28-03-2025
Beloved Sabatino's waitress "Peachy" retiring after nearly 50 years
Leonora "Peachy" Dixon, an authentic Baltimore jewel, is hanging up her uniform after serving customers at Little Italy's Sabatino's for nearly 50 years.
The longtime waitress will work her final shift on Saturday before retiring and moving to Havre De Grace to be with her grandchildren.
Peachy has greeted hungry patrons for about 70% of the 70 years the restaurant has been open.
"I'm gonna cry because this is my life here, you know," Peachy said. "And I'm gonna miss it terribly, you know I am."
Peachy's parents immigrated from Italy to Highlandtown, where she still lives, in the house where she was born.
There's no menu needed when ordering from Peachy. She knows it all.
The Dulaneys, who are regulars at Sabatino's, remember when the restaurant stayed open until 3 a.m.
"People would flood from the bars, and they'd be lined up here out the door," Mr. Dulaney said.
"A single guy would come in here and get spaghetti and meatballs," Peachy recalled. "Next thing I know, his head would be right in the meatballs, and this is in the summertime when they used to have outdoor seating."
Peachy says one of the first guests she saw at Sabatino's was Frank Sinatra.
"The first week I worked here," Peachy said. "No, I didn't wait on him. Oh my God, I'd just started waiting here."
Peachy said Sinatra arrived in a limousine and was greeted by a crowd outside the restaurant.
"When Frank Sinatra's limousine pulled up outside, all the old ladies were out with their aprons, you know, he hugged and kissed each one of them," Peachy said. "He was so nice."
Peachy served other celebrities, including actress and singer Debbie Reynolds and actor Johnny Depp.
"Johnny Depp sat there, Johnny Depp sat at that table right there," Peachy said. "And when I came to him, I went, 'Oh my God,' cause he had those eyes, and I didn't know it was him until I started taking his order."
Peachy got her nickname from a priest at a church.
"When I was little, he said, 'You got peachy cheeks, and my family heard it, and that was it, because of the priest," Peachy said.
If you are a long-time Baltimorean, city councilman Mimi Dipietro was Peachy's uncle. In the 1970s, when Peachy was a single mom and needed a job, Mimi called Sabatino's.
Hours and hours of walking the carpets of Sabatino's dining rooms and sidewalks of East Baltimore are all chronicled in Peachy's three autobiographies.
Peachy's autobiographies and one novel, "The Baltimore Bookies," are still on sale at bookstores around Baltimore.
"I have a peachy life," she said. "I've had a peachy life here."
