JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM Kekai Aiu, an employee at the Trattoria in Waikiki, passes by the empty cupboard where bottles of wine used to line the racks. After nearly 35 years, the eatery closed last night.

Trattoria serves last
plate of pasta

The Waikiki restaurant is the latest
business to close for the beach-walk

Mike and Vennie Augusta savored their last chicken piccata from the Trattoria last night, 35 years after discovering the Waikiki eatery on its opening night.

The restaurant at 2168 Kalia Road closed yesterday to make room for the Outrigger Hotels & Resorts' Waikiki Beachwalk, an $800 million Lewers Street redevelopment project.

"We can't eat here anymore," said Vennie Augusta, 74. "It's going to break my heart. I don't want it to go down. I love the food and the people."

The Outrigger project is forcing the shutdown of about 89 businesses. The hotel chain plans to replace the five low-to midrise hotels and surrounding retail businesses with a single high-rise tower, open space and a complex of shops, restaurants and entertainment with a parking garage.

Mike Augusta, 70, was a front desk manager at the Edgewater hotel and watched University of Hawaii art students paint the intricate frescoes on the walls of the Trattoria before it opened.

"It's sad to see everything go down," he said, "but they got to rejuvenate Waikiki."

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM Michalene Hanawahine, a server for 15 years at the Trattoria, rolled a cartload of salad out to her customers last night as Jeffrey Heaukulani followed. "I'm very, very sad," Hanawahine said about the restaurant's closure.

The Trattoria, which featured Northern Italian cuisine, was founded by Sergio Battistetti from Venice. Owner Fred Livingston acquired the business 22 years ago, pulling it out of bankruptcy.

"The menu hasn't changed much," said Livingston. Nor has the ambience, with its wall frescoes, antique chandeliers, stained-glass windows and a center gazebo where guitarist Luigi Fumagalli -- now famed artist -- used to play, he said.

Livingston said although many patrons are out-of-state visitors, they are repeat customers who return year after year.

Giovanni Reola, 50, worked there in the 1970s with his father and uncle right out of high school. He returned eight years ago after serving in the Air Force.

"For me the highlight was seeing all the celebrities -- Lee Majors, Ali McGraw, Rod Stewart. Linda Blair practically fell asleep on a bed of pasta," he said.

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM Vennie Augusta, a Trattoria patron since 1970, waited for her husband, Mike, to join her for their final meal at the restaurant last night. "I wish I could just take some of the art on the wall home tonight, because I'm going to miss this place," she said.

Alex Balidio, 44, a captain and relief manager at La Mer at the Halekulani, dined often at the Trattoria. For the past 15 or so years, he has ordered the New York steak with garlic sauce.

"Its kind of sad to see them go," he said. "You get to know all the waiters and waitresses. ... You get treated like family when you come here."

Former longtime employees chef J.R. Tanaka, who worked there 18 years, and his wife, Marie, a former manager, returned to say aloha to old friends and have a final meal.

Last night, Livingston said goodbye to two restaurants -- the other, Davey Jones Ribs at 250 Lewers St. He will auction off their furniture, artwork, celebrity photos and restaurant equipment Saturday at McClain's Auctions.

He said he will retain about six of the Trattoria's 44 and Davey Jones' 21 employees to work at other restaurants he owns, including the Crouching Lion and the Sunset Grill.

Livingston has not been able to find anything affordable in Waikiki for either of his restaurants. He does not think he can afford opening in the new space.