Louis S. Sharkey

Lou bought into the American Restaurant in 1939 and with Arthur Letras. Lou opened the Centre Restaurant at 19 E. Main St. in 1941. The Centre served food and operated a bar, bowling alley, a sandwich shop, a dance hall, and apartments. In 1942, Lou bought the old Union Bridge post office and created a restaurant with upstairs apartments. In 1955 he opened Sharkey's Drive-In. Open 24 hours it had "car hops" who came to your car to take food orders. In 1957, Lou bought another restaurant calling it The Patio which he turned over to his brother-in-law, Milton Constantine. In the 1970s, he opened a sub shop in Union Bridge which he turned over to his sister Bessie to run. At the same time, Lou and his cousin Harry Touloumous bought a meat market and butcher shop in Harrisburg which they operated for many years. Lou met his wife, Josephine (Despina) Constantinides in Baltimore and married her in 1938. In 1945, they bought a large house (formally the Ford's Inn) on New Windsor Rd. which is now the location of Bella Vita 55+ Community.