Mallozzis to revive Brown Derby nameNovember 1, 2007 by Alan Wechsler, Business writer
The Brown Derby restaurant of Hollywood fame will live again in Albany in the former Salvation Army building at 22 Clinton Ave.
Rotterdam restaurateurs John and Bob Mallozzi will operate the restaurant, which will serve typical continental fare with what they described as some unique entrees. Prices are expected to range from $25 to $40.
The original Brown Derby, which operated from the 1920s to the 1980s, was the Hollywood place to be seen. The Cobb salad was created there, as was the Shirley Temple “cocktail” — lemon-lime soda and grenadine syrup topped with a maraschino cherry.
The Mallozzis, whose family owns Mallozzi’s Restaurant and Belvedere Hotel in Rotterdam and the Villa Italia Bakery in Schenectady, bought the rights to the Brown Derby name from a previous owner, who died two years ago.
The Salvation Army left the three-story building, located near the Palace Theatre, in 2004. It was purchased by developer BCI Group and David Hayes, principal of MM Hayes, a software firm in Menands. The space is being leased by the Mallozzis.
They will bring in some of the original Brown Derby’s round red leather booths, and some of the caricatures of stars that hung on its walls.
ALBANY Brown Derby restaurant coming to city BY JAMES SCHLETT Gazette Reporter Reach Gazette reporter James Schlett at 395-3040 or jschlett@dailygazette.net
The yellow brick building’s cornerstone reads: “Erected to the glory of God for service to humanity September 18 1927.” For decades, the building provided that holy service as a regional headquarters for the Salvation Army. Starting in the spring, its mission will change to serve the glory of Hollywood. City officials and Schenectady restaurateurs Robert and John Mallozzi announced Thursday plans to convert that long-vacant Clinton Avenue building into a Hollywood Brown Derby restaurant. It will be modeled after the famed Brown Derby in Los Angeles, which was responsible for the Cobb salad and the Shirley Temple drink. “Today we’re bringing the Hollywood lore to downtown Albany,” said Bob Mallozzi, whose Mallozzi Group runs Mallozzi’s Belvedere Hotel, Villa Italia Pasticceria and Mallozzi’s Banquet & Ballrooms in Schenectady County. The Mallozzi Group will pour $1.2 million into the 138-seat restaurant, which will feature some of the original red booths and caricature paintings from the original Brown Derby, which was shaped like a hat. The Mallozzi Group’s investment comes on top of the nearly $2 million BCI and M.M. Hayes, Co. have spent on the 16,000-square-foot, three-story building. Renovations began in April and 800 square feet will be added to the building to make room for kitchen space. “I’m certain this will become a landmark restaurant and building in Albany,” Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings said at a news conference outside the former Salvation Army, which is diagonally across Clinton Avenue from the Palace Theater. Between 1926 and 1975, four Brown Derby restaurants operated in the L.A. area. The franchise’s last restaurant, in Pasadena, Calif., closed in 1989 — the same year Disney Corp. opened a version of the Brown Derby at its MGM Studios theme park in Florida. In 1998, Robert Mallozzi started talking to Walter Scharfe. Scharfe in 1975 acquired the last of the L.A. Brown Derby restaurants, which closed a decade later. The Pasadena Brown Derby opened soon after the closure, according to the Los Angeles Time Machine Web site. Robert Mallozzi said Scharfe, who died two years ago, supported the idea of an Albany Brown Derby. Robert Mallozzi in June applied to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to acquire a trademark for “The Brown Derby” brand, which consists of a derby-style hat with the restaurant’s name in it. The Trademark Office has not issued a final determination on the registrability of the mark, according to the federal agency’s Web site. The Clinton Avenue restaurant, which is scheduled to open in May, will take the Mallozzi Group further into Albany County. The family business founded in Rotterdam in 1965 made its fi rst Albany County venture two years ago, taking over the restaurant at the Italian American Community Center, followed by Mallozzi’s Clubhouse at the Western Turnpike Golf Course. David Hayes, of the M.M. Hayes, Co. work force management solutions firm in Albany, bought the building at 22 Clinton Ave. several years ago for $250,000. He acquired it from the Columbia Development Corp., which had considered razing the building. Hayes later teamed up with BCI, which in 2005 built Villa Italia for the Mallozzi Group on Broadway in Schenectady. BCI plans to lease our the upper levels of the former Salvation Army as office space. PHOTO COURTESY OF 3T ARCHITECTS An artist’s rendering of the Brown Derby Restaurant to be built at 22 Clinton Ave. in Albany.
Great stuff for Albany....They are selling the belvedere in Rotterdam..
I heard they were selling also, but we all know how trustworthy rumors are!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Thanks for the info. I wouldn't be surprised to see their home up for sale and just move right out of Rotterdam, lock, stock and barrel!!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
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