Joliet to name Earls D’Amico Way honoring late entertainment leader

A section of Ottawa Street in downtown Joliet will be designated Earl D’Amico Way in honor of the man who ran a nightclub that brought some of the biggest performers of the 1960s and 1970s to the city.

The Joliet City Council on Tuesday approved the honorary street name and commented on the late Earl D’Amico’s contributions to the city.

“Earl was one of my mentors and heroes,” Mayor Terry D’Arcy said. “He was such a gentleman, and he embraced the community.”

D’Amico ran D’Amico’s 214, a club that brought such household names as jazz great Duke Ellington, comedian Phyllis Diller and Hollywood legend Pat O’Brien to Joliet.

D’Amico died in 2014.

The club was run in the building that now is the Renaissance Center.

The Earl D’Amico Way honorary street name will be added to the stretch of Ottawa Street between Webster and Cass Streets, which runs in front of the Renaissance Center.

“Earl was a wonderful man,” council member Jan Quillman said. “What he did for the downtown and all the celebrities that he brought in was amazing.”

D’Amico later ran Earl’s Cafe on West Jefferson Street. It was one of the city’s top restaurants and night spots in the 1980s and 1990s. He retired after closing Earl’s Cafe in 2000.

He also served on the City Council.

Council member Pat Mudron, a onetime state heavyweight wrestling champion at Joliet Catholic High School, noted that D’Amico was an outstanding wrestler in his high school days.

“He was an all-star wrestler at Joliet Central and earned a scholarship to go to Purdue (University) to wrestle,” Mudron said.

D’Amico will be remembered June 20 at the Renaissance Center, where the Illinois Rock and Roll Museum on Route 66 will host a tribute to D’Amico featuring his daughter, Gianna D’Amico. The event is at 6 p.m., and tickets are $5.