became a specialty at Eastside, with Johnny leading the charge. Long rolls stuffed with sausages and peppers; eggplant parmigiana; hot roast beef dripping in its juices; and succulent meatballs can all still be found there. “Still, to the day he died, [he said], ‘I was sleeping one night and I woke up and I thought of a great sandwich: a roast beef and pastrami together with provolone cheese and peppers, and I thought it would be a big hit,’” Anthony said of his father.
“And it turned out to be the big hit! It’s the most popular sandwich on the menu.” On his lunch breaks, surrounded by lasagna and fresh cannoli and fragrant roast beef pulled fresh from the ovens, Johnny opted for a simple, near-daily meal of toasted day-old bread with olive oil, tomatoes, oregano and salt, just as he ate in his younger years in Italy. The deli became a true family affair with Johnny’s wife, Domenica “Donna” Angiuli, lending a hand alongside his brother, sister-in-law and cousins.
His parents were a fixture too, sometimes found sitting at the tables. Johnny met the late Donna in 1969 through mutual friends and they had three sons — Anthony, Rocco and Vito — all of whom now run the deli together. Sometimes they’d accompany their father on his trips to the Arts District produce market at 4 or 5 a.
m., when Johnny would shop across different stalls, hunting and “wheeling and dealing” for the best prices. He always seemed to know everyone there.
His brother, Frank, died in 1999 and Johnny continued the deli in his stead. When he retired in 2017, he stepped back from operations but remained a presence, occasionally chatting with customers in the dining room. More than ever, Eastside Italian Deli is visited by guests who share stories of Johnny: the time he’d say, “It’s OK, you can pay me next time”; the tab he kept for customers in need; the onslaught of free food he would include with catering orders for special occasions like weddings.
Pedro Prado began working at Eastside in 1980 when Johnny heard he was sleeping in a car after emigrating from Mexico. He began by cleaning the restaurant’s walls, then was promoted to slicing ingredients, and today is the deli’s head chef. “That’s just the person that my dad was, with the immigrant mentality of wanting to help out another immigrant,” Vito said.
“He was a good guy,” Prado said of Johnny. “He taught me everything. I learned to cook, so now I’m the cook.
” Though Johnny taught Prado how to cook Italian cuisine, Prado would often prepare his own specials — sometimes for guests, sometimes just for his bosses — such as burritos, breakfasts and a lot of soups. He still prepares Johnny’s same recipes, including his house-ground meatballs and the signature tomato sauce, which simmers for four hours and took the late owner a lot of trial and error to perfect. Now the owners of Eastside Italian Deli themselves, his sons respect — and are sometimes shocked by — the actions of their father as a restaurateur.
His banter with customers was without filter. Occasionally guests would order one thing, but Johnny would choose another sandwich for them entirely, telling them, “You’re getting a roast beef, you’re not getting a salami.” Bemused, annoyed or simply confused, they would sit down to eat whatever sandwich he gave them.
Then they’d tell Johnny it was one of the best sandwiches of their life. “It’s not that he got well known, but he got so much respect for what he did,” Anthony said. “People were very affectionate and helpful, and he kept those relationships.
People want to know, ‘Why are you in business?’ and ‘How do you stay in business?’ It’s not always about food — it’s about the relationship you have with your customers, the relationship you have with people.” Johnny Angiuli is survived by his sons, his seven grandchildren and Eastside Italian Deli, which will turn 100 in 2029. Someday, his sons say, they’d like to turn the deli over to their own children, keeping Johnny’s life’s work going strong for generations to come.
“I miss working side by side with my dad, I think we all do, but his legacy moves on and it’s still here today,” Vito said. “I think that’s something more than any father could ever give us: He didn’t have a lot of money, but he gave us a gem here. He gave us a historic monument, at the end of the day, and we love him for that.
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