Slice of college: How pizza shaped the Redbird experience
The first bite
John and Fred Baldini, children of immigrant parents from Lucca, Italy, brought pizza, a little-known novelty in America at the time, to town in 1936 when they opened Lucca Grill in Downtown Bloomington. A 1953 Vidette ad touted Lucca’s “choice steaks, Italian pizza, and spaghetti.”
Takeout options, such as Casella’s Pizza Palace, opened near campus in the mid-1950s. A 1955 Vidette article introducing Homecoming court nominee Mary Broomfield ’56 contained the paper’s first account of a college student enjoying pizza under the headline “Mary Likes Pizza.” Another Vidette story in 1957 described “a pizza party and dancing” at Smith Hall.
Charles “Tot” Baldini, son of Lucca Grill co-founder Fred Baldini
Delivering dough
By the late-1950s, pizza ads included phone numbers for delivery. “Have pizza, will travel” became Casella’s slogan. Ronnie’s Pizza boasted “fast, speedy delivery.” A 1962 ad for Pizza on Wheels described “a real Italian pizza completely prepared and baked in our spotless, radio-dispatched, mobile kitchen enroute to your door.” Mr. Kelly’s, across from the Normal Theater, offered “rush service on pizza.” And Tobin’s, which opened in 1963, assembled the largest fleet of food delivery vehicles in town.
Yet some students still preferred dining in. Ragusa’s Pizza Palace and Italian Restaurant opened in the early 1960s on Dale Street. Avanti’s opened a block north in 1971. It served pizza, pasta, and sandwiches on its famously sweet bread.
“If dad wanted to take me to dinner on Sunday night before he headed back home, we ate at Avanti’s,” remembered Barbara (Fairweather) Byer ’75. “Nothing else compares.”
Pairs well with beer
A pizza renaissance was set in motion on July 9, 1973, when previously dry Normal approved the sale of alcohol in town. Because establishments serving alcohol were also required to sell food, pizza was a tasty option for restauranteurs catering to the Illinois State crowd. Among the first to receive liquor licenses were The Gallery and The Welcome Inn (upstairs restaurant)/The Cellar (downstairs bar) in Downtown Normal, which featured pizza on their menus.
“Our friend, Patricia Cronin ’81, worked at The Cellar, and once in a while she would bring home a pizza for my roomie, Sue Mallonee Necessary ’79, and me, at midnight after they closed,” recalled Marguerite “Peg” Vahldieck ’79. “If we were already sleeping, we would get up and eat that wonderful deep dish.”
Josie’s Pizza Kitchen opened a two-story restaurant on East Beaufort Street in 1976 that served pan pizza and beer and featured trees and plants growing under a skylight in the center of the bar.
Newspaper feature
Vidette extras
Landing “The Flying Tomato”
Garcia’s, a pizza game-changer, opened its first Normal location in 1978 on Dale. Owners Ralph Senn and Joe Ream, known as “The Flying Tomato Brothers” for their iconic hot air balloon that occasionally floated over the Quad, pegged Illinois State’s campus as a prime location to grow their Champaign-based business.
Garcia’s differentiated itself with rectangular pan pizza by the slice. It also served sharable thick crust “pizza in a pan” and stuffed pizza available as a “Gutbuster,” heaped with cheese, sausage, green peppers, mushrooms, and onions.
A second location on Broadway Avenue invited patrons with an indoor waterfall, tropical greenery, balconies, and a 1,000 square-foot skylight from which patrons could see 10-year-old Watterson Towers rising high above. Pinball machines and arcade games including Centipede and Galaga added to the appeal.
“It was considered ‘cool’ to work there with our blue jean shirts and red bandanas,” said Karen Mordini-Schnorr ’82. “I met my future husband at a party after work. I was still in my work clothes and swore he was attracted to the scent of Garcia’s pizza.”
Many relationships were launched at Garcia’s. Others failed to take flight. “I remember being on a not-so-great date when my date announced he had the recipe for Garcia’s pizza sauce,” said former student Sandy Stolberg. “For that all-too-brief moment, the date improved dramatically.”
Garcia’s, also located on East College Avenue and inside the Bone Student Center, became “intermingled with the ISU college experience,” according to a 1988 Vidette article.
