Print Story
E-mail Story
Lost Treasures: Freddie’s at the Skyway House
| Wednesday, Nov 8 2006 12:16 PM
Last Updated: Tuesday, Nov 21 2006 3:49 PM
Freddie’s at the Skyway House
Photos:
Freddie's at the Skyway House
Freddie's at the Skyway House
Dining at Freddie’s at the Skyway House meant lobster and steaks in an elegant dining room, and once in a while you rubbed shoulders with a celebrity.
Opened by Fred Giovanetti in 1960, the upscale restaurant at the Meadows Field airport attracted fly-in celebrities stopping over between Los Angeles and San Francisco, said Giovanetti's former wife Betty Giovanetti Mann.
She recalled the day entertainer Danny Kaye landed for brunch.
“Everyone was goggle-eyed, but we treated him like average people,” Mann said.
Giovanetti, who was a submarine cook during World War II, also ran the hugely popular Freddie’s Top of the Hill restaurant and Skyway Lanes on Mount Vernon Avenue, the Circle Cafe on Garces Circle and the Hill House on Truxtun Avenue.
In 1971 Giovanetti was beaten in front of a residence near the Valley Plaza Mall and died several days later, his widow Jean Giovanetti said.