Larry Mazza & Linda Mazza Shelosky

Mazza magic may melt away

Linda Mazza Shelosky, who is a Fairmont East High grad but has lived in Monongah for more than 40 years and is a widow of Bernie Shelosky, Class of 1965, is a daughter of Jimmy Mazza, who passed away in 1973, and Ginny Retton Mazza.

Her brother, Rick Mazza, was on the football coaching staff at Monongah High for the 1973 state football championship and has a successful high school coaching career in North Carolina.

Linda and another brother, Larry Mazza, are the subject of a Fairmont Times article about Mazza’s Restaurant, a fixture in East Fairmont for more than a half-centur.

Linda still lives on Cottage Street where she made her home with Bernard for 44 years until Bernard passed in 2013.

The Fairmont Times article:

FAIRMONT — “Thanks for the memories.”

That’s the message on the sign outside Mazza’s on Alta Vista Avenue, a restaurant located near the old East Fairmont High School and East Fairmont Junior High and, now, East Fairmont Middle School.

Friday a large crowd was on hand much of the day as the restaurant was open for a final day — for now.

Larry Mazza, who worked lunch hours in the 1960s as an East Fairmont student when his late father James was running the business, would like to retire and sell it.

“I’d like to retire,” he said while taking a break late during the afternoon. “I will. If I don’t sell, I’ll come back in August and work until about Christmas and that vacation in school and then go down and be with my son.”

That’s in Boca Raton, Florida, where his son Rocky Mazza lives and Larry Mazza has a condo.

“I like the lifestyle,” Larry Mazza said. “I’ll be really close to a basketball court, a tennis court, a swimming pool. They have a lot of oldies concerts there. It’s really nice. You can ride a bicycle for miles. It’s a little different from back here.”

He wants to retire while in good health.

“I’ve seen too many people retire, and they’re no longer here,” he said. “They worked all their lives.”

Linda Mazza Shelosky, like her brother Larry, worked lunch hours at Mazza’s while in high school.

“Except the times I kind of fibbed and told my dad I had a meeting,” she said with a smile.

She continued to help her dad and has been working with her brother since the 1980s.

James Mazza had Mazza’s from 1948 until his death in 1973. Larry Mazza then took over until 1993, when the school changed to closed campus.

He had a number of other businesses and continued living in the same location as Mazza’s.

This is the fourth year the original Mazza’s location has been reopened.

“It’s just different because it’s junior high kids and middle school kids instead of high school, but it has still been great because you pretty much know the kids’ dads, grandpas and others,” Mazza said. “It has been really good.”

He said his father “really built a great name for himself.”

“When I took it over, I did not want to tarnish the name at all,” Mazza added.

Pizza buns, which were first offered about 1975, have been a popular item over the years.

The original menu featured such items as hot dogs, hamburgers, french fries and milkshakes.

The pepperoni rolls offered at Mazza’s now feature cubed rather than sliced pepperoni.

“They like that better,” Mazza said. “There’s more bite to it.”

Mazza hopes the restaurant can continue under a similar philosophy for decades to come.

“I’m hoping to sell it to somebody who will be similar to myself and my father, who was active in East Fairmont,” he said. “They can keep that alive and have a thing where they can look back, like myself, and say after 30 or 40 years, ‘Oh, look here. All the good memories.’”

Shelosky said she has “loved the people” over the decades.

“You have to be a people person in this business,” she said. “The only reason why I don’t like the days we’re really crowded is you really can’t connect with people. It’s good for business. Every business person wants to make money.

“Today there were so many people who came back from the ’60s. We were so crowded. It was early out (from school). It’s wonderful that these people always support you. It’s going to be a sad day, but it’s a happy day, too.

“It’s sad because that’s really my connection with people. This is my socialization since my husband passed away. It’s like a connecting path. But it’s good to let go. Larry has his son in Florida and his granddaughter. That’s what it’s all about.”