Frank Cimmino Circa 1982-1983

(Dawson Collection)

Suburbian Village Condominium was built in 1993 on the site of the former Suburbian Restaurant in Wanaque New Jersey. The 19 unit  development sits at the end of Belvedere Avenue on a quiet, double cul-de-sac just down the road from Lakeland Regional High School.

Interior view of the Suburbian from the dance floor. The bar and the original dining room are up the steps behind the white decorative wrought iron. Patrons who wished to converse during dinner knew to be seated in the original dining room where the lessened organ volume would serve as background music. (Post Card- Stehle Collection)

Frank Cimmino entertains at the Suburbian Wurlitzer circa 1980(Note the trumpet pipes and the lighted nameplate on top of the console)

THE STORY OF HOW SUBURBIAN VILLAGE CAME TO BE


[The following is excerpted from the Garden State Theatre Organ Society Website, derived from an article entitled "The Suburbian Wurlitzer – Garden State Theatre Organ Society" (https://gstos.org/organs/the_suburbian_wurlitzer)]


A Blast From The Past
Most of us are aware of the numerous Theatre Pipe Organs which have been played in Pizza Parlors, but here is the story of a Wurlitzer installation, envisioned and created by a prominent northern New Jersey organist, which provided appreciative patrons with music for dining and dancing in a continental cuisine setting. It is also the story of a venue which helped launch a local theatre organ society!

Shipped from the North Tonawanda factory on November 23, 1927, the 3/17 modified Theatre Pipe Organ on this album cover began its life as Opus 1793, a 3/15 Style 260 SP Wurlitzer. It was first installed at the RKO Chester Theatre, Bronx, N.Y. (The building still stands today. It can be seen from the Cross Bronx Expressway with the fading stenciled words “Chester Theatre” on the stage house.)

Thirty-eight years later in 1965, Opus 1793 traveled from the theatre to ATOS Charter Member Richard Loderhose on Long Island, where it remained in storage until 1969. North Jersey theatre organist Frank Cimmino (pronounced cha-ME-no) then arranged for it to be installed at a restaurant where he was entertaining.

Since 1968 Frank had been playing his Rodgers 33E analog electronic theatre organ at Jimmy and Bobby Provissiero’s Suburbian restaurant. The 33E was a custom instrument designed by Frank for himself. The Rodgers factory liked the organ so much that they made it a regular production model.

The Provissiero’s establishment, founded in 1962, served continental cuisine with a full bar, and was located in a vintage house at Belvidere Avenue off Conklintown Road, an obscure location in Wanaque, New Jersey. Wanaque, pronounced WHAN-a-cue, is a relatively rural northwest Passaic County town in northern New Jersey. It is best known for the huge Wanaque Reservoir located there.

When an addition to the Suburbian restaurant was planned to bring the capacity to over 200, provision was made for organ chambers, a dance floor, and a rotating mirrored ball suspended from the ceiling. Opus 1793 was installed in the new addition by Warren Westervelt Organ Company under Frank Cimmino’s artistic supervision.

About Suburbian Village

Important Phone Numbers for Wanaque​​

  • To Schedule Metal Collection: (973) 839-3000 x7914
  • Call for Pickup of Large Trash Items: (973) 893-3000 x7913
  • Police Non-Emergency 973-835-5600 
  • Emergencies call 911


A HISTORY OF SUBURBIAN VILLAGE


60 YEARS AT THIS SITE: 1961 - 2021

  • 1961 - The Provissiero Brothers decide to open a restaurant. A 2.99 acre plot in Wanaque, NJ  with an existing 'vintage' dwelling is surveyed and purchased.
  • 1962 - The Suburbian Restaurant opens for business, serving continental cuisine with a full bar in an elegant Mediterranean setting.
  • 1968 - Organist Frank Cimmino begins playing live music to accompany fine dining and dancing.
  • ​1971 - The Suburbian Restaurant is expanded to serve 200 patrons.
  • 1971 - July 4, the famous Opus 1793 Wurlitzer Organ debuts at the Suburbian Restaurant. 
  • 1977 - 1981 - Three albums are recorded on this site by Frank Cimmino, on the Opus 1793 Wurlitzer Organ.
  • 1981 - August 26, tragedy strikes as the Suburbian Restaurant and its famous Wurlitzer are consumed in a fiery inferno started by electrical wiring in the original building. 
  • 1982 - Original buildings and site razed to clear debris. Property sits unused for 10 years.
  • 1991 - Real Estate Developer Burma Rd. Inc. (Jack Levkovitz, President) purchases property to develop a new condominium.
  • 1992 -  Burma Rd. files Certificate of Incorporation for the Suburbian Village Condominium Association (SVCA).
  • 1992-93 -  Burma Rd. begins construction on a 19 unit condominium complex prior to the completion of Interstate 287, which is 3 miles south of the site.
  • 1994 - Last unit sold, management of SVCA reverts to Unit Owners.
  • 1994 - 2021  - SVCA remains a non-profit corporation, staffed and managed by volunteer Unit Owners.
  • 2021 - To be continued;  but it looks good so far...

