Old Tony's

So this challenge was posted on someones page.

" Tell me you grew up in South Bay without telling me you grew up in South Bay…"

I must admit , my answer was pretty creative.
I replied
" I grew up in an area where the "Fire Chiefs" didnt put out fires. In my town the only thing the Fire Chiefs did was get you drunk"

80 years ago today my Dad Tony Sr led the 1st and the 3rd flights over Normandy Beach in a b-17 bomber leading thousands of Airman to bomb the hell out of the Germans to help clear the way for the invasion.
For leading the charge he was awarded the Air Medal Oak Leaf Cluster indicating multiple Distinguished Flying Cross medals.

" The Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) is awarded to members of the US armed forces for extraordinary achievement or heroism while flying. The award is given to recognize distinctive actions that go beyond routine operations "

Wanted to remind our customers who the person was that started this great restuarant called Old Tonys.
My Dad was the lead navigator in a b-17 bomber in 32 missions during WW2. When I say the lead navigator what I'm saying is that he led the missions being the 1st plane in the formation. Sometimes leading up to 4,000 men into air combat and bombing raids. The pilots flew, the gunners gunned and the navigator led.
He led some of the most important missions during ww2. He led the bombing missions over the German Capital of Berlin, he was the lead navigator on the 1st and 3rd missions over Normandy Beach. The odds of survival my Dad had flying 32 missions especially daylight missions was under 10%.
One of his most historic bombing mission that he led was the bombing of ball bearing factories in Regensburg. Regensburg was 450 miles into enemy territory with NO fighter plane es**rt and was during the day. This was considered one of the bloodiest air battles in US History.
The bombing of the Regensburg factories was a success but led to so many men , young men losing their lives.
Because of the significance of this bombing and having to face the full force of the luffwafta my Dad's air group was awarded the Presidential Citation Award.
" The unit must display such gallantry, determination, and esprit de corps in accomplishing its mission under extremely difficult and hazardous conditions so as to set it apart far and above other units participating in the same campaign."
I have pictures of my Dad sitting at a bar on the beach in Africa with 2 members of his crew . Africa is where the bombers had to fly to After bombing Regensburg Germany.
Growing up my older brother Danny and my Dad's best friend Bobby would always tell me how instrumental my Dad was to America's success during ww2 and I woukd always think " yea right" but the older I get and the more research I do I am finally realizing just what my Dad truly went through and using the word Hero to describe his role during the war doesn't even measure up.
I love and miss you Pop.
Tony jr

Watch this 3 minute video about the bombing over Reggensburg.

https://youtu.be/sKyKqSIwWAE?si=bygTYuxS2kTxCR_0

Kings Fans
WATCH PARTY Tuesday April 9th 6:30pm -2am

So I used to host LA Kings watch parties alot years ago , haven't done it in a while .. Come watch the seasons last away game against the Ducks

So it's official ; watch party this Tuesday at Old Tonys on the Redondo Beach Pier. Wear your Kings jersey. Ducks fans are more than welcome to join the party.
Tony jr

