Nora's, A Delicious Dish of Southwick History
Dominick Barberi and Wilbur Strong of Springfield, Massachusetts, signed a three-year lease and built a one-story building on Samuel Foster's property west of the county bridge at Great Brook in Southwick, Massachusetts, in 1924. They named their new business Brookside Inn.
By 1929, Chester E. Booth took ownership of Brookside, and in 1932, the Town of Southwick granted him a license to store, use, and sell 2,000 gallons of petroleum in underground tanks at Brookside. (It is unclear if Brookside sold gas before this.)
When Chester and his wife bought the Rustic Haven in Whately, Massachusetts, in 1936, they sold Brookside to William Pope, who, along with Florence C. Shaw and Charles R. Beardsley, incorporated it as Brookside Inc.
The sale included:
- A beer and wine license
- A dance hall
- Living quarters
- Five acres of land with a picnic grove and trout stream
Charles put Brookside up for sale in 1940, and Thomas Battistoni bought it in 1941. Thomas's friend Frank Zamperini, Frank's wife, and Thomas's daughter Nora operated Brookside Cafe, which the Zamperinis and Nora would all become co-owners of. (Frank also worked for Battistoni Lumber Co. until he retired in 1967.)
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| Brookside Advertisement 1937 |
Following Clinton's passing in 1949, Thomas purchased the Point Grove Club. Nora's second husband, James Lyons, managed the club with her help. (Nora's first husband - LeRoy Francis O'Connor - died in the couple's Feeding Hills home on June 28, 1938.)
Nora had restaurant experience from her time at Brookside. But James, on the other hand, probably not, having been a Massachusetts State Police officer with 20 years of service before retiring as a corporal in 1947.
Thomas Battistoni died in August 1956. Shortly after his passing, the Lyons, who had taken ownership of the club, expanded it with a $950 addition. (They may have added a $1,500 addition in 1959.)
When James Lyons died in Noble Hospital on June 2, 1961, following a brief illness, Nora took over the Point Grove Club, which she had already been active in managing. Years later, she renamed her restaurant Nora's Point Grove Club before simply calling it Nora's or Nora's Restaurant.
Nora's Point Grove Club was known for its quality meals, which hardworking Nora made from scratch.
Edited Out/Author's Additional Research Notes
Working titles: The Point Grove Club, Nora's Point Grove Club, Nora's, A Delicious Slice of Southwick History, Nora's a Southwick Institution, Cooking up Nostalgia - Nora's Restaurant Through the Years.
Wilbur may or may not have filed for bankruptcy.
Pope transferred the land that Brookside Cafe sat on to the corporation in 1936.
Around 1943-4, the owners of Brookside added a second floor.
Elenora Domenica (Battistoni) (O'Connor) Lyons 8/6/1913 - 7/26/2004.
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| Nora's 2004 Re-opening |
Clinton Arthur Harvey 9/7/1893 - 7/11/1949.
James Lyons served in both world wars.
The Point Grove Club's building may have initially been home to the Southwick Progressive Club, which relocated across the street in 1940. There, it became known as the S.P. Club, Nashville S.P. Club, Louie B's, and, more recently, others. It became Louie B's to honor Louis J. Biscaldi, who died on May 28, 1986.
James and Nora moved to Point Grove Road in 1950; her father transferred two parcels of land to the couple.
Brookside Inc. sold the Zamperinis two acres of land in 1946.
Maciej W. Dzialo owned and operated the Brookside Cafe until he retired in 1950. (Clarification needed)
Some sources say Frank Zamperini retired from Battistoni Lumber in 1970, but 1967 appears correct.
Frank and Thomas traveled to Italy for a three-month stay in 1949. Mr. Zamperini died in 1988.
Szafran and Prejzner Cafe Inc. purchased Brookside Inc. in 1955 and kept the established Brookside Cafe name. In the 1960s, the Brookside Cafe was known for its pizzas. Over the years, the site was home to several businesses, with the Stumble Inn (est. 1970), Tumble Inn (c. 1982), and Club 57 arguably the best-known ones. Today, it is Crepes Tea House.
A Granville man sued the Tumble Inn after he was struck in the head with a beer bottle by an underage man drinking at the bar.
