Del Conte’s in Torrance kept its customers happy for three decades

Del Conte’s Restaurant became a revered institution in Torrance during its 30 years of doing business on Pacific Coast Highway.

But it wasn’t the first restaurant to occupy the site. A horse breeder named Jack Rogers  first recognized the potential of the site at 2900 PCH, just south of the Torrance Municipal Airport.

In 1957, he built the Jump ‘N Jack restaurant there, and it became an immediate success, hosting all kinds of community group meetings as well as providing a comfortable place to relax with drinks and dinner.

In 1960, Rogers embarked on an ambitious expansion plan. He hired the architectural firm Armet & Davis to design a two-building, 88-room motel on the land adjacent to the Jump ‘N Jack.

The motel project, not surprisingly named the Jump ‘N Jack Motor Hotel, cost more than $1 million, and included a coffee shop with seating for 50 guests, a Polynesian-style swimming pool and poolside lounge, separate barber and beauty shops and beauty shop and a TV lounge.

Ground was broken for the project on July 14, 1960,  and the expansion transformed the Jump ‘N Jack into a full-service motel-restaurant complex.

Rogers operated his Jump ‘N Jack restaurant and motel throughout the 1960s, but got out of the business in 1969, selling the complex to Frank Del Conte.

Born on Feb. 24, 1911, Del Conte was an Italian immigrant.

He became involved in the bowling world, running the Vermont Bowl in Los Angeles from 1947 to 1957, before taking over at Southwest Bowl at 11633 S. Western (at Imperial Highway). His son, Gerry, became a bartender there in 1965.

On May 17, 1969, Del Conte bought the Jump ‘N Jack from Rogers. Gerry became its new manager, and they kept the Jump ‘N Jack name for a year, changing it to Del Conte’s in 1970.

Another one of Del Conte’s sons, David, wrote a book about his father that was published after Frank’s death in Orange County on July 18, 2002, at the age of 91.

Frank and Lena operated the Saddleback Lanes bowling alley in Mission Viejo for several years after buying it in 1981. In 1997, the Bowling Writers Association of America presented Frank Del Conte with a lifetime achievement award for his dedication to excellence in the

bowling industry.

As for David Del Conte, he followed a less traditional path in his early years before eventually joining in the family business.

Recording under the name of Damon, he released several singles and a full-length album, “Song of a Gypsy,” in the late 1960s. They are considered unsung classics in the psychedelic folk genre, and an original  copy of the “Gypsy” album today is valued by one collector’s source at $3,500.

After acquiring the business, the Del Contes sold off the motel, which became the Airport Inn and eventually, the Ramada Inn, the company that currently runs it.

Gerry Del Conte and his wife Sandy concentrated on managing the restaurant, hiring devoted employees who often ended up staying for decades.

Its traditional American menu items consisted of steaks, chicken, shrimp, pot roast and the like. Its  wine list reportedly had three choices: white, rose and red. Despite, or maybe because of these familiar, non-trendy offerings, the Del Contes built a devoted local following in Torrance.

The pair’s original plan was to run the restaurant for 25 years. After stretching that to 30, the couple decided to close it in 1999, after hosing thousands of service club meetings, wedding receptions, bar mitzvahs and retirement dinners.

“It’s been such a good, faithful clientele for so many years,” Sandy Del Conte told the Daily Breeze on Feb. 3, 1999, the day the Del Conte’s closed its doors for the final time. “I never realized we’d be around so long as to become an institution.”

Customers such as Jack Kahlo of Palos Verdes Estates mourned the closure. Kahlo recalled being at the restaurant’s opening in 1969, telling Daily Breeze reporter Sandy Cohen, “We’ve always said that if you want to meet your old friends, come to Del Conte’s and they’re here. It’s sad to see it go. It’s a landmark.”

He went on to recall the time when two Del Conte’s waitresses came to visit his wife when she was in intensive care in the hospital.

The Del Contes never bought the land on which the restaurant was built. The Vasek Polak Trust owned the land, and there had been talk for years about building a luxury car dealership there, possibly a BMW lot.

On June 1, 1999, workers began demolition of the Del Conte’s restaurant building. Grading began in 2001 to prepare for the construction of the 15,000-square-foot Pacifc Porsche dealership that opened on the site on Feb. 25, 2002, after moving there from Hermosa Beach.

Pacific Porsche and its striking gleaming building continues to occupy the corner site at Denny Road and Pacific Coast Highway.

But old-timers still remember when Del Conte’s was there, remember its horseshoe-shaped bar, its dark, comfortable booths and its overall 1970s retro feel. That, and the friendly, family atmosphere created by its owners and employees.

As Jim Ruesch said at the 1999 closing, “It’s better than ‘Cheers.'”

Sources:

Daily Breeze files

Los Angeles Times files.

Torrance Herald files.