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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.”
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Portland Observer
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ness.
Jim m ie was raised on a farm in
Greece. He became a radio operator
283-2486
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