A vehicle struck a liquid propane tank at Nora's Point Grove Club on March 1, 1980, causing it to come unhitched and roll down the hill and onto the street. Fearing an explosion, the Southwick Police Department closed a section of Point Grove Road to vehicle traffic.
An overloaded ventilation system was likely the cause of a fire at Nora's Restaurant on November 13, 1985. Four firetrucks and 26 volunteer firefighters responded to the blaze around 9:00 p.m. The fire caused about $25,000 in damage to the restaurant and the apartment upstairs. The Board of Health temporarily shuttered the restaurant out of safety concerns.
After Nora's first husband, LeRoy, died, she and her son William moved in with her parents on Granville Road. James and Nora lived on Bungalow Street (1953). They were back on Point Grove Road by 1956.
Thomas and Lucia Battistoni - John L., Anna M., Helen L., Nora D.
Lucia "Lucy" Sattorini Battistoni (Nora's sister). Nora's mother died in 1965. This is distinct from Thomas Battistoni, who owned State Line Station Inc. with his wife, Domenica. They had a daughter, Norma, who was later the owner.
James Lyons was born in North Brookfield, Massachusetts. He and his first wife married in 1932, and they appear to have divorced in 1943 when she married a military man and moved to New York State, later Texas.
Nora owned her namesake restaurant from 1949 - 2001 (some sources say 1950 to 2000, but 1949 to 2001 appears correct).
In 1916, Thomas Battistoni purchased eight acres of land, including buildings, on Hillside Road (today's Granville Road) from Angelo Aloisi. In 1919, Battistoni bought additional land on Hillside Road from John R. Boyle. He purchased more land in 1922, this time from Francesco Meneguzzo.
The scarlet fever struck the Battistoni household in 1919.
One of Battistoni's employees was severely injured in 1921 when he accidentally struck his left leg with an ax.
1961, somebody stole a 1958 Mercury hardtop convertible from Brookside's parking lot.
Nora may or may not have been friends with James Lyons's first wife. They possibly held positions in a social club at the same time. It appears that James's first wife's niece (her brother's daughter) married William O'Connor (LeRoy and Nora's son).
Nora retired in 2000-1 and sold her namesake restaurant to Roma Restaurant owner Victor Ferrentino, who purchased it for $135,000. It went up for sale again, with Joseph S. Morello buying it in 2002. Morello made extensive renovations to the restaurant and planned on reopening it in September 2003. That is until he ran into problems with Southwick's Board of Selectmen. Before the Town would authorize the completion of local building inspections needed to approve Nora's reopening, the Board of Selectmen told Morello that the Massachusetts Alcohol Beverage Control Commission must review the 180-square-foot addition the restaurant put on during the renovations. (Selectmen only knew after its completion that Morello added a new or second customer entrance to the restaurant, which he should have included in the plans he submitted when obtaining a building permit.)
Nora's reopened. Some of the menu items in 2004 included:
Seafood Chowder: $5.95
Crab Cakes: $7.95
Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail: $9.95
Coconut Shrimp: $9.95
Chicken Marsala: $13.95
Joe's Bowties: $13.95
Veal Parmesan: $14.95
Rack of Lamb: $16.95
Pork Tenderloin (apple glazed): $13.95
Point Grove Filet Mignon: $19.95
Nora's "Big Ole" Porterhouse: $23.95
St. Louis Ribs: $17.95
Grilled Salmon: $14.95
Swordfish: $14.95
Risotto de Mare: $15.95
Nora's was a hit once again. However, trouble was brewing, and the restaurant hit the auction block in 2009 when the owners of Louie B's, who were having issues of their own, purchased it. Most of the problems plaguing Louie B's were self-inflicted ones surrounding liquor license violations; they also had several noise complaints from fed-up neighbors. (Before Louie B's, it was the Nashville S.P. Club and the long-running S.P. Club before that. S.P. stood for Southwick Progressive Club. Armando and Josephine Battistoni owned it one time. )
In November, Nora's new owners were awarded the full liquor license previously held by Hereford's Steak (formerly Chuck's Steak House). In 2011, the Southwick Police Department informed the Town of Southwick about businesses failing to maintain proper operating hours, a stipulation in their liquor license. Responding to an inquiry from the Town, the owners said they initially planned on renovating the still-closed Nora's, but upon receiving Hereford's liquor license, they intended to sell it.
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