Explore more from Garcia’s
Ralph Senn, co-owner Garcia’s Pizza in a Pan
Normal twist on Chicago flavor
“My check register was: Micheleo’s, Micheleo’s, Micheleo’s, Kroger,” said Mick Hall ’89. “Those were priorities in the ’80s.”
As the food manager and treasurer for his fraternity, John Narish ’93 took full advantage of a Micheleo’s Sunday evening deal. “I looked at what the regular meal was going to cost versus taking the house to the pizza place,” Narish said. His favorite was cheese, sausage, and extra sauce. “Micheleo’s was far cheaper than the cost of feeding the guys through our service. Everyone loved it, and I was a hero.”
By the late-1980s, more than 25 pizza places served Bloomington-Normal. The list included Chicago Dough Company and Papa John’s, which was unrelated to the national franchise and located in a “small shack at the corner of Willow and Normal,” according to the Vidette.
Pizza World, which originated in Normal in 1970 and became a small franchise, was another student favorite. In 1979, the company paraded its fleet of 34 red and white AMC Spirit delivery cars through campus, and across Central Illinois, to mark its rise in the world of pizza.
Micheleo’s Pizza founders Mike and Geri Koch
Late-night pie
Grog’s joined the scene in 1989. Located on East Beaufort, it offered 12-inch pizzas for $3.99 and was open until 2 a.m. on weeknights and 3:30 a.m. on weekends. “We would walk in and order a small cheese—and onions and green peppers were always free,” recalled Scott Urbon ’94. “I can’t tell you how many times I burnt the roof of my mouth sitting on the curb outside.”
Grog’s later became Prime Time Pizza, which continued the tradition of baking affordable pizza into the wee hours of the morning. Jake’s, Rhino’s, and Dirk’s also served Downtown Normal.
Across campus, students living in Dunn-Barton and Walker halls needn’t go far to grab a quality slice. They had Chatter’s in the basement of Walker. “A whole pizza done to order, plus they sold pints of Ben & Jerry’s,” said Kathleen (Prohaska) Podraza ’09. “We used to walk across the road, from Hamilton, late at night and then have everyone over, crowded into someone’s room, watching movies.”
David Foster Wallace
In Bloomington, Monical’s Pizza was a favorite of the late David Foster Wallace, an Illinois State professor and author of the acclaimed novel Infinite Jest. His first interview with Rolling Stone reporter David Lipsky for his book, Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself, took place at the Monical’s on South Eldorado Road in 1996.
A fresh slice
The new millennium brought more options including ZaZa’s Pizza Palace, Redbird Pizza, and Gumby’s with its deliciously greasy Pokey Stix, while a few legendary pizzerias served their final slices. Garcia’s left Normal in 1999, and Micheleo’s closed in 2010.
For alumni craving nostalgia, Tobin’s also serves Micheleo’s, and Garcia’s still operates in Champaign. Avanti’s, Lucca, and Tobin’s remain major pizza players in Bloomington-Normal.
Uptown Normal’s transformation in the mid-2000s sparked investments in new restaurants such as Medici, featuring stone oven pizza, and Firehouse Pizza. One of Uptown’s newest restaurant’s, Pizza Payaa, serves artisan pan pizzas. A 2021 Vidette article noted “the menu includes square pies, gluten-free pies and more.” Flingers Pizza Pub is another community favorite.
Today’s Redbirds have more options for different styles of pizza than ever. But instead of thumbing through the phone book or dialing a memorized number like 888-9999 (for Prime Time Pizza), they’re more likely to order through a mobile app. And while the selection has changed, generations of Redbirds hold shared experiences of laughing with friends or cramming for an exam between bites of crispy crust, melted cheese, and their favorite toppings.
“We’d get our pizza by the slice at Jake’s, and we’d talk about classes and work and dreams and bucket-list vacations … and everything else you can think of,” recalled Ryan Elias ’04. Because when it comes to nourishing the college experience, pizza always delivers.
Guess the Pizza
Hover or navigate to images for the answers.
Avanti’s
Monical’s
Garcia’s
Micheleo’s
Tobin’s
Lucca
Garcia’s
Flingers
Avanti’s
Monical’s
Gumby’s
Lucca
Jake’s
Tobin’s
Special thanks to Julie Neville, M.S. ’12, Illinois State University senior archives specialist; Bill Kemp ’88, M.S. ’00, McLean County Museum of History librarian; Larry Carius, Bloomington-Normal Restaurant Scene founder; and Clay Jackson, Pantagraph photographer.
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