Giusti's Place, a popular Delta restaurant and saloon in Walnut Grove, (south of Sacramento) was destroyed in a fire on Sept. 9.
"It took over 100 years to create a local gathering hole and it took about 2 or 3 hours to destroy it," third-generation owner Mark Morias said.
People at the scene said the restaurant, which has been featured in an episode of "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives," was open when smoke was smelled inside. Employees put out the fire near a propane water heater with an extinguisher, but it had spread inside a wall and up into the attic.
Giusti’s has been run by one family for more than 100 years, first as a saloon and store and since the mid-1940s as a restaurant. Mark Morais and his wife, Linda, are the third generation.