Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
Broad Street mainstay closes Friday, after 55 1/2 years
By Mark Frost , Chronicle Editor
Steve’s Place, operated by the Vamvalis family for more than half a century on Broad Street in Glens Falls, will close forever Friday, March 15.
“It was on the market for over a year,” owner Christine Vamvalis-Haley told The Chronicle. She hoped a buyer would keep it a restaurant. “We had people looking at it,” including an expanding coffee business, but nothing ever finalized.
“People are very unhappy about losing the restaurant,” Chris said last week. Some expressed anger, which took her aback. “You know, I’m 70 years old. I’ve done this for 45 years, I’ve done my time. And I do have health issues.”
Steve’s Place began in 1968 as Double V Dairy Twist, launched by Chris’s Greek-born brothers Steve and Jim Vamvais. (Steve passed away last year at 86; Jim in 2021 at the age of 88.)
“Two walk-up windows. At one point, we had carhops. We did fried chicken. We had all kinds of things going on. I don’t think it lasted that long. They were looking for something to work.
“They added a little bit of breakfast. They had a few counter seats and 10 little tables, it was a small little place.
“And then my two brothers split up. They were both having children. And Jimmy had the Northway laundromat, and there was a carwash many years ago — oh, that’s funny [given that Hoffman’s plans to do a carwash here again].
“Then Steve ended up taking this restaurant, which we named Steve’s Place, in ’79. We actually decided the name because they wanted to call it Hometown something. I didn’t like it.”
Early on, Chris says, “I was 13 and a half and I had to wait to 14 to get my working papers. I was thrilled, of course, to make a little money at 14.”
“And then I went to ACC for two years of accounting” and Chris came into the business.
“So in 1979, we came up with the idea for a 24 hour place, because back then there weren’t any, there was no Denny’s, there wasn’t anything.
“You had all the mills, you had National Grid, all these places that operated around the clock, DPW people — all this and nowhere to go when they got called into work or got off… So we started the 24 hour thing.”
“Soon as we started the 24 hour thing. oh my god, it just grew every single year.
“All the bars were open on South Street, you had the strip in South Glens Falls. So this was the place, when everything closed, bartenders, everybody, the bouncers — they were all here. In the overnight, it was crazy. That’s where I think we got into the growth period.
“I think we stopped [24 hours] around the year 2000” as Chris was battling a serious health issue. “I put these two smoke eaters in. I was Miss Holistic at that point.”
Chris said, “I don’t want smoke in here. I don’t care if we lose customers, because customers were basically threatening me that they’re not going to come in again if they can’t smoke. And I was like, okay, because I didn’t care at that point.
“So we went no smoking. I remember this one guy who said he’d never step foot in this place again. Two weeks later, he was back and they were all back and it grew from there. It just always grew.
“Those two smoke eaters have never been used.” She hopes to sell them “to maybe a cigar shop.”
The key to the literal overnight success, she said, were “my two waitresses” — Laurie Chard and Kathy Tuthill — “who were the best. They could handle anything in this place. They could handle a crowd. They knew their people. They were good to their people and they knew where to draw the line. They were excellent. They’re still here to this day.”
Laura has worked at Steve’s Place for 34 years, Kathy for 41 years.
When Laura and Kathy switched to working days, “we just eliminated that shift, went to two shifts. And then we did that for many years,” Chris says.
Covid struck in 2020. “We closed for three-and-a-half months. I lost two cooks, had health issues, so I had nobody to work for the dinner shift.”
That’s when they cut back to one shift — 6 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., seven days a week.
Now that Steve’s is closing, Chris says, “Everyone in this whole town is like, ‘Oh, you’ve been such a landmark place. And you’ve been such a part of the community and all that.’ And I’m like, I never really felt like we were part of the in crowd. But it is what it is…
“They’re saying they’re so sad about this place leaving, [that] this is where they met, this is where they came to afterwards, this was the place to be.
“It is in our community. I never considered it was a big part of it, but I guess we have been. There are a lot of people that have been coming here for many, many years.
“We’ve seen so many, so many people that hadn’t been here in a while, too. Just talking about the old times.
“All constantly saying what a landmark to the community — because every time they would come down from up north, if they go into the hospital for bloodwork or tests or whatever, this would always be their stop.
“I mean, I feel bad because, Oh, my God all day, every day, people are not happy.”
Meanwhile, Chris said the restaurant business has gotten harder all the time.
“The kitchen stuff. I mean, if I had had a strong kitchen crew — we were always needing one or two more people. And you just can’t find people that will show up every day, and do that job consistently for the hours. Mentally for those amount of hours. It’s hard to find, hard to find….
“So the people I do have, it has been a real team effort here. It’s just, they’re good people. They work hard and they’re reliable. They do their job well.”
“Most of my people were part timers, the kitchen were full-time. But my waitresses all had different jobs, and then would substitute.
“I mean, it’s still the people that I have now. Laurie works another job. Jen’s a school teacher, works five days a week and two days on the weekend — for years she’s done that. That’s amazing to me.”
What does Chris enjoy about the business? “I get to see people, and people appreciate good food and service. They appreciate what you do.”
The restaurant’s final day is Friday.
Next week, there will be a sale Thursday and Friday, March 21 and 22, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., of remaining “Big Items and Small Items,” some described on the Steve’s Place Facebook page.
Many things have already sold. “The booths are all going to the diner [Kerrie’s Northway Diner] up the road.”
Tables and chairs will go to Calvary Church. Some tables went to individual buyers, “equipment to all different types of businesses, different restaurants.”
The framed classic Glens Falls photos — selected by Chris to print from the Chapman Museum digital collection and framed by Brian Blackburn — sold fast.
The day The Chronicle interviewed Chris, a customer was snapping photos. She said she’s from Granville and doesn’t get over much — and lamented the disappearance of places like Steve’s.
Told the Granville lady’s story, Chris says, “When I was young, all the Greeks would go to each other’s houses. There was a lady that had a little diner in Granville” that they went to.
The Vamvalis family came to America from Greece in 1946 before Chris was born. They lived in Hudson Falls.
Does Chris have plans for the day after she closes? “I’m going to be exhausted, is what’s going to happen. Because two weeks after we close” the restaurant is the closing on the sale of the building.
“Oh, that’s going to be — I’m like not sleeping nights over that. So there’s a lot of work here. And after that, I’m probably just going to do nothing for a month. No plans, and then we’ll see where the winds blow me. I’m not making plans.”
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