Davenport Village dive bar closes after nearly 40 years
Owner shuts down business months after kitchen fire
“The universe has spoken, you know?” said Eddy Angilletta, owner of The Gem, a few months after a fire in the kitchen of his decadesold Davenport dive bar.
With the lease up for renewal and restorations being a long and costly process, Angilletta, 62, didn’t have it in him to maintain his bar — and says maybe higher powers were trying to tell him something.
So he made the decision to officially shut down his Davenport Village bar after nearly 40 years in business — a decision, he says, that feels surreal.
Angilletta started working at the bar in 1986 and his family took it over in 1988.
He hosted weddings, parties, receptions, and lots of up-and-coming rock bands — Angilletta’s favourite genre — including CATL, Atomic 7, led by guitarist Brian Connelly, and Ancient Chinese Secret.
And when there wasn’t live music on set, tunes from a record player could be heard, though it was known to skip often. There was a jukebox but that was also known to not work so well. These quirks seemed to only add to the appeal of The Gem.
“I think the thing that stands out for me is just all the people that I’ve met,” Angilletta said about what he’ll miss most about The Gem. “I felt very fortunate. It was a really tight community.”
His mother, Rosa Angilletta, who he says was loved by everyone that came into the bar, worked in the kitchen for around 15 years.
When people would come in and were only able to afford a beer, his mother would make them food for free. Angilletta only found this out years later from regulars.
Customers agree that it was the people at The Gem who made the place what it was. The bar had lots of regulars, and Angilletta knew them all.
Ryan Bowen, who started going to The Gem in the early 2000s, was one of them. It wasn’t uncommon for him to end up there three times a week.
Bowen and his wife, Raquel Aurini — who had their second date at The Gem — enjoyed the warm environment with the occasional smell of incense when you walked in. Bowen called it a really cosy spot that included a mannequin near the back — right beside that old jukebox that, he says, never quite sounded right — with new clothing or decorations on it every single week. Sometimes it was a sequin dress, or a sombrero, or a masquerade mask.
The couple even contributed to the decor of the place over the years, bringing souvenirs from their trips to display inside the restaurant. They brought back a lantern from Vietnam, which was hung up in the back. There was also a collection of skulls behind the bar from Central and Latin America. On their most recent vacation to Belize — in the hopes that their favourite spot would open up again soon — they bought a little stone skull to add to the collection they’ve been building at The Gem.
“It’s sad that’s not gonna happen now,” Bowen told the Star.
“I could sit there and just listen to Eddy’s stories,” Bowen said. Angilletta would talk about his travels and reminisce about his younger days and the wild situations he’d find himself in.
“It honestly — and I’m not exaggerating — was like a second home,” Bowen added.
“There’s nowhere else I spent more time other than my home, my office or in the gym.”
He recounts that the wings were his and Aurini’s favourite menu item, but said the nachos were likely the most popular order.
For now, Angilletta hasn’t decided what he wants to do next. In his free time he likes to write, go sailing, and hang out with his dog, Vlad.
“I have all kinds of ideas that, you know, things I want to do. I could do anything right now.”
‘‘ It honestly — and I’m not exaggerating — was like a second home. There’s nowhere else I spent more time other than my home, my office or in the gym. RYAN BOWEN WHO STARTED GOING TO THE GEM IN THE EARLY 2000S