Nick Caruso Sr., Friend of Sinatra, ran Jilly's nightclub, 69
deb...@comcast.net
July 27, 2006
BY DAVE HOEKSTRA Staff Reporter Sun Times
There wasn't a song Nick Caruso Sr. couldn't sing.
He could call Frank Sinatra a compatriot, which led to Mr. Caruso
opening Jilly's nightclub on Rush Street. He was involved with the
development of the National Italian-American Sports Hall of Fame on
Taylor Street.
Mr. Caruso died Wednesday morning of heart failure at Hinsdale
Hospital. He was 69 years old.
He was a Chicago story.
His father, Sam, was in the produce business at the South Water Market
where, as a child, Mr. Caruso helped sell goods to wholesalers. His
mother, Mary, was born in Mrs. O'Leary's cottage at 558 De Koven, where
the Great Chicago Fire is said to have started. The lot is now the site
of the Robert J. Quinn Fire Academy.
Mr. Caruso was the starting guard for the 1953 St. Ignatius High School
basketball team that was city co-champion. In 1954, he was named team
captain at the legendary prep school at Blue Island and Roosevelt. He
worked for the Chicago Park District as a gym instructor and was a camp
counselor at Vernon Park near Taylor Street.
But Mr. Caruso was best known for bringing Jilly's nightclub to
Chicago.
The original Jilly's was at Eighth Avenue and 52nd Street in New York.
The club was named after Jilly Rizzo, who was Sinatra's best friend and
bodyguard. Mr. Caruso met Rizzo in 1971 after a Sinatra concert at
Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. They became friends, and in 1981, Mr.
Caruso opened Jilly's at Delaware and Rush. Milt Trenier's show lounge
was downstairs, and Jilly's was upstairs. Rush Street was rocking.
'Sinatra loved him'
"From Dad on down, we had a tremendous affection for Chicago," Tina
Sinatra said Wednesday from Los Angeles. "The special elements of
Chicago for us -- always -- was Nick and Little Nick [Nick Caruso Jr.].
Big Nick was a cuddlebear and so generous with his time and charitable
commitments. Nick took good care of me, and I know he took good care of
Dad."
Willy Rizzo is Jilly's middle son. He was on the scene when Mr. Caruso
operated Jilly's in the 1980s "We used to have my father's birthday
parties there, Frank's birthday parties," Rizzo said Wednesday from his
home in Las Vegas. "Nick was there all the time. He was the ambassador
to Chicago. If you were down on your knees, Nick would pull you back
up."
Mr. Caruso had never operated a bar, so he learned the ropes from
Jilly, the son of a Queens ice delivery man. "Jilly showed me how he
ran his business and how he'd be nice to all the stars," Mr. Caruso
told me in a 1999 conversation. "He was gracious with women. But when
he had to be tough, he was a menace. That's why Sinatra loved him so
much." Sinatra gave an impromptu six-song concert in May 1983 at
Jilly's on Rush Street before calling it a night around 1 a.m. -- in
order to hit last call at the Pump Room.
"I feel I've lost another member of my family," Nancy Sinatra said from
Los Angeles. "It's breaking my heart. We had some great nights at
Jilly's. He used to send Nick Jr. and Stan [Wozniak, former Jilly's
managing partner] around with us when my daughters [A.J. and Amanda]
and I went to the blues and jazz clubs in Chicago. I'll return to
Chicago, but it won't be the same."
When the neon dimmed on Rush Street, Mr. Caruso closed Jilly's in 1984.
He reopened in May 1995 at its present location, 1007 N. Rush. The bar
attracted the likes of Billy Joel, Tom Jones and Ozzy Osbourne, who one
night sat in with house pianist Nick Russo. Original investors Mr.
Caruso, his son Nick Jr. and others left the operation in 2003.
10 pizzas and Tom Lasorda
Jilly's was just one dimension of Mr. Caruso's life. He was
instrumental in guiding the National Italian-American Sports Hall of
Fame from its 1977 beginnings as the Italian-American Boxing Hall of
Fame. In 1999, Mr. Caruso was given the prestigious Salvatore Franco
Friendship Award by the organization. Mr. Caruso was best friends with
former Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, whom he met through
Frank Sinatra.
"Around 9:30 on a Sunday night, I get a call from Nick," said George
Randazzo, Hall of Fame founder and chairman. "He asked me to pick up 10
large pizzas and get them to O'Hare. He said, 'You gotta do this, or
Tommy is going to be mad at me.' I had no idea where to get 10 pizzas.
I live in the far northwest suburbs." Randazzo found the pizzas and
rushed them to the airport. "I'm met by a security guard, and I'm
almost pulling out on the runway when the Dodgers plane comes in," he
said. "They land, and when the door opens, Nick is the first guy I see.
Then who steps by Nick but [first baseman] Steve Garvey? He sees me
with all the pizzas on the hood of my car and throws his hands up in
disgust."
Mr. Caruso and Lasorda had bet Garvey that 10 pizzas would be waiting
for them on the runway when the Dodgers plane landed in Chicago. "You
could never meet a man who had a bigger heart than Nick," Randazzo
said. "He never said no to anybody."
Behind his deep doe eyes, Mr. Caruso suggested a private nature, but
when pressed, he would talk about spending time alone in the family
room of his brick ranch house in the west suburbs, listening to Vic
Damone and '50s-era Sinatra. He enjoyed songs of escape, such as "Blue
Hawaii," "Brazil" and the 1957 Sinatra smash "Come Fly With Me."Yet, he
lived in the Chicago area his entire life.
Mr. Caruso is survived by Patricia, his wife of 42 years, Nick Jr.,
daughter Sena, two grandchildren and brother Frank.
Visitation will be from 3 to 9 p.m. Friday at Salerno's Funeral Home,
1857 N. Harlem. Friends and family will gather at the funeral home at 9
a.m. Saturday, with 10 a.m. mass to follow at Divine Providence Church,
2540 Mayfair in Westchester. Burial will be in Mount Carmel Cemetery,
1400 S. Wolf Rd., Hillside.