by Frank R. Hayde

Today we honor my friend Carl DiCapo who celebrates his 88th birthday today. Happy Birthday Carl!! Please read about Carl's many accomplishments and contributions to Kansas City in the excerpt below written by Frank Hayde from the book "Italian Gardens: A History of Kansas City Through its Favorite Restaurant."

Drive north on Carl J. DiCapo Drive, and you travel through one of the most picturesque sections of Kansas City, Missouri. With the Liberty Memorial towering to the West, Crown Center on the East, and an iconic view of downtown rising in the North, the street feels like the main artery in the Heart of America. When the city council rededicated this choice section of Main Street in 2006, it honored not a deceased figure from the city's past, but a living legend who now enjoys the unique honor of residing on the same street that bears his name. From his high-rise condominium, the silver-haired son of a Sicilian shoemaker looks out at the expansive urban vista and considers his place in Kansas City history.

Carl's son John David arrives and greets his father with the traditional kiss on the cheek before detouring to the kitchen to deliver homemade sausage and meatballs to his mother Anita, whose family and friends know affectionately as Sugie. The Sunday ritual continues as more family arrives and the home is filled with grandchildren and the aroma of simmering sauce. Carl settles into the sofa and turns his attention to John David's daughter Ava, who lies down with a storybook and makes a footrest out of her Papa's lap.

Carl DiCapo has been called a "civic leader extraordinaire" whose abbreviated resume includes service as Director of the City's Convention and Visitors Bureau; Commissioner of Parks and Recreation, President of the Liberty Memorial Association, Chairman of the Mayor's Ethnic Enrichment Commission, Commissioner of Land Clearance and Redevelopment, Board member of the City's Desegregation Monitoring Committee, and Chairman of the Kansas City Crime Commission. He has served in executive positions with the Boy Scouts of America, the Don Bosco Community Center, the Enshriners, the Salvation Army, Rotary Club 13, and UNICO – the Italian American service organization which in 2003 awarded him with its national Humanitarian of the Year Award. Other awards include the Missouri Restaurant Association Hall of Fame, the Columbian of the Year award from the American Sons of Columbus; the Citation Award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews; Outstanding Rotarian; Citizen of the Year from the Native Sons of Kansas City, the Silver Beaver from the Boy Scouts of America, and the Salvation Army's William Booth Award and Lifetime Achievement Award.

An admirable legacy, to say the least, but when it comes to Carl DiCapo's place in local history, he is remembered most as the proprietor of the longest lasting family-owned restaurant in Kansas City; The Italian Gardens.

A KC institution for 78 years, Italian Gardens offered affordable cuisine and memory-making experiences to generations of local residents and out-of-town guests. When it opened in 1925, Kansas City was a colorful center of jazz music and machine politics. Downtown would go through a long period of decline in later years but the Gardens remained loyal to the urban core. When it closed in December of 2003, the restaurant was rooted in the same territory it had been since Calvin Coolidge was in the White House.

Occasionally, a place exists that captures the spirit and history of an area much larger than itself. The Italian Gardens was such a place. Through its doors came the personalities, stories, and experiences of Kansas City. The Gardens might be closed, but through this book, the family invites you back in to savor the aroma and atmosphere of their famous eatery. The menu is thick with delicious stories and tasty tidbits. Buon Appetito!

Source: Kansas City Italians