Business updates

FROM PAGE 5

Joe’s Diner opened in 1955, in a space that was once known as Happy’s Diner, by Joseph F. Sorrentino after he left the Army.

The Sorrentino family, including his wife and their seven children, and the other employees, served the workers from all three shifts of the Eagle Mill. The diner was open 24 hours each day.

But by the late 1980s, with the paper industry slowing, Joe’s Diner ended round-the-clock service and closed from midnight to 5 a.m.

In 2000, Sorrentino retired, selling the business to Joe and Pam Langlais.

Joe Langlais died in 2011. In 2013 Earle bought the place. Then Sorrentino died in 2020.

Through the years, the legacy diner has served thousands of customers from a half-dozen generations.

On Tuesday afternoon, friends Fred Lavigne and Jerry LePrevost stopped in for lunch, as they frequently do and have done for decades.

“It’s my second home,” Lavigne said, grinning.

Both of them were close to founder Joe Sorrentino.

“We were big golfing buddies,” LePrevost said. “He was a good friend and we miss him.”

They are well acquainted with the menu, which is part of the reason they keep returning.

“It’s got a diner feel and diner food,” Lavigne said. “What’s not to like?”

For Earle, Joe’s Diner is still a family affair. Her sister, Shelly Swindell, and her fiance, Sergio Fortes, work there, as do another six or so employees. Her son has been known to put in a few hours as well.

Due to a challenging labor market, the diner closes at 5 p.m., but Earle is seeking enough help to reopen for dinner during the summer.

“During the summer it’s crazy here,” she said.

“It’s never-ending.”

The diner seats 41, plus three tables of four out front in the summer.

And aside from day to day business, Earle still has an eye on the road ahead.

“My goal is to make it better, make it my own,” she said. “So I’m going to be here for a while.” events throughout the Berkshires that raise funds for several organizations.

As the lead sponsor, BHS will support a free, six-week, in-person and online training program for runners who want to hone their skills. This program runs from May 28 to the day of the race, and participants will work with the trainers at Berkshire Running Center, as well as receive support from the wellness team at BHS.

The race will also have a special, new division — a corporate challenge. The goal is to have local businesses sponsor the race and have their own employees participate in a countywide challenge. There will be special mentions, promotions and events around the July 4 race to still be finalized and marketed. Race registration is underway. Information: director@ berkshirerun.org.

The Berkshire Bank Foundation has awarded Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts $20,000 to fund the Berkshire Bank STEM Academy

The program will accept up to 15 incoming first-year students enrolled in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engi-

WEST STOCKBRIDGE

— A pizza oven left on overnight Jan. 20 at Amici ignited a nearby wall causing smoke and water damage to the building’s first and second floors.

The fire caused extensive damage, but some of the building’s tenants are already back at work.

Amici, the casual Italian restaurant on the first floor at 5 Albany Road, is aiming for a late May reopening following the fire.

“Although the restaurant has been sort of the epicenter of this, no one could occupy the building for six weeks because of the damage done to the power,” said Karden Rabin, owner of the building.

He said the fire left significant damage to exterior walls but it also “impacted 75 percent of the circuit panels in my building for the second floor. … So we had … serious electrical repairs to do that took some time.”

Beginning in mid-February about half of the second-floor tenants were able to return, Rabin said. His insurance is helping with costs to the second floor and exterior, which he placed at about $150,000 to $200,000 as an initial estimate.

“It’s unfolding because we find more things as we go,” Rabin said. “What’s been frustrating is that you can only make something like this go so fast. What I’ve been grateful for so far is the tenants have been really patient. The insurance companies have been mostly cooperative. And, you know, I’m very lucky that here in the Berkshires, we have a lot of good tradesmen and contractors. They have been doing their best to show up and help out and get the building back together.”

Situated directly above the kitchen at Amici, Optimal Wellness, owned by Jake Corley, received the most damage. While restoration is ongoing, it is operating out of a different second-floor space.

Octavio Nallin, co-owner of Amici, said damage to the restaurant is still being calculated.

In the meantime, his insurance has been paying its 12 winter employees at Amici, which initially opened in April 2022.

Nallin said the restaurant will install a mechanism to prevent a fire of the sort that happened in January.

“We’re improving the system, so we’re going to have like a gas shutdown,” Nallin said, adding that whenever the kitchen is shut down the gas will be turned off.

He praised the work of firefighters for containing the fire to the pizza station, a small area within the 100-seat restaurant. “So the damage for us was really in a concentrated space.”

Nallin said he was hoping to reopen in March or April, but there were delays.

“We are shooting now for the end of May,” he said.

He said when the restaurant reopens, he and co-owner Bridget Cappo, will be looking to hire additional summer seasonal workers to staff the patio, which seats an additional 80 people.

“The culture that I tried to create at the restaurant is, we are a family,” Nallin said. “We spend more time at work than at our home. … This is just one way that I can show them that that’s true.” neering, and Mathematics) major or who have expressed an interest in STEM fields. The residential, five-day academy program will run from July 23-27.

Developed to serve low-income and first-generation college students, students are selected based on their responses to surveys taken upon their acceptance to the college.There is additional programming planned throughout the year for the cohort.

The application deadline is July 1. To apply go to forms.office.com/r/X7e1LwD0SG.

The Rotary Club of Pittsfield raised more than $100,000 at its annual auction April 1 at Berkshire Hills Country Club.

Donations continue to come in for the newly established endowment for the Jeffrey Whitehouse/Paul Harris Scholarship for local students.

Over 200 supporters bid on the over $60,000 worth of goods and services donated to the auction. Those supporters bid in excess of $53,000, which will support the club’s community efforts including the Turkey Angels and many local food pantries.

Proceeds will also benefit Rotary-sponsored camperships to several local camps, including Gladys Allen Brigham, Mass Audubon, Berkshire Humane Society and Barrington Stage Company’s KidsAct!

Going forward, the club will be able to offer Paul Harris scholarships of higher denominations thanks to the endowment started in honor of long-serving Rotarian Jeffrey Whitehouse. The night of the auction, paddles raised $44,000, which was matched by an generous anonymous donor for the auction-night endowment total of $88,000.

The club continues to accept tax-deductible donations toward the new scholarship. They can be sent to The Pittsfield Rotary Club Foundation, P.O. Box 78, Pittsfield, MA 01202.

The city of North Adams and its Airport Commission are seeking a qualified applicant for a food service operation in Harriman-and-West Airport’s new administration/terminal building.

This food service operation will have the opportunity to serve the general public as well as the aviation community in space designed for that purpose in the new administration building. The space includes approximately 1,800 square feet of interior space, an 800-square-foot patio to the west of the building, and 325 square feet of office and storage space on the second floor.

The airport is owned and operated by the city of North Adams and the appointed Airport Commission. Information: keade@northadams-ma.gov, 413-672-0011.