Caruso Grocery and Chunce
Recently, the old “Kemport Building” located at 203 Brinton Avenue was razed. Built about 1904, most readers here will remember the building as Caruso’s Grocery Store. Caruso’s Grocery once used an advertising slogan that read, “First to Open, Last to Close.” Italian immigrant Robert (Luberto) Caruso purchased the building in 1923 and operated the store into the late 1970s with his wife Josephine.
Caruso’s Grocery can be added to our growing list of Trafford “speakeasies” that operated during the days of prohibition. Within a year of purchasing the building, Mr. Caruso paid a $100 fine following an evening raid in 1924. Despite prohibition coming to an end, one could apparently still purchase beer at Caruso’s Grocery (although not advertised), as Mr. Caruso paid another $100 fine in 1944 for selling beer without a license. And while there are undoubtedly a number of fond memories and stories to come out of this popular, yet modest, grocery store, there is one story we thought worth mentioning here about the old store.
It was about 1948, and a young Nick Petrucci and Jimmy Vaccaro were patronizing Caruso’s store, as they often did, for a pretzel snack and some penny candy. On one occasion, the boys wore out their welcome by hanging out on the front steps too long, blocking the door for customers. Mr. Caruso, speaking in his native Italian, was not shy in “shooing” the boys away with his broom. One particular day, some robust Italian verbal commands were directed toward Jimmy Vaccaro. The young Petrucci, who later attempted to imitate Mr. Caruso’s words, apparently butchered the Italian dialect so badly that what came out of Nick’s mouth was the word “chuncie.” And while the precise Italian words used by Mr. Caruso that day may never be known, the mishmash of his vernacular by Nick, at the expense of Jimmy, ultimately led to the creation of yet another Trafford nickname. From that day forward, Jimmy Vaccaro would forever be known as “Chunce” Vaccaro, fashioned from the muddled dialect of one of Trafford’s most cherished Italian ancestors.
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