When you're feeling down and depressed , things will get better.
" written by Tony Jr"
The worst Valentines ever turns out to be AMAZING.
So around 3pm on Valentines Day I get a message from a very nice, cute girl I haven't seen in a while asking if I was free to go out for the night. I was excited so I went and bought some new cloths , made reservations at a fancy restaurant and ordered an Uber XL. I was to pick her up at the Long Beach terminal at 9pm because she was coming in from Catalina. The Uber XL picked me up at 8:20pm because I was excited and wanted to make sure I woukd be on time. Meanwhile I am messaging with my Date the entire time. I get into the Uber and I ask the guy
" Hey could you please turn on the air conditioning" he nods his head yes and hands me a cellphone charger" Turns out my driver speaks zero English only Chinese. He then hands me his phone which is on some translation app and that's how we communicate going forward. Mind you the volume on his GPS is set at 9 and every direction the GPS gives is in Chinese and driving me a bit crazy but the excitement of the date keeps me in a good mood.
We arrive at the port early and my date is messaging me that the boat is almost there and she's excited for the date. She said she is sitting in back of the boat so will be the last to get off.
So I'm standing there all dressed up in front of this gorgeous black Cadillac escalade , watching all these couples walking past me until finally there are no more people. I start messaging her " Where are you babe ?" and I get no reply. Now I start thinking to myself " why does this s**t always happen to me? The last two people to come through those doors were a black man who was pushing an older lady in a wheel chair. Since it was just me and a 5 foot 1 inch guy who only spoke Chinese and these two people I could over hear the guy tell the older lady " Mom ill be right back , I'm just going to go get the car"
So the jack ass that I am I continue to wait at the pick up point which has literally been locked down and the lights shut off thinking maybe my date is still coming.
At this point I am so depressed and so sad thinking to myself that I am the furthest away from a relationship I could ever be. What is going on.
So I look at my Chinese driver , give him the signal to hand me the phone that's open to the translation app and I speak into his phone
" Well I am an American loser who's Date has vanished and please take me home"
We get into the car and out of the corner of my eye I can see the silhouette of someone standing by themselves holding a white shopping bag and a purse. I told the driver to stop because I noticed it was the black lady who was still by herself and I was thinking why is she still here ? Where is her son ?
I get out of the car and slowly walk to her , and I said " Mam , where did your ride go ?"
As soon as she opened her mouth and started speaking she reminded me so much of my 2nd mother who was a black women named Maggie who worked for our family for 47 years who helped raise me from birth. Maggie was born and raised in Mississippi and would be I think 102 if still alive. Maggie and I would plan her driving route every year to Mississippi for her family reunion using a book we woukd reference that would indicate which towns were safe to stop in for gas and which ones to avoid if you were black. To say Maggie taught me everything a wealthy white kid woukd never learn growing up in Palos Verdes would be an understatement. Early Sunday mornings with Maggie and me as a little kid were spent at a Baptist church me literally being the only white person there but remembering how much more fun Maggie's Baptist church was than the boring church my parents made me go to. My parents never spanked me but Maggie taught me what a " switch " was and she taught me that the best food in the world was her Broccoli with Chicken and cheese covered in a bread crust.
Anyways this lady was Maggie through and through. I asked her " where's your ride and she said " it's coming, he just went to get the car " then she asked if there was a room she could go and sit in because she was cold" I explained that this place was shut down , doors locked and that it was just me, her and a 5 foot Chinese guy who didn't speak English" She then asked if I could take her to her bedroom so she could go to sleep" I then realized this lady has dimensha. What the f**k am I going to do . I thought the best thing to do is call 911 and let the cops handle this. But my selfish ass said No way , God has given me the gift of bringing Maggie back to me for this moment I'll figure this s**t out myself. I asked her where she lived and she didn't reply. I thought should I ask her if I can go into her wallet to look for her address but thought the way my night is going ill be looking through her wallet and her son will show up and shoot me for robbing her.
Just then I could hear a phone ringing and I noticed it was at the bottom of her shopping bag so I told her " Mam, we have to answer that phone before it's too late so after the 5th ring I finally was able to dig it out and answer it and it was a young man who after me saying hello ha said sorry I must have the wrong number I quickly said No don't hang up I am here with a nice older black women who's by herself and I don't think her ride is coming back" he said Oh no this is not good , I'm her grandson and we can't get ahold of Dad who was with her"
I said ok just tell me where she lives and he explained it was about 40 minutes from the terminal. So in my head I said f**k it. I told the guy who sounded like he was about 25 years old to go ahead and text me his address because the family all lived in one house, and that I will put her in my escalade and we will take her home to you.
He was so grateful yet furious at his Dad who apparently had a drug problem. So I asked her what her name was and I explained to her that I was going to give her a ride home. I slowly helped her stand up while the Chinese driver grabbed her shopping bag and purse and we inched our way to the car having to literally pick her up to get her into the escalade. I called the grandson and told him we were on the way. He said " God bless you and I could here other people in the background "
I went into my Uber app and added a stop which 36 minutes from the terminal, it was now 10:14pm .
