Syracuse, N.Y. — The old Joey’s Italian Restaurant building at Carrier Circle is no more.

At 7 a.m. today, demolition crews gathered for one last walk-through of the building that had served Central New Yorkers since 1982. Workers pulled out the familiar iron gates that thousands of customers passed through on their way downstairs to dinner, then stepped aside as the machines rolled in.

Former owner Joey DeCuffa, who built the original restaurant more than four decades ago, stood with several former employees and current owner Bill Cleary to watch the end of an era.

At 7:45, two excavators from Contento’s Demolition of Cortland began tearing into the brick and mortar, one clawing down walls and roofing, the other sorting metal, brick and debris into waiting trucks.

By mid-morning, the

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