Every Easter Sunday for nearly 50 years, Ray Piccinini of North Beach visited the children's wards of all of the city's hospitals dressed as the Easter Bunny, giving out treats.
"Ray was a really special, wonderful man with a great heart," said his widow, Pamela Piccinini. "Being the Easter Bunny was something that was so important to him. It was especially meaningful to go to the hospital to brighten the day of these sick kids. They’d raise their heads and say, 'See, mommy? See, daddy? I told you he’d find me,' and those were the rewards."
Ray Piccinini as the Easter Bunny. Photo: Courtesy of Pamela Piccinini
To honor Piccinini and provide a family-friendly event for the community, North Beach Neighbors is helping to sponsor the second annual Buona Pasqua! Ray Piccinini Easter Parade and pancake breakfast on March 26th, the day before Easter Sunday. ("Buona Pasqua" means "Happy Easter" in Italian.)
The "Bunny Pancake Breakfast' will run from 9:30–11:30am at the San Francisco Italian Athletic Club, 1630 Stockton St., and the parade will mosey around Washington Square Park from 11am–1pm. Cost for the breakfast is $15 adults, $10 for kids ages 5–13. If you plan to attend the breakfast, RSVP by calling Michelis at (415) 651-4726. If it rains, they'll host the event in the club's spacious ballroom.
"We encourage kids to bring their bikes, their trikes and wagons, and they decorate them," said Trish Herman of North Beach Neighbors. Prizes are given for the best decorated wheels and best bunny ears. Last year, about 150–200 people participated, she added, and they expect a larger crowd this year.
Photo: Bruno Kanter
The idea came about when Herman suggested organizing more family-centric activities in North Beach. Lisa Michelis came up with the idea to honor her friend Piccinini, who passed away in 2009. “Ray’s ties in North Beach are deep, and I thought it was a way to bring something for the kids to North Beach," she said.
Piccinini was a member of the Italian Athletic Club and a waiter at Enrico's (now the site of Naked Lunch), and then later Jovanelo’s and the Stinking Rose from the time it opened in 1991 until shortly before his death. "If you talk to people who grew up in North Beach who knew Ray, they all have a smile on their face," Herman said. "There couldn’t be a kinder, gentler man."
Surprisingly, he was also friends with the King of Jordan, who Pamela says rearranged his schedule to come and see Ray at the Stinking Rose. "He was in full garb," she said. "The king walked in and the king saw Ray, started to laugh and went over and hugged him." The two emailed frequently.
Photo: Bruno Kanter
The Easter Bunny tradition began at Enrico's, where they asked Ray to dress up in the costume for brunch one Easter Sunday. "It rained and no one came to the cafe that year," Pamela said. One of their nephews was in the hospital for something very minor, she said, so he got the idea to visit him. "Everyone was just so happy to see an Easter Bunny in the child’s ward—that’s what spawned the 50 years of being the Easter Bunny."
Today, Ray's great-nephew Craig Gianinno carries on the tradition of dressing as the Easter Bunny and visiting hospitals on Easter Sunday, while his nephew, Jack Piccinini, donned the costume at last year's parade and will do it again this year.
