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Hot Dog Lovers Welcome Back Familiar Faces

Johnny’s Lunch isn’t technically in Jamestown – it moved out of the city during Jamestown’s urban renewal process in the 1970s.

The address doesn’t matter much, though. The restaurant remains a unique piece of Jamestown history more than 75 years after its founding and despite its location in Lakewood. For years, Gust and Dianne Calamunci were just as much a local landmark as the restaurant they ran.

Those familiar faces behind the counter at Johnny’s have returned after a few years away from the business. They stepped away when Johnny’s was undergoing its move toward being a franchise restaurant and decided to let a new management team lead the entire operation. A series of circumstances slowed the company’s growth, not that franchise health wasn’t the Calamuncis’ biggest concern. Unhappy that the Jamestown area store wasn’t being run the way the Calamuncis expected, they have taken over day-to-day operations at Johnny’s Lunch- promising the famous Texas hot dogs and customer service area residents have grown to love.

“The customers, we call them friends, they’re so happy to see us back,” Mrs. Calamunci told The Post-Journal recently.

Those friends are quickly voicing their approval, too. Comments on their story in Monday’s edition of The Post-Journal are a collection of well wishes from customers happy to see the Calamuncis back at Johnny’s.

A user signed in to post-journal.com as AverageGuy wrote about a recent visit to the restaurant, saying, “Last week a buddy and I stopped in for lunch and I saw Dianne there and I said to her ” Hey, haven’t seen you, I missed ya!” She had a big smile after that! Thank you for coming back!”

User hartqueen1962 said she now lives in North Carolina but can’t wait to come back to the area this week to visit Johnny’s again. “It will be awesome to go home and see Dianne and Gus back behind the counter. It’s been along time coming. I hope they changed the sauce back. I will be coming home this week so Johnny’s will be a definite stop for me as soon as I hit N.Y. Welcome Back Dianne and Gus.”

Welcome back indeed. We add our own well wishes to Gust and Dianne Calamunci. Johnny’s hadn’t been the same without them.

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