This corner property is remembered by many locals as Bruno’s Sportsmen’s Club, with an entrance on Franklin Street, and the Sugar Bowl Bakery and store on Adams Street, beginning in the late 1950s. And it’s where in 1955 you could get a six-pack of carry-out cold beer for $1. The house to the east of it on Franklin Street used to be 664 Franklin Street until 1963, when the properties were merged. “Bruno” was Steven F. Pearson, whose wife, Alma, also worked in the business.

Based on stories told by former high school students who hung out there, there wasn’t much division between the businesses in the interior. In addition, “Sugar Bowl Bakery” had a business listing as a “liquor store.” Arlene Grace, for example, remembers that when she was eight or ten years old, she would walk right up to the bar “with the barflies” to order her snow cone. She says she still thinks of cherry snow cones whenever she smells “cheap liquor”!

Both businesses were very popular especially the Sugar Bowl for high school students for lunch or after school. They had good subs, a soda fountain, and a juke box for dancing. Aaron Jack Graham and Luther Keen said they went there for lunch almost every day—a coke and two chocolate glazed donuts—while they played the pinball machine. While Rachelle Hanley remembers being able to earn a free soda by singing a song there, Danny Pascuzzi used to enjoy getting disco beer, one of the first nonalcoholic beers.

Ham Channell said Bruno’s was his grandmother’s hangout in the early 1960s and he thinks his parents met there. Another romance that began there was between Mary Sampson and her boyfriend whom she married in 1957. Cherie Dubree also met her husband there in 1973. Kerri Schweers Pierre says her Aunt, Gladys Deaner, worked in the Sugar Bowl in the 1960s and 1970s. And no doubt Stan Rodia wasn’t the only student who cut many a day from school playing pinball all afternoon in the 1960s. At the end of the day, Phyllis Tucker Perzanowski’s father would stop in Bruno’s on his way home from working at Tawneys, next door on Adams Street.

Alonzo Walker appreciates Bruno’s kindness upon the death of Alonzo’s father, Police Chief “Dickie” Walker. He said Bruno and his wife catered a meal after the funeral free of charge because Chief Walker had “locked Bruno up” when he was younger—Bruno felt it had straightened him out and he was grateful to Chief Walker for that.

After Bruno died, Alma Pearson sold the business in 1982 to Angela Saunders. She named it the “Homestead Inn” but it didn’t do well so the business was sold again, this time to locals, Franklin and Karen Fenner. They opened it as Von Jensen’s in 1984, after renovating the buildings. Under them, the Franklin Street side had the bar and pool tables and the Adams Street side was dining and the Sugar Bowl for kids. Shirley Baker worked there for Karen Fenner and recalls a very busy place with great food—she loved the shrimp and steak nights! Joe Roberts also has good memories of the bar from 1982 to 1990 with Sonny Fritsche and Jim King, except for one experience around 1986 when Joe brought a friend to the bar. Michael Sinclair (Little Dude) the bartender, kicked his friend out for rolling a cigarette. The funny thing was, Joe said, it really was just tobacco his friend used—but he was barred from coming back.

In 1993, after the Fenners sold the two parcels (321 North Adams Street and 664 Franklin Street) to John Kenneth and Alice Megan Benner of Port Deposit, the property became the Grace Town Inn. Dan Tracie recalls the solid copper bar top and an antique wooden claw machine. But he also remembers a guy getting his arm broken while arm wrestling for a beer! Dan says he heard the “crack” from across the room. Around 2005 the bar closed and the buildings didn’t appear to have any further activity.

In 2017, the City of Havre de Grace condemned the buildings due to their hazardous condition. Title to the property was conveyed to Matthew Benner, son of the previous owners, and in late 2019, the deteriorated buildings were demolished. It remains an open lot, owned by Matthew Benner of Cecil County.

County Records
Built 1900. 4824 square feet, restaurant, 5,000 sq ft lot.