This was the absolute best part. When we all got into the car and started driving I realized that I went from being literally at a level of depression I haven't felt in years almost to the point of crying to being the happiest I've been in probably a year. I remember asking myself earlier when I realized my Valentines date was some sort of sick joke played on me " God are you testing me to see how much negativety I can handle with my Mom having a stroke , to disowning my immediate family to my cat of 12 years dying and that's just a few things " I said " God , I have a lot to be happy for to go ahead and keep testing me " that's when I saw the black women.
So we start making the drive and it just me and the black women in the back bench seat and she's now in a good mood and I'm in a great mood and she says her name is Louise and that it's her 89th birthday today and that her husband when he was alive would always buy her a birthday gift and a Valentines gift separately and how she missed him. I was so excited now and I had zero thoughts of my date or her boyfriend sending me on some wild goose chase , I was actually so glad that things worked out as they did because God gave me a gift at my lowest point , he gave me Maggie back for just a few hours and I was going to take advantage of this time.
As we made the 36 minute journey to her home I took every second I had to just ask her questions and let her speak about things she hasn't spoken of in years. I asked her where she was born, her age , her 1st love , everything I could think of. She said she was 89 years old and that she grew up in Alabama. I knew Alabama and Mississippi were very similar back in the day and I grew up having Maggie teach me about racism in the South during her childhood so I asked Louise to tell me about racism in Alabama as a child and she said that there were plenty of white people who were very racist and made life tuff but there were also some very loving and caring white people who she got along great with. She moved to California in her early 20's with the love of her life because she heard from other blacks who had moved there that racism was very minimal in California during those times compared to Alabama and after moving here she found that to be the truth.
I asked her questions that the far left would consider taboo and racist for even asking the question but if you're white and ever had the chance to speak to an old black person about race relations back in the day they WILL NOT BE OFFENDED. what's amazing from my experiences talking with much older black people is that they still believe in the American dream that if you work hard and go to school you can become whatever you want to become. They don't believe in this modern day concept that if your black your life is doomed because the system is set up for you to fail. Maggie died a millionair not being able to read or write. She just worked hard , showed up every day and saved her money and purchased real estate.
Anyways as we got to about 3 minutes from her home I realized this is not a neighborhood I should be rolling into in a $115,000 escalade tinted windows and just have my white ass pop out of the car. So I called the grandson and said we will be pulling up in 2 minutes. So when we pulled up there was about 10 people waiting outside a few were on the porch looking like some gangsters you'd see in an ice cube Friday movie. But my philosophy has always been that a white guy can go into any dangerous neighborhood and if you have good intentions there won't be any problems.
I stupidly prooved this 2 Christmass ago when I passed out candy dressed as Santa in Compton. I hired a gang associated member to actually drive me around that night because he knew everyone and I just thought it was smart to do so. Towards the end of the night I told the guy to drive me to the most hard-core area of Compton and he did and I noticed there was a party going on and it was all black and gangster music just bumping from the home. Long story short I was dancing , hugging and sharing a beer with some of LA's hardest gang bangers and they were appreciative that I was spending my time in their neighborhood doing what I was doing.
So I spent about 20 minutes helping to get Louise to her living room and every family member gave me a huge hug and invited inside their home and was nothing but amazing to me. I did ask what ever happened to your Dad and the two gang looking guys said " oh we will be dealing with him when he decides to show up here " did not sound good for him.
I left their home with the plans to have the family meet me at Old Tonys in a few weeks for dinner on me so I could spend more time with Louise. I've actually convinced the family to let me do a video oral history of Lousie so they could learn more about her before she passes on.
So after the last hug I got into the escalade with my Chinese speaking driver and asked him to please hand me his phone . I told the phone that I own a restaurant in Redondo Beach to please take me there . I put the address into my Uber app as an added stop and we made our way there. When we finally arrived at almost midnight I said F**k it again. I once again spoke into his phone as it translated my words " Hey why don't you come with me and have a drink at my restaurant bar"
He looked at his phone and a huge grin came over his face and he said OK.
We parked the car and walked to Old Tonys where me and this 5 foot guy who spoke not one word of English drank Cokes while passing his phone back and forth speaking into it while the translation app did its thing. We did this till the bar closed. He asked me if I needed a ride home and I said yes please. He drove me home and he rushed around and opened my door . I got out of the car and he gave me a big hug. He pulled out his phone and spoke into the phone. He handed me the phone and I read what he was telling me . The phone had written the sentence
" thank you so much for the cokes, you are a good person and consider you to be the 1st American friend I have ever had "
I said goodbye and as I walked down my driveway I realized that I had not even thought about the girl I was supposed to pick up for Valentines since meeting Louise and realized that I had just had the BEST Valentines evening that I've ever had my entire life.

