Closing: Lenny's Pizza, where John Travolta enjoyed a 'double-decker slice' in 'Saturday Night Fever'
Your last chance to visit the iconic pizzeria in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, is this weekend.
Lenny’s Pizza had made it to a huge milestone — 70 years.
If 1953 was an important year for Lenny’s, the most significant in its history came 24 years later — 1977. It was during that year, in which New York saw the rise of Studio 54, the capture of the Son of Sam and the saga of the 1977 Blackout, that Lenny’s Pizza enjoyed a cameo in “Saturday Night Fever,” and the rest, as they say, is history.
And, now, 2023 will the saddest year in Lenny’s history, because it will be its last.
Josephine Giordano, the daughter of longtime owner, Frank, announced on Friday that the pizzeria is closing. Her dad decided to retire, and Lenny’s will go with him.
She wrote:
It’s bitter sweet to inform you guys that we are closing our doors after so many years. My dad is finally retiring at 77 years old. We thankfully have done very well and felt it was best to close once my dad was ready. It’s time for him and I to enjoy our families. We want to thank everyone who has given us the opportunity to serve them. Stay tuned for family fun videos and photos and more.
We will be closing our doors on Sunday night at 10 PM. Please feel free to come by for a slice. PLEASE dont call the store as we are still taking orders as we are still busy. The information is here. Thanks so much. This is a very emotional time for us. We ask for you to be respectful.
Thanks Josephine
The last chance to grab your “double-decker slice” is this weekend, as Lenny’s will close its doors forever at 10 p.m. Sunday.
Expect long lines outside 1969 86th St.
That double-decker, which is an official menu item here, refers to the culinary concoction created by Tony Manero, the character portrayed by John Travolta in the film.
He order two slices from the sidewalk window at Lenny’s, stacks one atop the other, and struts down 86th Street like the disco king that he was. In 2018, Travolta staged a triumphant return to Lenny’s, sporting his Bee Gees-approved disco threads. (See a report below on his visit.)
Travolta has another link to the neighborhood.
He was one of the lovable, ne’er-do-well Sweathogs on the 1970s ABC sitcom “Welcome Back, Kotter,” which is also set in Bensonhurst. In 2017, back when I directed social media for the nostalgia TV network Antenna TV, I brought a crew to Lenny’s as part of a mini-doc on how Bensonhurst has changed, as the network was picking up “Kotter” reruns. Below is a short version of our promo, which features a quick interview with Josephine!
There actually was a namesake Lenny’s who ran this place, but he left several years after it opened, Josephine said in this insightful interview. Her family took over in the 1980s, and Lenny’s remained a stalwart amid the change all around it. While the old-school Hallmark shop survives next door (my photo below), on the other side of the pizzeria is a Starbucks. (No, I did not photograph it.)
Today, there are still signs of the area’s once large Italian American population, like, until Sunday, Lenny’s itself, but the area’s demographics have changed, with Asians and Eastern Europeans moving in, a textbook example of how New York neighborhoods are always transforming, just like the city and nation at large.
In 2016, Josephine spoke to Storefront Survivors of the realities of running a pizzeria in New York City today:
I know now, from when this place opened up in the 50s till now, pizzerias are a thing of the past. The money is good but the amount of work and headaches put in to make that…the amount of stress and work…finding good workers is difficult, people don’t show up, people move back to their country…
And seven years later, Lenny’s is now about to become “a thing of the past” as well. Fortunately, Brooklyn still has some good slice joints, and I’ll be sharing some of my favorites here soon.
Did you ever visit Lenny’s? Where’s your favorite spot for a New York slice?
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Good read! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you!