Brooke Grasso
Metro Editor
Lines were out the door and the smell of Italian food filled the parking lot where Spaghetti Eddie’s in Glendora celebrated its 30th year of business Monday.
The anniversary celebration included a ribbon cutting, spaghetti-eating contests and lowered prices, some by more than 50 percent.
In 1985 Eddie Inglese and Jim Hermanson opened the Italian restaurant with only three picnic tables.
Today, with the same owners and same location, the restaurant is thriving and doing better than Hermanson had ever imagined.
“We have seriously expanded,” Hermanson said. “We started with only 750 square feet and now we are at 4,550.”
To start off the anniversary, there was a ribbon cutting in front of the restaurant, the mayor of Glendora, Karen Davis, was introduced and the history of the restaurant was told to the guests.
In recognition of the year the restaurant opened, the restaurant featured rollback prices. Some of the dishes were offered at the price they were when Spaghetti Eddie’s first opened.
“We like to ‘eatertain’,” Hermanson said.
Spaghetti was dropped from its regular lunch price at $10.95 which includes soup and bread, to just $3.95 for a plate at the event.
“We came to support and celebrate,” David Veno, resident of Chino said. “Their food is always good, too.”
Veno and his wife met the restaurant owners 16 years ago and despite the far drive from Chino they said they dine at Spaghetti Eddie’s frequently.
“A lot of these folks are regulars coming in from out of town,” Hermanson said. “One woman has been coming here for 18 years.”
Numerous spaghetti-eating contests were held and participants ranged from Karen Davis and Glendora Unified School District Superintendent Robert Voors to members of the Glendora Police Department.
Inglese even competed against some of the members of his staff and came away with the victory.
In order to compete, participants paid $20, all of which was donated to the Glendora Education Foundation.
“This whole thing is a family and community experience,” Hermanson said.
Hostess Emily Lewison has been working at the restaurant for two years and her favorite thing about it is its atmosphere.
“Everyone is nice,” Lewison said. “The guests are nice, the workers are nice, and it always smells good.”
Lewison said she also enjoys interacting with the customers because she enjoys getting to know them on a personal level.
“We get a lot of characters in here, Tommy Montoya the tattoo artist even comes in,” Lewison said.
At the event, Lewison worked the game of Spin The Wheel. After a customer ate their meal, they were given a ticket to spin the wheel and win a variety of prizes from gift cards to sunglasses and key chains.
“We appreciate them because without them we wouldn’t have been here for 30 years,” Lewison said.
Spaghetti Eddie’s is located at 946 S. Grand Ave. in Glendora.
Brooke Grasso can be reached at brooke.grasso@laverne.edu.
