I used to live in San Diego from Aug-1976 to Nov-1992 foolishly moved to Florida, Long Story, I was friends with Tony Ferrari, and Tony Rodrigues, the Half owner's of NUNU's which means GRANDPA'S in Italian. here is a little History of the Place.
Tony Ferrari, was a professional Boxer in the 1940's ,Tony Rodrigues a retired commercial fisherman, I was Tony's Refrigeration, Air Conditioning repairman. I installed the Glass Shelves behind the Bar, I worked all night to do so was locked in at 2 am when they closed and was still there when they opened at 6 am.
I installed bigger pulley's on the kitchen exhaust fan to remove the Heat and grease smoke.
I also installed the smoke exhaust fans in the Bar / restaurant area, to relieve the terrible smoky condition about1981, it was so bad that you could hold your breath inside, go outside exhale and smoke would come out your mouth, ( honestly ). it was always dark in Nunu's, Black curtains drawn tight, people preferred it that way, there a dinner I enjoyed, the " Feast for Two" which a half order could be had, new York steak, crab legs Mushrooms, forgot what else. but wonderful. another great lunch item was NUNU'S NOONER they may still have it.
The Crowd was usually older people, 50's 60's and older. the bartender manager was JOHN.
a big very kind man everyone liked. professional people came there for lunch, lawyers, judges, F.B.I. agents , a lot of the customers were Portuguese, Italian, Fishermen from the net boats and some retired fishermen..
There were times I stopped in at 9 am to do a refrigeration repair, the owner insisted on buying me a drink, could not refuse or it made him a little upset being Italian and all, next thing I knew more drinks were served me FREE, then a big Lunch, FREE, more people bought me drinks, finally it was 2 AM closing time and I was being thrown out drunk as hell, never did my appliance repair routes that day, and somehow successfully drove 8 miles to my home in Clairemont , no accidents, no arrest, and could not get out of bed for two days, sick as hell.
one day in I think fall of 1985 an incident happened where two very big drunken men tried to beat the hell out of an old man with stiff right leg as he was entering the restaurant door, he yelled for help, many men rushed outside to help, and were thrown around like rag dolls including Tony Ferrari, I reached for my stun gun, and instead grabbed my .45 auto, as I was licensed to carry in S.D. one of the violent men saw this and came at me yelling he wasn't afraid of a gun, I backed down the street he followed, I pulled the gun out and aimed it at him, he stopped and went back to help his brother beat up the old man, then the brother came at me backing me down the street against the building, I pulled my gun out again cocked it back and said DEATH IS FOREVER, he backed off , this gave the old man time to be helped into the bar / restaurant. I was told to leave as the cops were called and it would be best if I were not there. the police did not arrest anyone said it was MUTUAL COMBAT, I was told to stay away for a few weeks to let things cool down, as the two men left that night and came back later threatening to burn the place down, and all the tough Portuguese and Italians there did nothing, I was blamed for the whole thing, by the patrons, even though I prevented the old man from possible dying or being hurt badly, I was told by the sheriff's office and S.D. pd I was justified in what I did and both said I should have killed them I backed away they persisted, was in fear of my life, BUT I was told by the owners wife I was a trouble maker to not come back.... NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED...
I was so hurt by this, that I wrote a letter to Nunu's giving the names, and phone number of other appliance repair businesses in S.D. that charged two to three times what I charged, and said good bye was nice to know you, good luck finding someone honest to do your repairs.
I never went to Tony Ferrari's funeral when he committed suicide with a 44.magnum handgun after finding out he had cancer... I do regret that but felt I might have not been welcome.
Do not know who owns it now, but wish them the best,it always was a homey feeling place and everyone was like Family. and OLD Family....that was 31 years ago. read more