Recalling Joe Sacco, a long-time bar owner who loved music and people

Jun. 30—Joe Sacco didn't really know everybody in Niagara Falls.

To those who got to know him, it just often felt that way.

As a long-time bar owner and advocate for local music and musicians, Sacco, who died on June 23 at age 78, got to know a lot of people in and around the city over the course of several decades.

He had a knack for recalling faces and remembering names.

He had a gentle demeanor that helped him engage people in conversations.

That, according to his lifelong friend Peter Paonessa Jr., was just Joe's personality.

Guys like Joe, he noted, often lead lives with a lot of love.

"There's some people in your life that you meet that nobody has a bad word to say about them," Paonessa said. "They are few and far between, but Joe was one of those guys. Nobody who you talked to about him had a bad word to say about him. They would always refer to him as 'oh, my friend Joe.' He knew everybody."

Sacco was a graduate of Niagara Falls High School who went on to earn a degree in culinary arts from Niagara County Community College. He also served in the U.S. Air Force from 1964 until he was honorably discharged in 1969 as a personal chef to the Air Force Base Commander.

After his service, Sacco worked as a bailiff for New York State Supreme Court in Niagara Falls and Lockport and in maintenance at the Niagara County Building in Niagara Falls. In his spare time, he was an active member and usher at Mount Carmel Church and a member of the Cristoforo Columbo Society and the LaSalle Yacht Club.

It was Sacco's involvement in the ownership and management of bars in the Falls that put him in touch with his many friends and acquaintances, however.

It all started with the Victory Grill, a lounge on lower Main Street that he co-owned with his father. From there, he went on to become the proprietor of other popular local bars including the International, The Tree House, The Stardust, The Parrot and Cruisers'. At one time, he also owned Valentino's in Lewiston.

On his Facebook page, former WKBW-TV and Empire Sports reporter Bob Koshinski described Sacco's passing as the "end of an era" in the Falls.

"Whether it was the Stardust, Switchyard, Holiday Inn, Tree House, Pumpkin Patch and maybe others, I frequented them all back in the day," Koshinski wrote. "Also played on his Joe Sacco Over The Hill Gang slo-pitch team in the mid 70's. Joe was a huge part of the Niagara Falls night scene, rest in peace my friend."

Paonessa knew Sacco from his earliest days as a kid growing up on Forest Avenue. Joe grew up in a house on Grande Avenue in the same neighborhood.

Paonessa went on to become a working drummer, traveling from show to show in venues across the country over a career in music that spanned 60 years.

Sacco never learned to be play an instrument, but Paonessa said he had a great appreciation for music and a genuine affinity with musicians. It was part of what kept him going all those years with all those bars, which, Paonessa said, thankfully, provided playing space for local bands who would have had to travel to Buffalo for gigs otherwise.

In his playing days and during Sacco's bar owner days, Paonessa said, the bars in the Falls were often packed, many times with Canadian customers on the younger side who could drink in America at age 18 at a time when they had to be 21 to do so at home.

Paonessa recalled times when he and his bandmates would play at a place owned by Sacco pretty much from noon until closing time Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

He said Sacco fed all the band members lunch and dinner on the house.

"I think he did it because he loved music so much," Paonessa said. "He really did take good care of them."

But then, Paonessa said, Sacco always tried to take good care of all his customers.

In turn, he said, Sacco generated a lot of repeat business, turning a lot of customers into friends with his charm and his smile.

"I think it was his charisma," Paonessa said. "People just kind of loved and respected him. Every one of his customers were treated well and he had a following. If he opened a bar, it was packed from the first night."

Paonessa said Sacco's character and reputation extended well beyond the confines of the Cataract City.

"I've played all over the world, especially in Las Vegas, and people, the minute they knew I was from Niagara Falls, they may not have known him by name, but they knew the clubs and they liked the clubs he had. They always remembered the hospitality he had."

Paonessa, a past president and current member of the board of the Niagara Falls Music Hall of Fame, said he's confident the group will find a way to honor Sacco for his contributions to the Falls music scene.

In Paonessa's opinion, it will be an honor that's richly deserved.

"I would say he will be honored and accepted into the Niagara Falls Music Hall of Fame in the near future," he said.

A Mass of Christian Burial was held in Sacco's honor Wednesday at Holy Family Parish at St. Joseph Church on Pine Avenue.

In lieu of flowers, his family encouraged memorial offerings to the American Heart Association, www.heart.org. Online condolences are welcome at www.mjcoluccifuneralchapel.com.