Atlanta is raising its collective glass to the late Johnny Esposito. The founder of Johnny’s Hideaway, who died Monday at 79, is being remembered as the genial host who loved the nightlife and as the wingman to generations of club patrons searching for a spark in his dim lair.
“I met my soon-to-be husband there,” Katie Thrasher wrote on the club’s Facebook page Wednesday. “Only at Johnny’s could a Marine and a city girl’s paths collide.”
Thrasher, in an e-mail interview, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that she and Sgt. Jordan Harris met there in August 2009. They live in Sandy Springs and will be married May 29.
“I’m an Atlanta native and a second-generation Johnny’s fan,” Thrasher said. “My parents used to go on dates there when they were my age.”
Esposito opened the Roswell Road night spot in 1979. After 20 years of greeting guests from a front table, he sold his portion of the club because he was dealing with complications from diabetes and wanted a break. Retirement didn’t take. In 2002, “Mr. Nightlife” came back to briefly run Johnny’s Side Door, a 70-seat club in the rear of the Landmark Diner in Buckhead.
“Retirement ain’t all it’s cracked up to be,” Esposito told the AJC then. “I took 20 trips in three years, but you can’t travel all the time. I missed the people. This business gets in your blood.”
Esposito’s remains were cremated, and his memorial service is planned for 3 p.m. Wednesday at Cathedral of Christ the King, 2699 Peachtree Road. Friends will gather at 4:30 p.m. at the most fitting venue for a celebration of his life: Johnny’s Hideaway, 3771 Roswell Road.
“Johnny was very gracious and knew the vibe he wanted to create for the club,” said Larry Larson, a local writer and actor and the host of 1690 AM’s “Morning Ride” show. “ ‘A classy place for young guys with plenty of bucks to meet beautiful women’ was the general idea. Johnny struck me as a funny, classy guy himself.”
Last year, the movie “Hall Pass,” with Owen Wilson, Jenna Fischer and Christina Applegate, shot some scenes there. They returned after the filming wrapped, just for fun. “They danced and partied all night to the amazement of Johnny’s customers,” longtime friend Mike Casey told the AJC at the time. On Wednesday, Casey remembered Esposito as the consummate gentleman.
“I’ve known him since I appeared at the Punchline in 1983,” Casey said, referring to the Sandy Springs comedy club. “He was in the audience and invited me to the Hideaway. When you’d walk in, he’d be sitting there at the entrance. They don’t make guys like him anymore. He was old school.”
Indeed, in the age before Twitter, Esposito’s joint was the place for old-fashioned social networking.
“Johnny’s Hideaway was the best place to go people-watch,” said Brenda Floyd of Woodstock. “I used to work at a restaurant just up the street from Johnny’s. My co-workers and I would go there after a shift sometimes. It was like taking a step back in time. Everyone was just a bit more polite to other patrons, and often, we were invited to share tables when there were no seats.”
Businessman Bob Carlton mused how a nod from Esposito served as social currency.
“I was introduced to him by [former Falcons player and commentator] Alex Hawkins back in the ’70s,” he said. “Johnny had an interest in several watering holes back then and he was the guy to know in Buckhead. I guess we thought it would impress the girls if we knew the owner personally. It did.”
Billed as a “nightclub for big kids,” Johnny’s Hideaway is now owned by Chris Dauria, the son of Esposito’s former partner, Mike Dana. Equal parts timeless and time warp, it maintains the Sinatra Room, with memorabilia saluting Ol’ Blue Eyes, and the King’s Corner, which features an Elvis jumpsuit.
That classic aura endeared legions of fans. Angie Carr of Marietta recalled how Esposito loved the ladies, no matter their age.
“My mother, who is now 80, came to visit me one weekend many years ago after I moved to Atlanta,” Carr said. “When we walked in, he met us at the door and showed my mother to a front-row table. She was so impressed with his good manners and just smiled when I told her that he owned the place.”
Staff writer Alexis Stevens contributed to this article.
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