Uber bill $537.00

Getting to spend my night with an 89 year old black lady from Alabama and a 40 year old guy who didn't speak English .........

Priceless

Congratulations to Chelsea Trutanich on bringing in one more Trutanich into this World. My Dad would be proud. Welcome Hailey Autumn Resendis Trutanich 💕 6lbs 6oz, 18.5 inches long, born on 7/26/23.
Tony Jr

Haha someone actually has the balls to post a comment selling Old Tonys shirts without our permission to even make the shirts. Its fricking Ugly also.

Hello to all our faithfull, amazing, awesome customers. Not going to ask if you like the new carpet because if a 1000 people say they love it and one person says they hate it that one comment will be bugging me all day.
So all I will say is Enjoy the new "Old School" carpet while drinking a Fire Chief.
I remember as a kid saying to my Dad
"Hey Pop, the carpet is looking a bit worn out"
Dad replied
"Son , if you interviewed a 1,000 customers who have eatin here or had drinks upstairs in the last week and asked them to describe the carpet , not one customer would have the answer, so lets wait till we really need new carpet before replacing it"

The old carpet definitly needed replacing so enjoy .
Tony jr

Hey everyone. Wanted to post this article about my Dads World War 2 service to this country. I could write hours and hours about it but to sum it up with zero exageration Tony Sr personally was a factor in the US beating the N***s in WW2. My Dad was always selected to be in the lead lead B-17 bomber often guiding 3,000 men deep into Germany bombing tank factories and other key factories. He lead the 1st and 3rd bombings of Normandy on D Day. He led 300 bombers in what today is considered Americas bloodiest air battle . He lead the bombers that bombed the German capital and when a General was asked which men he woukd select to be his dreaam crew my Dad was selected. My Dad flew 32 missions in his b-17 bomber leading most missions. His chance of survival was about 5% but he made it.
What did my Dad do after completing his 32 missions ? Did he go home ? Nope he signed up to be a fighter pilot. They asked " Tony what the hell are you doing , go home ?
He replied
" I still have friends over there that need protecting"

Tony’s Secret War : The Redondo pier’s godfather and his unheralded heroics in WWII [this article was originally published on January 19, 2011] The letter was handwritten in a carefully printed script in the dark of night. Like so many members of his generation, Tony Trutanich was a…

About to have some steamers

NBC California Live stopped by Old Tonys this morning and they had me go through some of the history Old Tonys pocesses.

On The Pier – A Visit To Old Tony's They’ve been serving up seafood with a view in Redondo Beach since the 1950’s! California Live’s Amber Pfister takes us on a tasting tour of Old Tony’s On The Pier.

Is anyone familiar with this message. Its asking me for my username and password.

Contest ;
Who can tell me what these 1st graders from Redondos Central School are doing in the year 1959. If you guess correctly then the next time you purchase a Mai Tai or Fire Chief at Tonys we'll let you take the glass home with you , WOW
If your in the photo , im buying you dinner at Old Tonys for 2 people.

