This property, along with other nearby lots, was once owned by members of the Hopper family, after whom Hopper’s Alley was named. John A. and Elizabeth Hopper owned the land prior to 1902 when it was conveyed to their son, Peter Lesley Hopper (1856-1917), and their daughter, Sallie Albertson Dennis by a Circuit Court Trustee. Sallie was the widow of Dr. Stephen Dennis of Salisbury and she died in 1908. By her Will, she devised all of her property to Peter Hopper. Part of the property is also known as 713 Hopper’s Lane. Unfortunately it is not possible from deeds to estimate the year this was built, so Harford County’s “built” date is used.

Peter Hopper owned a lot of property when he died intestate in 1917 and it was many years before administration of his Estate was complete. This resulted in property taxes not being paid on some unsold property in 1951 resulting in the Harford County Treasurer selling this in 1952 to Omer Carson and G. Arnold Pfaffenbach. They sold it the following year to Enrico “Henry” Di Mauro (1894-1965) and his wife, Giovannina “Jenny” Rodia Di Mauro (1909-1979). Together they opened “Jenny’s Sandwich Shop” on the ground level here while they lived upstairs. Jenny Di Mauro was the sister of Stanley F. Rodia, Sr. (1915-1973) whose wife was Evelyn Rodia, and were the parents of Stan Rodia whom we know today.

Cynthia Baldwin remembers that Ms. Jenny and Mr. Henry had a penny candy counter in the sub shop that absolutely mesmerized her as a young girl. As she stood in front of it trying to decide what to choose, she says Mr. Henry used to swear under his breath in Italian because it took her so long. But Ms. Jenny would sweep in behind the counter, call her “the nice girl,” and help her decide. Cynthia adds that her Mom never knew that she hid the candies in her dresser drawer and ate them at night—that way she didn’t have to share them with her three siblings.

When Henry died in 1965, family members helped Jenny keep the business and beer sales going for a while. Then the store became Tuck’s Subs & Pizza with George Tucker Yingling and his wife, Janice, selling pizza, subs, and sandwiches. Tuck’s was one of several sub shops around town, including Cianelli’s, just across the street at 711 Erie Street. However, Tuck offered both cold and hot (especially hot cheesesteak) subs, whereas Cianelli’s only offered cold (but great) subs! Barry Blevins, who worked at American Cyanamid, used to take lunch orders to Tuck’s, which got him a free sub for bringing the business! Gunther Pauley worked for Tuck here on Erie Street as well as after Tuck moved his business to North Washington Street in the early 1970s.

Jenny Di Mauro’s son was Enrico “Ricky” Di Mauro who lived in Utah when Jenny died in 1979 (Ricky himself died in 2018). Jenny’s Estate sold these buildings to Stanley M. Taylor, Jr. in 1980, for whom they were investment properties. The ground floor store became “Sam’s Deli” shortly after that and became a very popular sandwich shop. People today still talk about how great the subs were from Sam’s Deli. Stanley Taylor, who had moved to Utah, sold the buildings in 1984 to Min Yeol Choe (known as Sam) and Chol-Soon Choe. They continued to run Sam’s Deli and sandwich shop until 2019, when Min Yeol Choe died. His widow sold the property later that year to Hoon Jeong and Eunsook Jeong, (said to be a nephew of Min Yeol Choe and now known as Brandon and his wife Lisa) who continue to run Sam’s Deli on the ground floor here and own the rental apartments.

County Records
Built 1935, 2046 sq ft, 1.5 stories with basement, 2.5 baths, 8890 sq ft lot.