Issue: Issue Fall 2009

Sixty Years and Still Counting

By: DH

Miceli's was established in 1949, when Carmen and Sylvia Miceli gathered their meager funds and opened Miceli's Pizzaria -- Hollywood's first pizza house. Using family recipes brought from Sicily via Old Chicago, people lined up and down the block. In addition to being the oldest Italian restaurant in Los Angeles, Miceli’s helped launch the pizza as one of America’s favorite foods. In the mid-50’s, writers on “I Love Lucy” passed by the restaurant and watched pizzas being made. “Lucy could do that,” they remarked and the rest is television history.

In addition to being the second oldest restaurant in Hollywood, it’s décor spans more than its 60 years. In the late 1950’s when nearby Pig ‘n Whistle was closing, Carmen Miceli “recycled” its entire carved wooden décor—booths, beams and ceiling. The casual observer, might think they’re authentically “Italian” were it not for the dancing pigs that can be seen on a closer look.

The interior and exterior of this restaurant have appeared in countless films, television shows and commercials from “Terminator” to “Irreconcilable Differences” with George Clooney and more recently “Knocked Up” and segments of “CSI” just to name a few. Throughout the years, Miceli's in Hollywood and its sister location in Universal City, have drawn dignitaries and celebrities including presidents JFK and Richard Nixon and the Beatles to Jim Carrey, Adam Sandler, and Julia Roberts. The food and décor in this family business now being run by second generation Frank and Joe Miceli, cause guests to remark, “Thank goodness, something in Hollywood hasn’t changed.” Authentic Hollywood, that’s Miceli’s.