Rick Just
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Author
  • Speaker
  • Contact
  • Subscriptions
  • Heroes & Villains

Pizza!

7/26/2018

Comments

 
​So, in the interest of solid historical research I sometimes type a random word in the search box of various newspaper archives. The word one Sunday was “pizza.” I thought it might be fun to find out when the first pizza, as we know it, arrived in Boise.
 
The first mention of what one might recognize as a pizza was a recipe that appeared in the Idaho Statesman in 1941. It was basically throw some red sauce on Italian dough, grate some cheese over the top of it and bake for 25 minutes.
 
The next decade of pizza news in the capital city was dominated by Frank Pizza, who played a lot of amateur softball. He was in the news approximately ten to one over a scattering of other pizza recipes, including one for Maine Sardine Pizza. Yum?
 
Softball Frank still led the pizza search (he also went to work servicing  Maytags, by the way) in the early 50s, but in 1951 it finally happened. You could BUY a pizza at a restaurant in Boise (photo). The Villanova restaurant began offering pizza after 9:30 pm, by candlelight. Apparently, this was after the kids would be in bed, so it was safe.
 
Pizza recipes continued, often suggesting an English muffin as the solid foundation for your genuine Italian dinner at home.
 
Frank played softball.
 
In 1953, the Payless Drug Store on Tenth and Idaho moved pizza technology forward a notch by selling the Bake-King Pizza Pan with which you could make pizza RIGHT AT HOME.
 
It was a major advancement in culinary news in May 1955 when the Howdy Partner Drive in Café, (on Hiway 30 Near the Fairgrounds), began advertising a new taste sensation the Pizza Burger (Trade Mark Reg.). It was said to be all the rage on the West Coast.
 
Still, Frank Pizza’s amateur softball career was getting more mentions than anything pizza-like that you could have for dinner. He eventually switched to golf.
 
There were rumblings of what was to come, though. Classified ads started appearing looking for various kinds of restaurant help including those experienced in PIZZA MAKING!
 
Then, the breakthrough. On October 8, 1955 the first restaurant with pizza in its name opened in Boise. Pete’s Pizza Pie Restaurant on Vista Avenue, next to Quinn’s Lounge advertised Real Italian Pizza. And so it began.
 
Today, of course, there are 147,000 pizza restaurants in Boise, according to the number of search results I got back when I typed into Google “How many pizza restaurants are there in Boise?” Hold the anchovies. 
Picture
Speaking of Idaho history posts are copyright © 2020 by Rick Just. Sharing is encouraged. If you don’t find a button that lets you do that, find the post on Speaking of Idaho. If you’re missing my daily posts, select the RSS button, or select See it First under the Facebook Following tab.
Comments
    Picture
    The first book in the Speaking of Idaho series is out. Ask for it at your local Idaho bookstore, find it on Amazon, or, if you want a signed copy, click the button.
    Picture
    The second book in the Speaking of Idaho series is out. Ask for it at your local Idaho bookstore, find it on Amazon, or, if you want a signed copy, click the button.
    Picture
    Rick's book about Fearless Farris is available on Amazon! Click the picture above to be taken to Amazon. If you'd like an autographed copy, click the button below.

    Author, Speaker

    Rick Just has been writing about Idaho history since 1989 when he wrote and recorded scripts for the Idaho Centennial Commission’s daily radio program, Idaho Snapshots. One of his Idaho books explores the history of Idaho's state parks: Images of America, Idaho State Parks. Rick also writes a regular column for Boise Weekly.

    Rick does public presentations on Idaho's state park history and the history of the Morrisite war for the Idaho Humanities Council's Speakers Bureau.idahohumanities.org/programs/inquiring-idaho/
    ​


    Check out Rick's history of Idaho State Parks.

    The audio link below is to Rick's Story Story Night set called "Someplace Not Firth"

    Archives

    July 2025
    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018

    RSS Feed

Speaking of Idaho history posts are copyright © 2025 by Rick Just. Sharing is encouraged. If you’re missing my daily posts, select the RSS button, or select See it First under the Facebook Following tab.

*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. That means if you follow a link (generally to a book) from my page to an Amazon page, I get a tiny percentage of any purchase you may make.