Please send Anthony III a big shout out.
Anthony the 3rd representing Team USA in Prague. This week we play Germany, Sweeden, Czech republic and a few other countries. My Dad would be so proud of him. Anthony is the only kid from California on the team. Xo

This could possibly be one of the coolest "Tony Trutanich sr" stories yet.
So the very very famous Smoothers Brothers were born and raised in Redondo Beach and both attended RUHS. During all 4 years of high school Tommy Smoothers was a bus boy working for my Dad at Old Tony's, his brother Dick worked there for 2 summers.
Skip ahead 40 years and a Redondo Beach couple The Fitzgeralds , decide to go on the maiden voyage of the very famous cruise liner The Queen Elizabeth 2. This was a very exclusive voyage reserved for the fortunate. It turns out the Smoothers Brothers are the Headliners for this voyage.
One night after watching the Smoothers Brothers perform Mr Fitzgerald knowing the Smoothers Brothers are from Redondo decides to say loudly
" who here has heard of Redondo Beach ?"
Tom Smoothers over hears this and approaches Mr Fitz and ask
" Do you know Tony Trutanich, owner of Tony's on the Pier in Redondo"
Fitz replies " I've known Tony for 40 years "
Tom goes on to tell Mr Fitz that he worked for Tony while attending RUHS
Tom was quoted as saying
" HE TAUGHT ME MORE ABOUT LIFE THAN ANYBODY " " TONY WORKED ME HARD BUT WAS ALWAYS FAIR , I OWE ALOT TO THAT MAN"
Tom then handed Mr Fitz a business card
and said
" PLEASE GIVE THIS TO TONY THE NEXT TIME YOU SEE HIM "

So for all of you under the age of 50 to explain just what a big deal the Smoothers Brothers were, the Smoothers Brothers appeared on the Johnny Carson show 32 times.

This is just one more story to show the type of man my Dad was and the lives he effected in a good way over the years.

You can't be a bad person and have 800 people show up for your funeral. I remember grown men who I'd never met before approaching me at my Dads funeral saying telling me these wonderful stories
One man said

" I just wanted to tell you that your father Tony was the closest thing I ever had to having a Dad. I remember I was having trouble at school with Math and your Dad would sit with me before my shift and go over my Math homework with me and would correct my wrong answers and teach me how to get the right answer"

My Dad's philosophy when it came to his employees was to never tell them talk down to employees or order them to do something. His favorite business saying that I believe he coined was
" Teach don't Preach" if an employee knows the why your telling them to do something then that employee can teach other and new employees the reasons why they do certain things and that employee will have a feeling of ownership with your establishment . So never be preaching always be teaching.
I love and miss him so f**king much it hurts my heart every day.
Tony Jr.

PS. If you worked for my Dad I would be so honored if you mentioned that here and how he was to work for.

One of my ridiculous Old Tonys videos

https://youtu.be/21WSBhyUfp0

#oldtonys tonys film #5 Check out my other videos at http://vid.io/xqEV Its a fun channel, go to the playlist "cool videos" some fun videos to watch.Fire Chief Alright guys instead ...

My Dad would say to me
" Son, do you know what the fastest way to get as many local residence to gather on the Esplanade is ? "
I'd say
" No Dad whats the fastest way to get as many locals to the Esplanade"
His reply
" You have the news announce that there's a Tsunami coming and everyone needs to evacuate the Beach area immediately"

Photo; crowds gather during the arrival of the 1940's storm.
BTW, this was a black and white photo that I colorized.

Old Tony's updated their business hours.

So this is a video about a very famous race heald here in the South Bay. It's called the Catalina Island Manhattan Hermosa Beach AquaPlane Race.
I say we bring it back ;)

https://youtu.be/-ITMFPUX-Vk

Catalina Island Manhattan Hermosa Beach Aquaplane race

Am I missing any??

https://youtu.be/6o4hv9e7acQ

missing any ?

It's here and it's stronger than all the rest. .

https://youtu.be/pxgWvhRLDW4

70th Anniversary Mai Tai Glass #oldtonys