Over 70's: Do you remember your first pizza?

[Larry Caldwell]

The West Coast chain called Shakey's made it to my small county seat (Pop. 17,000) about 1961. I assume they started right after WWII, like so many restaurant chains. They served a pretty good pie and, at least in that town, would serve anyone beer with their pizza without checking ID. I suppose I was 14 when they opened.

 

[MossRoad]

The West Coast chain called Shakey's made it to my small county seat (Pop. 17,000) about 1961. I assume they started right after WWII, like so many restaurant chains. They served a pretty good pie and, at least in that town, would serve anyone beer with their pizza without checking ID. I suppose I was 14 when they opened.

Honest to goodness, the last time I was in a Shakey's Pizza was on the south side of South Bend, Indiana around 1980. I was drunk, on the floor in the restroom, my head literally stuck under a toilet, with a voice in nice black leather shoes standing on the other side of the divider yelling at my friends to either drag me out of there or he was going to call the cops. Every time I tried to lift my head, I heard the bonk of porcelain on one side of my skull followed shortly thereafter by the bonk of tile flooring on the other side of my skull.
Bonk bonk.
Bonk bonk.
Bonk bonk.

And I was laughing away while that manager yelled at my friends.

Bonk bonk. I just couldn't get out of there.

Ahh, the good old days.

(what an idiot)

 

[MossRoad]

Honest to goodness, the last time I was in a Shakey's Pizza was on the south side of South Bend, Indiana around 1980. I was drunk, on the floor in the restroom, my head literally stuck under a toilet, with a voice in nice black leather shoes standing on the other side of the divider yelling at my friends to either drag me out of there or he was going to call the cops. Every time I tried to lift my head, I heard the bonk of porcelain on one side of my skull followed shortly thereafter by the bonk of tile flooring on the other side of my skull.
Bonk bonk.
Bonk bonk.
Bonk bonk.

And I was laughing away while that manager yelled at my friends.

Bonk bonk. I just couldn't get out of there.

Ahh, the good old days.

(what an idiot)

Forgot to mention, the pizza was always pretty good up to that point. I was too embarrassed to return. It closed shortly after that, as I recall.

 

[LFP57]

Had my first taste back in the early 60s from a little pizza shop that was walking distance from my house, Little Caesars. I learned later on that it the very first store they opened, back in 1959. It was in a little strip mall in Garden City Michigan.

 

[OldMcDonald]

Hmmmm, is that pizza dough in the freezer or is it dough for Scottish meat pies from a YouTube show I watched......

Scotch pies!!!!!!!!! One of the things I missed whilst 18 years in Portugal, but now.............. The other was hearing a curlew (Numenius Arquata). Fortunately there are thousands of them year round on Orkney, despite being on the UK "Red List" as endangered.

I was in my 40s before I tasted pizza - somewhere in NSW, Australia's mid west. Tried the odd one since, and not impressed.

Also whilst in Australia I took my son to a McDonald's so he could experience one. First and last time for me too. Nothing wrong with the food, just never had the need to eat whilst near another.

Anybody tried the Portuguese Bacalhau (dried salted Atlantic Cod)? It looks like it could be used to re-sole your boots. Tried it a few times and it is always too salty for me.

 

[Bird]

AAhhh, the things we remember. I'm 82 years old, but I sure remember living in Marlow, OK, when I got my first drivers license when I had just turned 16 and Dad got me a 10 year old (1946) 2-dr Chevrolet with just over 90 thousand miles on it, and my first trip was to Oklahoma City to visit my maternal grandparents. I had one cousin a couple of years older than I was and he had a date that night in Oklahoma City, so she arranged a blind date for me with a friend of hers. They said we were going out to eat "pizza pie" which I had never even heard of.

Cousin ordered for him and his date, and the waitress turned to me. I asked my date and she said the same thing sounded good to her, so I told the waitress, "We'll have 2 of the same." Everyone looked at me like I was nuts, and my cousin said, "Bird, you just want one and you share it." So I said, "OK."

And that was the first time I ever heard of pizza. It was a plain cheese pizza; but not bad, not impressive.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Bird, I remember in HS, guys would down a large pizza by themselves.

 

[oosik]

I was in college - U of W in Seattle. Our small hometown never had a pizza shop.

 

[lman]

I was about 16 when I went to an FFA meeting and somebody brought Pizza. That was the first time for me, mom never made Pizza. We had plenty of meat and potatoes though and whatever else we grew on the farm.

 

[stuckmotor]

I finished the pizza that brought on the post last night. Now you guys have me craving another one.

 

[Fixastuff]

My grandma refused to eat or even taste pizza.

 

[Citydude]

I smoke a pizza every now and then. Oh, and in a smoker just in case someone gets the wrong idea.

 

[stuckmotor]

My grandma refused to eat or even taste pizza.

I'm not sure my grandma could pronounce it.

 

[JasperFrank]

The first Hawaiian Pizza with Canadian Bacon, was a revelation of just how good food could be. Many may say this is an abomination. It isn't. Its the connection of two different cultures that makes something better. Extraordinary better.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I smoke a pizza every now and then. Oh, and in a smoker just in case someone gets the wrong idea.

Good thing you clarified that I can see one all rolled up. Oregano, right!!

 

[Alien]

Never been a fan on Pizza and wouldn't remember the first time I tried it, however I do like a decent Hawaiian pizza with heaps of ham, cheese and pineapple. The ones you buy are so thinly spread it puts me off buying them.

 

[tacticalturnip]

Oh my, box pizza is what we had when I was young. We just didn’t eat out.

That's what we primarily ate, cooked for years on a cookie sheet; then one Christmas my mother received a pizza stone. That one change, the surface it is cooked on, took the taste and texture of the box pizza to new heights. I think my mother loved that stone more than she loves me, you should have seen her tears when it broke.

 

[TractorTYMe]

I'm only 50, but I remember when my dad (currently 73) got served pizza for the 1st time that my mom made in the early 1980's back home in Norway, he got disappointed after she'd put oregano on it.........he left the table mumbling "Taste like pencil shavings........"

 

[LouNY]

We had a pizza pie that my aunt brought up to the house, she had married one of them there italians.
They used to come up to the farm frequently when my brothers and sisters were young and actually till my
mother died. Then they came up to my place, but to get back to the subject at hand.
The pizza pie that she introduced us to was a moderately thin crust in a regular pie pan,
it had lots of tomatoes and tomato sauce along with lots of meat cheese along with some vegetables.
I never had what is considered normal pizza till after I was in the Marines and out in town.
So that would have been late 1970 or early 71.

 

[MossRoad]

Bird, I remember in HS, guys would down a large pizza by themselves.

Geeze, my wife and I could eat an entire large Godfather's pizza with sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, and onions and a pitcher of beer until around age 40. Now we're lucky eat two pieces and a small mug.

Metabolism is cruel.