The VictorCafe

It was sometime in October 2005 that a location manager walked into The Victor Café scouting out a place that would become Adrian’s, an Italian eatery featured in a soon to be filmed, Rocky Balboa movie. Patricia Taggart is an affable young woman with a wonderful demeanor. She assured me that “this is the place!!” Mr. Stallone would love to make his new movie. Skeptical by nature, I didn’t give it too much thought even when she dialed Sylvester on her cell phone and told him to fly into Philadelphia right away. She told me he would be here the next night. Yeah, right! Well, that Tuesday was a normal fall evening in South Philly. A fairly quiet night and I wasn’t expecting much when suddenly around 7:30 two large white limousine vans pull up into my valet zone. “This isn’t happening” I said to myself. But sure enough out step around 15 burley men, among them, Sylvester Stallone! They wisk into the café unbothered by anyone, in fact if you didn’t know he’d be there, one might not have recognized him. They toured the café rather quickly and spend most of their time curiously in the kitchen which is located in the basement. The kitchen staff was really confused when these large men descended upon them! Mr. Stallone quickly took to the head chef, Pete. They hit it off well and spoke for what seemed like 15 minutes. What were they up to? Next stop was the upstairs lounge. This would become the “home away from home” for most of the cast and crew for three unforgettable weeks in January 2006, especially for Frank Stallone, Sly’s brother and the driving force behind the Stallone empire. Entertainment Tonight filmed up there as well as all the “behind the scenes” segments – meant for release on DVD. After the upstairs touring they were thru. They left as quickly as they arrived, signing some autographs and taking some pictures as they all loaded into their vans. They disappeared into the cold Philadelphia fall evening, south on Dickinson then north on 9th. I thought to myself, “Wow, did that really just happen?”.

Meanwhile back at the café the patrons were buzzing, a real Hollywood “A” lister left everyone talking! What was he doing there? When was he coming back? And How can I get into the movie? Everyone wanted to know, especially me! Well sooner than we all thought, we’d have our answers. About an hour later the same large white limousine vans pulled back into the valet zone and the same large men came pouring out, this time with an incredible appetite! 15 Veal chops and several bottles of Chianti later, Sly assured us that this was the place! They had really enjoyed themselves, especially the live Opera singing. Sly even dialed his wife in LA and held up the phone while he was serenaded with an aria from the wait staff. So impressed was he that he decided to change the script to fit the opera theme into the movie. At first the café was to be just a boxing themed restaurant. But after his time there he decided to make just the “back room” the boxing memorabilia room and the rest to be kept with the opera theme. They said not to book the café between January 18th 2006 and February10th. No contract in hand, no monies up front, no anything….I took the deal.

Wednesday and Thursday the 18th and 19th of January come and go and no sign of Mr. Stallone. I’m beginning to get worried. My deal allows me to be open for business on Saturdays and Sundays as the film is a union production but I’m thinking maybe there’re not coming. Relief comes the next day as around 5 guys show up and start doing some modifications to the place. At least I know they’re coming. I open up for business as usual the next night and Sunday. Great business, as the word is out….Stallone’s in town! No one was prepared for what was to happen late Sunday night around midnight.

Earlier that week the Philadelphia police posted “no parking” signs from midnight Sunday to 5 PM Friday. We who live in the neighborhood see theses kind of signs all the time. Sometimes they mean something other times they’re worthless. Who in their right mind would believe you couldn’t park near your home for an entire week?!? I went to bed after business that Sunday around 11 o’clock. Sunday’s aren’t a particularly late night. Midnight struck and so did the sirens. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Philadelphia Police cars, Fire engines and tow trucks all with their sirens blaring and lights screaming. If you were asleep, you were woken up mighty fast. People running out in their pajamas, me included, to move their cars. No one seemed upset and the Police were actually nice. They didn’t tow anyone. Instead they knocked on your door and waited till you moved it. Very nice. A full five block radius was moved out and by 1 AM a caravan of sixteen wheelers came rolling down Dickinson Street. By 3 AM flood lights turned night into daytime and we were officially under way. Still had no contract or monies but I was feeling a whole lot better.

Magic. That’s the only word that could describe what happened over the next three and a half weeks. You know what they say that Hollywood is just a state of mind, and boy we were livin’ it big time! Crowds lined the sidewalks behind police barricades. It was cold as hell, typical for January in Philly and there was electricity in the air. The stars pull up around 5 PM in shinny black Escalade SUV’S, they’re greeted with shouts and well wishes from the fans. They sign some, picture some and then go to work. All the time I’m in the café watching all this unfold from the second floor windows with my kids. They’re having the time of their lives as any 8 and 10 year olds would but I was right behind them. “Roll film”, “quiet on the set”, and all the other jargon is heard over the next 8 hours. A real thrill in and of itself. Then midnight comes and the whole cast and crew break for lunch! Stallone goes back to The Four Seasons Hotel and the rest of the grunts who run the production stay and eat food provided by their own in house trucks. A coffee station is set up right outside my house. This gives my kids carte blanche to stay up all night and go outside for some hot chocolate and doughnuts. By 2 o’clock they all return and continue to work till around 8 AM. They go back to the hotel, go to sleep and get up in time to return to the café around 5 PM. This scenario repeats itself for the next three weeks. After the first full week of work the trucks all load up and leave the neighborhood. Everything returns to normal for the weekend then Sunday night rolls around and the whole process starts again. I must admit after the first week when they left for the weekend I became sad, knowing that this would all go away in just a short three weeks. I decided to soak up every last second of it and not let anything go by. Weekend business was off the wall especially when Sylvester and Burt Young and Frank Stallone showed up every Saturday night for dinner and stayed till near closing. What a blast! The outside night shots with the rain sequence were also fun to watch. A large Fire truck was brought in to pump water up a very high pipe where it sprinkles out the rain. Real Hollywood stuff for sure. Like I said, they worked every night till 7 or 8 in the morning but on the last day they worked till noon and then called it a wrap! How sad and gratifying at the same time.

Thanks for listening, Greg