I enjoy immigrant stories so thought I’d share the story of former Clintonville resident and business owner Spiros Spantithos, aka Sam Spandos. I’m piecing this story together from public records, so I may be wrong in the details and would be happy to be corrected or to receive more information!

Spantithos is the original owner of the building(s) that eventually housed Clintonville Electric.

Spantithos was born in Sparta, Greece, on Feb 15, 1884, and came to this country in 1902. In 1912 he returned to Greece and stayed until 1921, during which time he served 8 months (or perhaps 8 years, depending on the source) in the Greek army. Greece was involved in several wars during this time–the Balkan wars with Bulgaria, and a war with Turkey. I’m not sure when Spantithos married, but on this first trip home to Greece he fathered 2 sons and a daughter.

He returned to the States in 1921, and became a naturalized citizen around 1926, at age 42. Spiros names two boys on his 1926 naturalization papers—-George, age 8 [sic], and Demetros, age 6, both in Greece. His naturalization papers do not mention his wife, Nicoleta Sicaras, nor his daughter. Neither his wife nor his daughter seems to have come to the States. (Nicoleta does have a record in the Social Security Applications and Claims Index 1936-2007.) His son George came to the States in 1935 at the age of 19.

Spantithos’ U.S. draft card states he lived at 18 West Brighton (he lived there along with his brother James), and he purchased 3361 N High in November 1936. That is where he and his brother opened the Oakland Park Restaurant. (He got a beer license for his restaurant at 3361 N High in 1933, and he leased the space before he purchased it.) On occasion the 24-hour restaurant, or nightclub, had skirmishes with the law–notably for Sunday dancing (!!) and for serving alcohol after hours. He also leased an adjacent “storeroom.”

In 1938-39, Spantithos returned to Greece for a 7-month visit, and this was the first time he saw his daughter, who was by then 17 years old. I found Spiros’s name on a passenger list for a ship arriving in NY from Italy, 6-Jul 1939, and travelling back to Europe with son George and George’s wife Susan in 1951, but again, no mention of his wife. In the 1940 and 1950 censuses, he is listed as married but his wife Nicoleta isn’t listed in his household.

Spiros died in November 1970.

His son George (born Jan 25, 1920 [sic] in Sparta Greece) assumed ownership of 3361 N High, in 1972 after Spiros died. He and his wife Susan had purchased property at 4469 Rosemary Parkway in 1953 and lived there until George died in February 1994. I believe it was George and Susan who accumulated the additional properties in the Spantithos portfolio, including, for awhile, The Blue Dube.

(Newspaper clippings courtesy of the Columbus Dispatch, accessed through the Columbus Metropolitan Library’s NewsBank database. Detailed citations can be found on each clipping by clicking through their links.)