Photograph courtesy of the Gibino family
WG Icon: Nicholas Frederick Gibino, former owner of Gibino's Market on Willow Street and a member of the family that owned and operated Sam's Log Cabin, passed away last month in his Willow Glen home.
With the death of a Willow Glen icon, community loses link to part of its past
Nick Gibino welcomed family, neighbors to market on Willow St.
By Kate Carter
For a Willow Glen family, a period of time as well as a beloved relative came to an end last month.
Nicholas Frederick Gibino, former owner of Gibino's Market on Willow Street and a member of the family that owned and operated Sam's Log Cabin, died in his Willow Glen home Feb. 24 of colon cancer. He was 89.
He was the last of the "Gibino Goosetown Gang" on Willow Street between Vine Avenue and Almaden Road from the Great Depression through the 1960s.
"Goosetown sprang up from the Italians there," said son Jerry Gibino. "At one time, I guess there were a lot of geese there."
Jerry and his brother, Rod, remembered that time and place as one of family, friends and food, spending time with their father, his parents and siblings and their children and other local Italian families--the Intravias, Casellis, Bozzos, Ferraros, Peras, Lopiccolos and DiSalvos.
"The whole area is very nostalgic for my brother and me," Rod said.
They also remembered their dad as an easygoing, openhearted person with a quick wit and pride in his hard work.
"He was witty as hell, always good humored," Rod said. "He had a temper, but he never held onto it. He couldn't see anybody go without what they needed."
Nick was born Sept. 1, 1912, in Louisiana, and moved with his parents, Salvatore, "Sam," and Mary, and siblings, Sammy, Russell, Joseph, Tony, Josephine and Mae to the Santa Clara Valley in the 1920s.
Sam began operating Sam's Log Cabin and his sons all helped in the bar, restaurant, pool hall, dance hall and adjacent barber shop.
"My grandpa was quite the entrepreneur," Jerry said.
Nick went to Sacred Heart Grammar School and St. Joseph's High School, both in San Jose. In 1932, he married Elsie Morella and began working at Weiland's Brewery, later called Falstaff Brewery, on Lenzen Avenue, and Jerry was born in 1939. In 1945, Nick quit his job, bought Gibino's Market at the corner of Clark and Willow streets and moved his family into the attached house. Rod was born in 1948.
"The building is still there, and someone lives in the house behind," Jerry said.
The market became known for its quality meats and Italian sausage. It was also a community gathering place, and family members and other locals would come by almost every night.
"My dad loved to cook--you could smell something cooking every day," Jerry said. "That seemed to be the magnet area for the family. There were those certain fellows--two to six guys almost on a nightly basis--who would gather in the evening and drink in the stockroom behind the curtain."
Friday nights meant fish for dinner, and Nick's brother, Tony, was sure to make an appearance. Sunday dinners were spaghetti, and Monday assured a visit from brother Russ looking for meat and bread ends.
"There were always guys hanging out at the store," Rod said.
He remembered one evening when the store's sewer backed up and all the men pitched in to help unplug it and clean up the mess.
"My dad's sitting there smoking a cigarette," Rod said, laughing at his father for getting others to solve the problem. "He just had a way about him."
But Nick was nothing if not a hard worker, Jerry said, working seven days a week from 7 a.m. to midnight, and then coming home, eating a bowl of ice cream and watching television.
"He never went on vacation," Jerry said. "We took him to Tahoe once, and he was a nervous wreck. He had to get back."
And in spite of a visible sign stating "Please, Do Not Ask For Credit," Nick let people take from the store as needed, regardless of their ability to pay. That, in fact, was part of what led to the store's eventual closure in 1969.
"He got so much on the books, it was pathetic," Jerry said.
The arrival of the Alpha Beta grocery store near the corner of Minnesota and Bird avenues also proved to be too much competition for the small business. So Jerry and Rod helped Nick pay off his debts and Nick and Elsie moved to a house near Almaden Expressway and Koch Avenue.
Once the store closed and they left Willow Street, the nightly gatherings ceased, Rod said. But Nick never went a day without visiting his mother, and even when she died, he and his siblings would gather weekly and talk about the good old days.
Nick got a job as a custodian at West Valley College and brought all of his personality and work ethic with him.
"Dad was a hard worker and he was so proud of that place," Jerry said. "He had a way of yelling at the kids where they would enjoy it. The kids loved him over at the school."
When he retired, at age 65, the school hired three men to replace him, Jerry added.
At about that time, Nick's health began to give him trouble. He had developed symptoms of Parkinson's disease in his 50s, and survived prostate and bladder cancer that left him dependent on a catheter.
"He was a giver, and he never complained about any of his illnesses," Jerry said. "His theory on life was, 'Worry about today; the hell with tomorrow.'"
Nick continued to enjoy working in his garden, watching Westerns and cooking for his wife, and, after her death in 1999, himself until the family had to bring in full-time care for him in January.
Nick was diagnosed with colon cancer in December 2000, but, like his wife, struggled with his illness while living in his own home.
"My brother and I promised our folks that they wouldn't be put in a convalescent hospital," Jerry said.
Nick Gibino is survived by his sons and their wives, Jerry and Louise of San Jose and Rod and Cheryl of Clackamas, Ore.; grandchildren and their spouses, Kathy and Mike Riccardi of San Jose, Suzanne Gibino of San Jose, Christina and Kirk Jesser of Tigard, Ore., and Laura and Eric Hayes of Milwaukie, Ore.; and great-grandchildren Joshua, 8, Emily, 5, and Kayla, 3, Jesser and Nicholas, 5, Austin, 4, and Jaden, 9 months, Hayes. He is also survived by his sister Josephine "Ted" Sanfilipo and many nieces and nephews.
His sons say they will miss the man who was more than a father to them; he was a friend.
"Dad was Dad, there was no doubt," Rod said. "But he was a buddy. I mean, he was cool."
Services have been held. Donations in Nick Gibino's honor can be made to Sacred Heart Nativity School, 310 Edwards Ave., San Jose, 95110.
Willow Glen, California Since 1992
