A fixture along the Mother Road since 1936, Bono's is closed now. The restaurant parking lot is used for a swap meet, and owner Joe Bono comes over to greet the Route 66 tourists who stop for a pic and some nostalgia.
The day Blasterz were there (9 Mar 2016), owner Joe Bono came over to chat with us while we were checking out his iconic Big Orange juice stand.
He told us his parents immigrated from Sicily and came to Fontana to grow grapes. But the grapes didn't do too well, so after several years of poverty and hardship, his mother, opened a produce and juice stand along Route 66. Joe (then a teenager) helped his mom out a little at first, while his Dad kept working the vines. But gradually as Mom's business became more successful and busier with growing Route 66 traffic, Joe worked more and more at her juice stand and later (1943) her restaurant, leaving the grapes behind for good. Eventually, Dad quit the grape business and joined the restaurant. The restaurant passed to Joe and his wife, who operated it together until she passed away in 2006.
Joe was a hoot, and we were so thankful to be able to spend some time with him!
From the National Park Service National Register Nomination Form: (
visit link)
"Description: Bono's Restaurant and Deli is located at 15395 Foothill Blvd, a stretch of road which was part of the original U.S. Route 66 linking Chicago to Los Angeles. The property consists of one contributing building: a commercial one-story that faces north toward Foothill Blvd. The commercial building, originally a roadside produce stand established in July of 1936, was expanded in 1943 to house an Italian restaurant and deli.
. . .
The contributing building, originally constructed in 1936, was small and rectangular in plan. Built by the Bono family as a market serving juice, olives, wine, and other local goods, its walls were sheathed in white stucco and light green ceramic tile. The north wall was composed of large, arched doorways made of wooden trellises between a series of engaged pilasters. Originally, the arched doors could be opened up completely, turning the space into a covered outdoor market, in a manner consistent with typical roadside stands from this period; however, in 1943 the arched openings were infilled with glazing. They remain glazed today.
In 1943 the Bonos expanded the building to the south and west, adding space to convert the market into a full-service restaurant. The addition was a wood frame construction, also sheathed in white stucco and light green tile. At the same time as the addition was constructed, the arched trellises were infilled with glass. The old arches remain visible behind the glass despite being walled closed with wood framing and stucco. . .
Also in 1943, signage and decoration were added to the exterior. There are three main signs on the building, one facing east and one facing west, which advertised daily specials to passersby, and one on top of the roof which was visible from both east and west, simply stating "Bono's Deli, Since 1936." Two painted stripes, one red and one green, were also added to the building's exterior just below the roof, advertising the restaurant's Italian fare. Finally, decorative grapevines in purple and green were mounted on the columns at the main entry on the western facade. . . .
Today, (2007 – BMB) Bono's maintains a high degree of historic integrity from its 1943 period. The building retains its original tile and stucco, both of which are in pristine condition. Even the details from the 1943 period remain intact: the decorative grapevines are still attached to the western columns, the arched trellises are still intact along the north wall, the signs are still in use, and the red and green painted stripes have been maintained.
Historical Background:
Bono's began as a roadside produce stand in 1936, ten years after the construction of Route 66 officially began in 1926 and two years before its paving was reported complete in 1938.6 The market was started out of "desperation" when the Bono family's vineyards were struggling.
The City of Fontana was established less than 25 years earlier in 1913 as a farm town for A.B. Millers Fontana Farms Company, so the resident population was still quite small, approximately 2,000 people, and consisted mostly of vineyard and citrus farmers. As such, Bono's had to draw much of its early business from Route 66 passersby in need of food for their journey or refreshments to combat the blazing California heat.
During Bono's early years in the 1930s, it is estimated that 210,000 people from the Dust Bowl states tried to escape their desolate circumstances during the Depression by making the long journey along Route 66 to California. Then, between 1940 and 1943, the beginning of Bono's period of significance, the U.S. responded to the vast deficiency in the number of workers necessary to support wartime operations on the West Coast by enacting the West Coast Manpower Plan. This plan enabled government contractors to offer hundreds of thousands of new jobs to meet wartime production demands and resulted in the mass migration of more than one million people from the Northeast to new production centers in California, Oregon and Washington. Due to the limited capacity of the nation's rail system, most of these emigrants had to travel by automobile along Route 66.
The limitations created by the expropriation of the railway system during wartime yielded another major increase in Route 66 traffic.
Not only were emigrants traveling the road to find new work out west; truckers were also traveling the road in larger numbers than ever before. A Public Roads Administration study at the time found that at least 50% of defense-related production material was moved and delivered by truck, instead of train. The result was seemingly endless truck convoys moving back and forth between Chicago and the Port of Los Angeles along Route 66.
