Pizza-A-Go-Go Through the Years
Pizza-A-Go-Go started in 1967 near the corner of Grand and Gravois. There was a building on the west side of Grand with numerous businesses next to the South Side National Bank. My dad, Frank LaFata, moved into one of those businesses, a restaurant known as Stummer's and turned it into Pizza-A-Go-Go on February 5th, 1967, which is also his birthday.
The first Pizza-A-Go-Go restaurant address was 3617 South Grand. For those of you with a good memory, you may remember you had to open the door, walk up a ramp, and open another door to get into the restaurant. The dining area was a long hallway type setting. There was a counter with bar stools and tables to sit down and eat. On the outside there was a large ball hanging from the wall with the Anheuser-Busch eagle on one side and Pizza-A-Go-Go on the other. The other businesses next to Pizza-A-Go-Go were Porter Paints and a lawyer’s office.
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I, Paul LaFata, started working with my dad in 1978 when I was 13 years old at this location with a friend of mine named Mike Santangelo.
In 1980, the South Side National Bank purchased the building where Pizza-A-Go-Go and the other businesses were. At that time, there was a building across the street on the east side of Grand that had several businesses, one of which was a TV repair shop that had gone out of business. My dad inquired about the building and started to lease it. My dad got Mike Santangelo's dad and a couple of his friends to transform the TV repair shop into the second location of Pizza-A-Go-Go.
To get Pizza A-Go-Go started again, it was closed for a short period of time in 1980. The address of the second location was 3610 South Grand. There was also a movie theater next to Pizza-A-Go-Go called the Melba Theater. When you walked into Pizza-A-Go-Go there was a small room to the left with tables. As you walked further into the restaurant there were just a couple of tables and a pinball machine. There was a TV on top of a cigarette machine, and to get to the bathrooms you had to walk up a ramp. All of the equipment was brought over from the first location. The best and most memorable attribute of the business was the large windows that my dad put in so the people driving and walking by could see him toss the dough in the air.
In 1997, the owners of the building sold it to another buyer, and that buyer did not want any tenants. So, my dad was forced to look for another location. A couple of St. Louis City policemen named Gary Wurm and Gary Foster told my dad about a building that was for sale, and they thought it would be good spot for the third and current Pizza-A-Go-Go location. The building that they found was a pizza restaurant called Mothers. So, when my dad saw the inside, it was a perfect fit. Again, the business was closed for a few months in 1997 while my dad set up the inside and outside.
Frank originally started making pizzas at Pino's Pizza in Gaslight Square between 1964 and 1967. He operated the business with his brother Vito. In Gaslight Square, there was a club called Whiskey-a-go-go, and when Frank opened his business, he replaced Whiskey with Pizza! That is where he got the name. Back in those days, many restaurants were closed on Sunday and Monday, so Frank decided to open on those days to get some business. He had to go grocery shopping at some point during the week, so he chose Wednesday to close the business. That is why we are closed on Wednesday.
Frank passed away at the age of 90 on November 23, 2020. We know he is in Heaven making pizzas for everyone!
