Joe Bono, longtime owner of Bono’s Deli in Fontana, dies at age 88

Joe Bono, owner of the landmark Bono’s Restaurant and Deli along Route 66 in Fontana, California, for years before it was converted to Bono’s Italian Restaurant last year, died Dec. 1. He was 88.

Bono died peacefully at his home, according to an obituary Thursday in the Fontana Herald News.

Bono, born and raised in Fontana by parents who founded Bono’s Restaurant and Deli along Route 66 in the 1930s, served as a junior attorney for the San Bernardino district attorney’s office after he graduated from the University of Southern California.

After his father died, Bono left the DA’s office and helped his mother run the restaurant. He then moved back into his parents’ house behind the restaurant when his mother died in 1995.

Joe was very active in the community, belonging to numerous organizations like the Historical Society, Sons of Italy, Route 66 organization, and the Chamber of Commerce, just to name a few. He was very proud of his Italian heritage and showed it.
At the age of 6, Joe was a frequent worker in his father’s and grandfather’s business of growing grapes in Fontana, at one time owning more than 40 acres at the corner of Baseline and Cherry avenues. The Bono family has a long history in this area since Mama Bono started their historic restaurant back in the early 1930s.

According to the obituary, no funeral was planned. A memorial service will be scheduled later.

Here’s an interview with Joe Bono in 2013:

Bono’s was designated to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. The entire restaurant was moved back 20 feet a few years ago because of a widening of Foothill Boulevard (aka Route 66).

In addition to the restaurant, Bono’s Restaurant and Deli received a lot of notice from Route 66ers because of its Bono’s Historic Orange — a 7-foot-tall orange-shaped stand where thirsty travelers would buy glasses of fresh orange juice. Bono told a newspaper the stand dated to 1936, and you could buy all the orange juice you could drink for 10 cents.

Bono’s Deli was rechristened as Bono’s Italian Restaurant early last year when local restaurateur Pino Mele decided to expand his existing restaurant and move to this site. 

(Screen-capture image from video of Joe Bono in 2013 at his family’s restaurant in Fontana, California)

3 thoughts on “Joe Bono, longtime owner of Bono’s Deli in Fontana, dies at age 88

  1. Another loss
    Does anyone know if he was related to or was the same man that had the store in Gleeson AZ? That was also called Bono’s.

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