Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 4, 1982)
* ■ * r » Portland Observer, February 4, 1982 Page 7 The American Dream come true .. by Bonn* Seal When most people see a barrier, they try to get around it. Jimmy Sas salos, owner and manager o f Dev lin ’ s restaurant on the corner o f N o rth S kid m o re and M a ry la n d , breaks it down. T h at’s what his wife and friends will tell you. From a customer's perspective, he seems to have many friends. People walk into the restaurant, see Jimmy and smile. They shake hands, joke and laugh w ith him , and coo with his three-month-old daughter, beg ging to be allowed to hold her. The Sassalos live only a block from the restaurant and Jim m ie’ s w ife, Janie, and their baby daugh ter, Anastasia, are frequent visitors, with Janie sometimes filling in at the cash register if help is needed. T o rein fo rce the fa m ily atm o sphere, Jim m ie’s two brothers and their children are employed by the restaurant. “ I t ’ s hard to stay trim around Jimmie,” says Janie. “ H ow about a piece o f pie?” he asks you. T h in king o f your waist line, you refuse. “ Sometimes he brings it to you anyw ay, even i f you say n o ,” she comments. Jimmie Sassalos is popular, but he is also successful, so successful that after eight yean in the business, “ the business outgrew the b u ild in g ,” and he was forced to expand. Last year D evlin’s business volum e included 395,000 persons served, and Jimmie hopes to make that figure h a lf a m illion this year. The restaurant has 16 employees. Last week, the Sassalos opened a bar and lounge as part o f the restau rant. The spacious room in the right back corner o f the building features a fireplace and a brick decor, and is open from lunch tim e until 1 a.m . daily except Sundays. It was the third and last leg o f a year-long construction project, in which Jimmie built a new restaurant on the site o f the old one while the old one was still in operation. “ W e only closed fo r tw o weeks during the w ork,” said Janie. Customers enjoy the newly opened lounge at Devlin's Restaurant. It all started when he bought the restaurant eight years ago after hav ing been a bus boy at the Thunder- bird Hotel. “ I made up my mind to make it successful, and I decided to see it th ro u g h . It was h ard, but not im p o s sib le ,” said Jim m ie who works fourteen to sixteen hours a day seven days a week. “ I like to serve people,” he com mented, and that was one reason he chose a restaurant instead o f a ca reer in electronics, which he studied fo r fo u r years, both at P o rtla n d State University and Michigan State U niversity before buying his busi Jimmy Sat sal os. owner of Devlin's Restaurant, has learned that. " If you have a burning desire for something, you can do it. If you work hard it is not impossible." The first part o f the jo b involved enlarging the kitchen in the back o f the building, followed by expanding the width o f the building to almost twice its original size. F in ally, the w all between the old part and the new came down, and a unified decor was established for the restaurant. Devlin’s is now 4,000 square feet, compared to the 1,200 square feet o f its previous size. How did Jimmie Sassalos get into such an expansive construction pro ject? . for the Greek merchant marines as an adult, and has traveled widely. A fte r leaving the m erchant m a rines, he decided to come to the United States because “ I saw more opportunity here than anyplace in the w o rld .” Sixteen years ago with two suitcases and no m oney, and full o f dreams, hopes, desires for success and no know ledge o f the (Photos: Richard J. Brown) English language, he arrived in A m erica. To anyone interested in starting a business or pursuing some interest, Jimmy advises, “ Be well prepared about the business. I f you have a burning desire for something, you can do it. If you work hard it is not impossible.” Receive Your Portland Observer by mail ness. Jim m ie was raised on a farm in Greece. He became a radio operator 283-2486 r & Oregon Public Broadcasting Celebrates Black History Month J 1 if Television D J 0 0 G ) PortMnrt Co<v*s Saem L« Oran* Tony Brown’s Journal Sundays 6 PM Were You There? Sundays 6:30 PM Carmen MacRae In Concert 2/13 10 PM A House Divided: Denmark Vesey’s Rebellion 2/17 8PM Swingin’ The Blues 2 /2 0 1 0 PM For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf 2/23 9 PM Sarah Vaughn In Concert 2/2710 PM An Evening With Webster Lewis In Concert With Friends 2/28 5 PM Radio 91.5 FM/550AM PttfUnnd Corva*« Gospel Preaching In Word and Song 2/711 AM Shades of Brown Clifford Brown 2/1411 AM Maya Angelou 2/21 11 AM Horizons W ednesdays 3:30 PM Ebony Nights Saturdays 7 -M idnight Sundays 8-M idnight THIS AD MADE POSSIBLE IN PART BY A GRANT FROM THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING.
