| Eighty-eight year old Jennie Masi raises her fists into the air next to the
statue of her late husband Sebastian and proudly describes the moment he defied
her mother.
"She didn't want me to leave her and come out here. But Sebastian took
me away to Cucamonga." Sebastian told Jennie's mother, "She's mine,
she's not yours." |
 Jennie Masi, as always, stands by her man - Sebastian |
Jennie speaks romantically of Sebastian, as though they were married yesterday.
She sings love songs from the movie "Casablanca" while reminiscing
about life with Sebastian, who died in 1982.
What was once a vineyard and winery on the corner of Foothill and Rochester
in Rancho Cucamonga is now the Masi Plaza. The Masi family lived behind the
family store where Denny's now stands. The free standing winery building (which
in the 1980's doubled as a church on Sundays and the infamous pink Cowgirl club
on Saturdays) is now being transformed into the Compass Creek Restaurant and
Brewery. The Centerfield Bar & Grill and The Cucamonga Pizza Company are
also readying for late fall openings.
| The center is already home to a sizable auto court, as well as a Tommy
Austin Florist, Stadium Dental Center, and Frame Gallery.
Food remains the big draw of the Masi Plaza, however. Besides the three
aforementioned restaurants, Masi Plaza features Chico's Tecate Grill, China Hut,
Allison's Place, Denny's, Popeye's Chicken, Homerun Market and Jack-in-the-Box. |
 The steamship Taormina, which brought Jennie Masi
and her family to Ellis Island from Naples, Italy in 1921. |
In the midst of California's recession of the early 1990's, the Masi Plaza was
the only commercial game in town besides Upland-based Lewis Property Management,
which develops Terra Vista, on the north side of Foothill.
Despite the grueling recession, and many other roadblocks, the Masi family
kept the project alive and growing.
Stringent standards were placed upon the project by Rancho Cucamonga's highly
competent and courteous planning commissioners and city inspectors. Among the
amenities the city required of the Masis were eight-foot tall, stucco trash
enclosures with lattice covers, fondly referred to as "Egyptian
temples" by project manager Michael Scandiffio.
Scandiffio is particularly proud of "Vintner's Walk," a walkway
lines with pedestals bearing plaques with narratives for each winemaker in the
Cucamonga Valley.
 A statue of Sebastian Masi presides over Vinter's Walk on the street
corner of Foothill Boulevard and Rochester Avenue. |
"This was a street of Italians," exclaims Jennie Masi, referring
to Foothill Boulevard. People traveling from New York and other far-away places
would stop at the store and buy wine. Today, visitors seeking nostalgia on old
Route 66 will again stop on the corner of Foothill and Rochester and read from
the following narrative on the plaque dedicated to the Masis: |
In many ways the Masi family represents the fulfillment of the American Dream
for the millions of immigrants who came to this country in the early decades of
this century. Jennie Cassara married Sebastian Masi in 1937, fifteen years after
Jennie and her family had come to Los Angeles via Ellis Island, and years after
Sebastian had come to California to work with his older brother Matteo.
From the same very small town in Sicily, Piana de Greci, the couple's union
resembled that of a traditional European relationship in which gender roles were
rigidly defined and accepted. Moving to the Cucamonga valley after their
marriage, the Masi couple soon saved enough to purchase the former Lafourcade
store on the southwest corner of Route 66 (Foothill Boulevard) and Rochester
Avenue.
| Jennie managed the store for years as she tended to the couple's two
children, Matteo ("Jack") and Constance. Sebastian and brother Matteo
had already acquired ten acres south of Foothill Boulevard on the east side of
Rochester Avenue, on which they raised a variety of white and red grapes. The
Masi's first winery was in the basement of the family's home on the Rochester
Avenue property. |
 Project Manager Michael Scandiffio (left) and Jack Masi (right)
contemplate their next phase of developing Masi Plaza. |
During the early war years, enjoying much success, Masi built a freestanding
winery building facing Foothill Boulevard. This building has been preserved and
incorporated into Masi Plaza.
Until his death in 1982, Sebastian played an important role in the leadership
of the small but thriving Italian vintners' community in this part of eastern
Cucamonga/western Etiwanda historically known as Rochester. He was instrumental
in the founding of Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Etiwanda, and as a long-time
member of the Ontario Elks Lodge, played a key role in establishing a lodge in
Cucamonga. |
