1907 Salvotti Family builds the restaurant, virtually by hand, using lumber from post-quake Red Cross recovery shack. Opened as "Hilda's Saloon", it was basically a boarding house. A 4-course meal was 25¢ including wine (made by Hilda in the basement). 1919 Prohibition is enacted and Hilda leases out the restaurant to Terry and Johnny Murnane, who ran a bootlegging operation out of the basement and a speakeasy out of the upstairs flat next door. Busted by the Feds in 1924 for having too much fun, the joint is padlocked for six months. 1924 Hilda takes over again. 1926 Hilda passes to the Great Saloon in the Sky and her sons, Jules and Emil, take over and change the name to "Salvotti's". Salvotti's was primarily a "lunch room" for the next 47 years. 1975 Jules Salvotti sells Slavotti's to a local artist and former art director of Rolling Stone Magazine, Robert David Kingsbury, and his partner Charles Michaels. At this point the restaurant is was renovated and renamed "Connecticut Central". 1976 Mario Reyes of Mario's Restaurant on Bush Street buys Connecticut Central. 1979 Gary and July Pasquinelli buy Connecticut Central. 1985 Vida Daw buys Connecticut Central, hangs a crow in front and changes the name to "Jackdaw." Dec. 13, 1988 With the historic words: "Go West Young Man and Discover Your Fortune" echoing in their heads, two ambitious though slightly twisted New Englanders take the big plunge (sell all their baseball cards) and buy Jackdaw. Dec. 15, 1988 An Act of God brings down the bird and a truck runs over it. April 1, 1989 Marks the beginning of the next chapter, titled "Connecticut Yankee" - onward and upward (we hope)!

 

 

Artwork By
Michael Evertt

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