{"id":103342,"date":"2026-02-02T23:29:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T23:29:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/103342\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T23:29:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T23:29:06","slug":"lou-capozzoli-owner-of-rays-happy-birthday-bar-dies-at-86","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/103342\/","title":{"rendered":"Lou Capozzoli, owner of Ray\u2019s Happy Birthday Bar, dies at 86"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\nLou Capozzoli, a musician and the longtime owner of Ray\u2019s Happy Birthday Bar, died Sunday night at the age of 86.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nCapozzoli, whose\u00a0death was announced on social media,\u00a0inherited ownership of the bar 28 years ago after the death of his father, Ray, who founded the South Philly dive in 1938.<\/p>\n<p>MORE:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.phillyvoice.com\/low-cut-connie-new-album-protest-song-livin-in-the-usa\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Low Cut Connie revise ICE protest song &#8216;Livin In the USA&#8217; for new album<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cIt saddens our hearts to let everyone know that our beloved father, husband, bar owner and everyone\u2019s favorite South Philly musician has passed away tonight,\u201d the\u00a0<a data-original-title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DUPhWcRDU65\/?hl=en\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">post<\/a> reads. \u201cWe want to thank everyone who has been a part of his amazing life for showing him the love and respect he deserved. He took pride in continuing what his father started \u2026 the iconic institution of Ray\u2019s Happy Birthday Bar.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\nRepresentatives with the bar could not be reached for comment.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nCapozzoli was known for cultivating a welcoming atmosphere, with the bar having an outdoor smoking section and allowing people to bring their own food since it has a limited menu.<\/p>\n<p>Ray Capozzoli opened the business, initially called \u201cRay\u2019s,\u201d the year after Lou was born, and he raised his family in the apartment above the establishment.<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cI remember waking up on the third floor [when] I was maybe 3 years old,\u201d Lou Capozzoli told\u00a0<a data-original-title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/whyy.org\/articles\/a-big-anniversary-for-south-phillys-birthday-bar\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">WHYY<\/a> in 2023. \u201cI was scared because I was by myself and I ran down the steps and I sat on the bar right here and my mother gave me cornflakes and milk on the bar. For some reason that always stuck in my mind.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\nAfter Ray\u2019s death in 1997, Capozzoli changed the name to Ray\u2019s Happy Birthday Bar in honor of his father\u2019s tradition of greeting every customer by wishing them a happy birthday.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nWhile many aspects of the place didn&#8217;t change, Lou Capozzoli infused his love of humor and music into the bar with the addition of comedy shows, open-mic nights and karaoke.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nOn the first Saturday of every month from October through April, Capozzoli would play saxophone and sing covers\u00a0as the charismatic frontman of the Rage Band.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nIn honor of the bar\u2019s 85th anniversary, the Rage Band recorded and released a three-song EP in 2023 that was co-produced with Adam Weiner, the frontman of the Philadelphia-based rock band Low Cut Connie.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n \u201cOne of the greatest men I\u2019ve ever known,\u201d Weiner commented on the bar\u2019s announcement of Capozzoli\u2019s death.\n<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lou Capozzoli, a musician and the longtime owner of Ray\u2019s Happy Birthday Bar, died Sunday night at the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103343,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[12499,111,3026,2252,69,71,70,50028,3220],"class_list":["post-103342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-bars","tag-death","tag-obituaries","tag-obituary","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-rays-happy-birthday-bar","tag-south-philly"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}