Huntington's 1653 Pizza Company and Rust & Gold are for sale
Frank Antonetti, a co-owner in 1653 Pizza Company and The Rust & Gold in Huntington, says the businesses are for sale. Credit: Emma Rose Milligan
Two mainstays of the Huntington Village hospitality scene — The Rust & Gold sports bar and 1653 Pizza Company — are on the market for $1.2 million. Michael Steinberg, a broker with Hedgestone Advisors has been promoting the properties on social media. Frank Antonetti, a partner in both businesses, confirmed they are for sale.
"This deal is perfect for a restaurant group to come in and continue the concept and keep building the business," Steinberg says in the ad.
The Rust & Gold opened in 2016 and established itself as a sports bar where the vibe, the drinks and the food (including the wings) were a cut above. Although it has a Gerard Street address, it can be found facing the municipal parking lot behind the north side of Main Street.
In 2021, the group took over the former Massa’s pizzeria along the same strip and transformed it into 1653 Pizza Company, named for the year that the Matinecock Indians sold what became Huntington to three English settlers from Oyster Bay. Antonetti, an accomplished bartender, made 1653 a destination for craft cocktails. Initially, 1653’s pizzaiolo-partner, Michael Vigliotti, worked with the coal-burning oven that Massa's had left behind; eventually, he replaced it with a wood-burning oven. In 2024, he left the restaurant.
Antonetti has been vocal about the challenges of doing business in the village. "Huntington has always been a hot spot that attracts the fast money," he told Newsday last year, "and an overserved market starts consuming itself." Not that these challenges are location-specific. He noted that an evolving "healthy mindset" has customers dining earlier and eating and drinking less.
