DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker's got the story, and here's how I tell it. Way back in 1911, a man named San Giacinto Gaido — folks called him Cinto — stepped off the boat as an Italian immigrant and set up a sandwich shop right there at Seawall and 23rd Street in Galveston. Now, a sandwich shop on the seawall doesn't sound like the stuff of legend.
But Cinto had a motto, and he lived by it: learn what is wanted and then serve. Simple words. Turns out, what Galveston wanted was fresh seafood, and Cinto served it.
By 1920, Gaido's had become Galveston's first seafront restaurant open year round. Year round. On the Gulf Coast, where storms roll in and seasons turn mean, that was no small commitment.
Then in 1936, Gaido's opened a second location — Seawall and 39th Street — and it started life as a drive-in. Galveston pulling up to the water's edge, ordering seafood from their cars. That's a scene worth picturing.
But here's where the story deepens. In 1939, Cinto passed away. The man who'd built the whole thing from a sandwich counter up to a Galveston institution was gone.
His son Mike stepped in, along with his daughter-in-law Kewpie, and the marker's careful to tell you both of them were beloved civic leaders — not just restaurateurs, but people woven into the fabric of the city. And then came 1962. Gaido's became one of Galveston's first restaurants to be integrated.
That's a line that deserves a moment of quiet. In a time and a place when that was a choice with real weight behind it, Gaido's made it. Mike kept running the place until his death in 1993, and after that, his sons and their children carried it forward.
From a sandwich shop in 1911 to generations deep — Cinto's motto apparently had some staying power.
What the marker says
Founded in 1911 as a sandwich shop at Seawall and 23rd street by Italian immigrant San Giacinto "Cinto" Gaido, in 1920 Gaido's became Galveston's first seafront restaurant open year round. Cinto's motto was "learn what is wanted and then serve" and his restaurant gained fame serving the fresh seafood his customers wanted. The restaurant's Seawall and 39th street location, originally a drive-in, opened in 1936. After cinto's death in 1939, his son, Mike, and daughter-in-law, Kewpie, both beloved civic leaders, ran the restaurant. In 1962 Gaido's became one of Galveston's first restaurants to be integrated. After Mike's death in 1993, his sons and their children continue to operate the business.