As the frequency and numbers of Route 66 travelers and truckers increased in the early 1940s, so did the size of Bono's. In order to accommodate the expanding masses of Route 66 patrons, as well as the demands of the growing resident population, Bono's expanded into a full-service restaurant in 1943.
To make this transition feasible, the market was expanded to the south and west and the open archway facade was enclosed with glass. The addition was constructed of wood framing and sheathed in white stucco and light green tile to match the original market facade.
Space was added to accommodate counter service meals, a take-out deli, a full-service kitchen, and storage space, while the old market space was converted into the dining area. Also added to the property was an outhouse building to the west of the addition containing two small restrooms. Also added to the building in 1943 were several advertising elements designed to lure in customers from the busy road. Large signs were erected on the street facades to advertise the usual offerings, as well as daily specials. Red and green stripes were painted on the white stucco to let potential patrons know the type of cuisine they could find inside, and decorative grapevines were mounted to the exterior columns to advertise one of the restaurant's original products: wine. Adding very visible decorative elements like these was very typical of establishments along Route 66, because they were a means of appealing to a customer base which was not constant, but rather just passing through, and therefore had to be visible from the road.
The major expansion and decorative changes made to Bono's in 1943 were indicative of the changes taking place along Route 66 at the time. The number of travelers was increasing at a rapid pace, and businesses all along the road had to keep up if they expected to survive. In the 1930s the section of the road along which Bono's sits was home to a proliferation of small markets and fruit stands, but by 1943 Bono's was one of only a few remaining. 13 The restaurant's ability to evolve with the changing demands and numbers of Route 66 travelers no doubt enabled its survival.
Of course, not everyone who made it to Fontana along Route 66 kept going; many people stayed and made the city their home, especially with the advent of the Kaiser Steel Mill. In 1942 Kaiser Steel decided to locate its West Coast operations in Fontana due to its existing railroad tracks and its proximity to Los Angeles. With the steel mill came dozens of immigrants looking for work. Many of them were Italian immigrants who had been working in mills on the East Coast. The new residents brought an increased demand for Italian goods which they could only find 50 miles away in Los Angeles.
Recognizing this heightened demand, Bono's increased its supply and selection of imported Italian foods and products. As a result, Bono's became a social hub for the immigrant community. In return, the new customer base helped to sustain Bono's after the passing of the Federal Aid Highway Act in 1956, construction of the I- 10 Freeway, and the decline of Route 66's popularity throughout the 1960s and 70s.
Coinciding with the passing of the Federal Highway Act, the end of Bono's period of significance is 1956. In the early 1950s, the function of Route 66 began to change dramatically from a major artery of emigration to a tourist attraction. Automobile production and traffic congestion steadily increased across the country, while advancements in road construction technology were taking place. As a result, the government passed legislation enabling the construction of new cross country routes.
This legislation solidified Route 66's new function as a tourist attraction and foreshadowed its ultimate demise. As a result, the type of patrons visiting Bono's and the many other businesses along the route changed from emigrating families to tourist groups. Eventually, the tourists came in smaller and smaller numbers as parts of Route 66 began to vanish or become unrecognizable. Consequently, Route 66 businesses closed and were demolished by the masses. It is largely because of this widespread demolition that preserving buildings like Bono's has become so important.
Since the enacting of the Federal Highway Act and the end of Bono's period of significance, few changes have been made to the building: During the 1970s, exact date unknown, plywood paneling was added to the exterior of the restaurant in a style typical of the time period. Then, in the 1980s, again the exact date is unclear, a single-story 19th Century house was joined to the restaurant building by constructing an enclosed hallway between them. The house is located to the south of the property and is not visible from the street. Its original roof line, footprint and most of its original walls are still intact; it was only altered where necessary to join the two buildings.
In 2006, the owner Joe Bono removed the 1970s paneling to reveal the original tile and stucco beneath it. Bono's endured the economic highs and lows of both Route 66 and the City of Fontana and remained a thriving business until 2006 when Mrs. Frances Bono, the original chef, passed away. Today, Bono's is closed to the public, except for special events such as meetings and parties.
Joe Bono, its current owner and Mrs. Bono's son, has taken steps to restore the property to its 1943 appearance and intends to reopen soon.
Because of its remarkable historic integrity, its association with and reflection of historic Route 66 during the 1940s and '50s, and its importance to the community of Fontana residents, Bono's is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. As a commercial property retaining its commercial, streamline moderne character from Route 66's period of significance, it meets the standards of integrity set forth in the National Parks Service Special Resource Study: Route 66. Additionally, within a landscape of rapid growth and change, Bono's serves as an important reminder of both the local history of Fontana and San Bernardino County and of the history of Route 66 itself."