Auction At Closed Delco Restaurant Feeds Memories Of Loyal Customers
By Walt Hunter
MEDIA, Pa., (CBS) -- Why would customers flock to a closed Media, Delaware County restaurant?
Because it's the Town House which, for 65 years fed both their stomachs and their hearts.
After Babe D'Ignazio and his wife founded the restaurant in 1951, he not only filled it with loyal customers, he decorated it with thousands of items.
Auctioneer John Turner told CBS 3's Walt Hunter it took him a month, along with his staff, to catalog all the items from old-fashioned phones to an airplane propeller that will be auctioned off starting this weekend.
Closest to the hearts of longtime customers, hundreds of pictures of weddings, reunions and other special events that D'Ignazio always had room to hang on the crowded walls.
Since the restaurant's closing recently, Tim D'Ignazio, son of the owner, says he has been receiving calls, letters and emails from many former customers, each asking for a picture or item they want to keep.
"Just look at the stuff he gathered, something for everyone," explained Media Mayor Bob McMahon, who praised the late owner and his wife for their special generosity to veterans.
Auctioneer Turner says close to 3,000 memorabilia will go onto the auction block this weekend when, for the last time, the crowds will arrive at the Town House -- not for meals, but for the memories.