For Glen Cove family, owning a business runs in blood

Glen Cove Councilman Reginald Spinello has been a customer of C&J Service Station since it opened in 1980. He gets an occasional trim at the local barbershop, Strong Island Styles, and has dinner at the Downtown Cafe about three times a month.

“Every time you walk into their door, you’re a part of their family,” said Spinello, 59, referring to the three Glen Cove businesses owned by members of the Basile family.

The family is very close -- so close that three of them each own a business located within five minutes of each other.

Joseph Basile, 58, owns C&J Service Station on Glen Street; one son, Frank, 31, co-owns the Downtown Cafe on School Street; another son, Brian, 29, owns Strong Island Styles on Forest Avenue. The oldest son, Joe Basile, 37, works as a salesman for Daniel Gale Sotheby's International Realty.

“I talk to Brian about three or four times a day, Frankie about seven times,” said Joseph Basile. He sees his eldest son just as often.

ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT

The businesses began in 1970, when Joseph Basile dropped out of high school in his third year to become a mechanic. In 1974, at the age of 21, he rented a building near the train tracks. By 1980, he bought the property and building.

Basile earned his GED a year before his business opened.

C&J Service Station was named after Joseph Basile and his friend Carmen, who had opened the shop with him. Carmen left six months later but Basile decided to keep the name.

His customers have included Glen Cove native and Grammy Award-winning singer Ashanti Douglas, whose autographed poster hangs in Basile’s office along with dozens of family pictures.

“This is the main spot in town,” Basile said. “I’ve seen close to eight people get hit by the train and a baby delivered in the front of the station.”

Over the years, his four younger brothers have worked at his station.

FROM GAS STATION TO CAFE

His son Frank Basile also worked there for about a decade during and after high school. Then he decided to pursue a career in acting by taking classes at The Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute and realized that in order to audition for roles, he had to find a night job.

So in 2005 he began working part time at the Downtown Cafe as a waiter and bartender after leaving the C&J Service Station. After a year, he started working full time and invented the popular drink known as the “Frankitini", a mix of fruit juices, vodkas and rum.

By 2008, Vincent Abbondandolo and John Zozzaro made him a third owner of the Downtown Cafe.

“He is a great worker and a good friend,” Zozzaro said.

The cafe opens at 11 a.m. for lunch, serves a late-night dinner until 11:30p.m., and closes the bar at 2:30 a.m.

Joseph Basile dines there occasionally with his wife, Denise, and gets an occasional haircut from his son, Brian.

BARBERSHOP TALK

Brian Basile always had a talent for cutting hair and an interest in fashion.

“I used to give my friends makeovers at my house,” he said.

He attended Nassau Community College and graduated with an associate’s degree in fashion buying and merchandise. He saved money by working in another barbershop and operating a screen-printing business from home.

In August 2000, he decided to open his own barbershop, found a building for sale on Forest Avenue and bought it -- all in the same day.

Brian Basile quickly became popular for his skill in hair designs, and has styled hair for celebrities including Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino from MTV's “Jersey Shore” and Donnie Klang from the fourth season of “Making the Band”.

“My favorite thing about owning my own barbershop is talking all day long with customers,” said Brian Basile.

The three men share a passion for their work and greet their customers by their names. Brian Basile says he can see himself cutting hair forever, and Frank Basile wishes to continue working at the Downtown Café, even if he resumes his acting career.

As for the patriarch?

“I keep saying I’m going to retire, but I’d hate to pass by one day and see the place without me,” said Joseph Basile.

Photo: Joseph Basile, 58, owns C&J Service Station in Glen Cove, which he opened in 1980. (Nov. 20, 2011)