During his years playing Opus 1793 at the restaurant, Frank Cimmino recorded three LPs: “Dining at the Suburbian”, “Christmas Joy”, and “The Suburbian Wurlitzer”. All were produced in relatively small quantities, and thus are rare today. They are the only known recordings of the organ as installed at the Suburbian.


Ten years after the organ’s debut, on Wednesday, August 26, 1981 at about 11:30 PM, tragedy struck. The restaurant caught fire, caused by faulty wiring in the original house. It took until about 4:30 AM to put out the inferno. The older part of the building was reduced to rubble. The newer dining room and the organ were badly damaged. The console was burned, and the contents of the chambers suffered from water, smoke, soot, and tremendous heat which melted components. Fortunately, no one was hurt.


After the fire, the few restorable parts of the instrument had to be sold as salvage.

Watch a Master Theatre Pipe Organist emulating a full orchestra​.

Important Information for Wanaque

  • Waste in dumpsters will be collected by Gaeta every Thursday, except Thanksgiving week, starting 4/1/2021.
  • Large items left outside of dumpsters will not be picked up unless the Borough is notified of the item.
  • Recycling for co-mingled containers must be loose in the recyclables bin. Recyclables CANNOT be put in ANY BAGS.
  • Dogs must be leashed while walking.​


Suburbian Restaurant newspaper ad, circa 1980

1977 Album Cover – Frank Cimmino plays the Suburbian Wurlitzer (Rare LP – only a couple of hundred records were pressed) Note the 13 star flag for the American Bicentennial in 1976.

The organ debuted at the restaurant on July 4th weekend, 1971. The console was placed on a raised platform at the right rear corner of the dance floor with a giant fisheye mirror for the organist to view the patrons behind him. Several cut down and mounted Brass Trumpet pipes stood decorating the top of the console. Frank entertained diners 5 nights a week (every night the restaurant was open – Wednesday through Sunday), for the next 10 years. He also played occasionally for special afternoon parties. Local artist Andy Kasparian also played at the Suburbian for a time.


The restaurant was described as offering “Continental cuisine, Wurlitzer music, and dancing in an elegant Mediterranean setting”. Its mottos were “Home of the Roman Table”, and “Hard to Find, but Worth the Search”.


Frank Cimmino was a showman and an entertainer, not just an organist. One can imagine the scene with dim lighting for dining and dancing, lit chambers, blacklit percussions, and the sparkling mirrored rotating ball as patrons danced to arrangements such as “I Don’t Know Why”, “You Made me Love You”, and “Moonlight Serenade”. Fine dining, dancing, and superb Wurlitzer organ music turned out to be a dynamite combination for the successful restaurant.

​Hear Frank Cimmino on the Suburbian's 1793 Wurlitzer Organ

The site of the Suburbian Restaurant today (2021)

About Wanaque

Wanaque is a borough in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 11,116, reflecting an increase of 850 from the 10,266 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 555 from the 9,711 counted in the 1990 Census.

Ever the optimist, at the time of the fire Frank Cimmino predicted that the venue would be rebuilt and a bigger and better organ installed. His prediction did not come true. Before the fire patronage had been slowly declining, and the restaurant was never rebuilt. The land was finally redeveloped in 1993 when Suburbian Village Condominiums, consisting of 19 townhouse-style condominium units, was sited on the property.

Thanks to Tom Stehle, Michael Cipolletti, Dan and Elaine Dawson, Dave Kopp, Pete Panos, and Brother Bob Lahey for contributing the bulk of the information for this article.

John Becica first met Frank Cimmino in 1963 when Frank was working as a demonstrator at the DeWaard Brothers Rodgers dealership in Monsey, New York, just over the state line from New Jersey. During the summers of his high school years in the mid 1960’s John took theatre organ lessons from Frank. After John left for college, they lost touch. John continued playing his early version 1963 Rodgers Trio 320, and never knew anything about the Suburbian Restaurant, or local theatre organ societies, for that matter. It wasn’t until 1996 that by happenstance he discovered GSTOS and ATOS. He has been active as the editor of Pedals and Pipes, the GSTOS newsletter for the past 12 ½ years, and feels privileged to piece together the story of the Suburbian Wurlitzer from those who were actually there to experience it.