After serving the Belmont Heights community for 50 years, Francelli’s—the Italian-American restaurant that first opened as a market in 1969—has closed up shop, adding to the string of old-school Italian-American restaurants that have closed, including Russo’s last year and Papalucci’s in September.

Birthed in the late 1960s by children-of-immigrants Frank and Ellie Schillaci, hence the name “Francelli’s,” the space’s first foray into doing business revolved around creating one of the city’s first Italian markets. Finding it difficult to continually access the west side, where Santa Fe Imports had been serving Long Beach imported Italian goods since 1947, Frank and Ellie wanted a shop that would cater to the foot traffic of Belmont Heights.