In the days after Dino Chonis died in April 2020, longtime customers and friends filled an outer wall of his pizzeria with hand-written tributes and memories of the man who had tossed their pies for generations.
The Chonis family, which closed Tino's Pizza for two days after its patriarch died of an aggressive and rare cancer at the age of 59, was overwhelmed by the outpouring.
"Our staff came to us on the second day and said we are ready to rally; let's work," recalled Chonis's daughter Morgan.
In early January, though, the family made the painful decision to close Tino's Pizza at 6610 E. Tanque Verde Road on Wednesday, Feb. 2.
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"It's hard to let go," said Morgan Chonis, the family's spokeswoman. "It’s been amazing and the community and love and outpouring of support has been unreal. But ultimately it came down to the family's decision to retire my father’s legacy.”
Dino Chonis died in April 2020, just days shy of his 60th birthday. The restaurant closed for two days, and during that time, longtime and loyal customers paid homage by leaving tributes alongside the mural on the family-owned building.
That legacy goes back to Chonis's foray into the business in the early 1980s at the long-closed Frankie's Pizza on East Tanque Verde Road, where he learned the art of being a pizzaiolo. When Frankie's closed, Chonis took over the location and rebranded it as Tino's.
In 1984, he moved up the road to his current location. His clientele moved with him as did his crew, many of them teens from nearby high schools.
"On the east side, it was a rite of passage to work here," said his daughter, recounting the number of her friends and classmates who worked at the restaurant over the years. "If you went to high school around here, it was the rite of passage to work here. We have kids working here now whose parents worked here.”
Morgan Chonis: “If you went to high school around here, it was the rite of passage to work here. We have kids working here now whose parents worked here.”
Morgan Chonis described her father as a mentor, "a quiet dude" who knew and supported all of the mom-and-pop restaurants in the area.
"My dad was never in competition with anybody. He was the type of person who mentored so many people over the years, so hearing all the stories of how many lives were changed, to be able to continue that legacy was really important," she said. "And now it’s at a beautiful place where the family is ready to retire that legacy and let it live as the beautiful thing that it was.”
Dimitri Chonis prepares an order at Tino’s Pizza. After 37 years, the family-owned restaurant will close its doors Feb. 2.
Not long after the family posted their decision to close on social media in early January, a longtime customer approached Chonis's widow, Shiela, who has been running the business with her son Dimitri since Dino died.
"I have a really serious question to ask you, ma'am: Where am I going to get my pizzas?" he asked her.
"Where am I gonna get my pizzas?" Shiela Chonis retorted, according to her daughter.
It's a question Morgan Chonis said she's asked herself as the restaurant enters its final days.
"Pizza is one of those things you don’t really think about; you just have your spot," she said. "Everybody’s got their pizza spot. It will definitely be weird.”
Contact reporter Cathalena E. Burch at cburch@tucson.com. On Twitter @Starburch
Cathalena E. Burch
Reporter
