New Haven's Apizza, Grinder & Hamburger

[Pearsons, Enid]

"Apizza" (or some spelling variation of that, but certainly with the initial
"a") hit Bridgeport with a bang around 1948, as I dimly recall.  I do
remember the pronunciation, though: ah-BEETS.  In spite of the restaurant
signs, the more frequent designation was just plain  "pie."

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bapopik at AOL.COM [mailto:Bapopik at AOL.COM]
> Sent: Monday, January 08, 2001 1:01 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: New Haven's Apizza, Grinder & Hamburger
>
>
>    The New Haven Free Public Library was open 1-5 p.m. this Sunday.
> Everything else was closed, so I took a trip up.
>    New Haven has a school of higher learning called Yale
> University--famous
> for teaching our next president everything he knows.
> Unfortunately, the New
> Haven Library has almost no Yale material.
>    I'll probably go to New London, CT, for my "grinder" search next
> Wednesday--after the MLK, Jr. holiday when the colleges are
> in session.
>    The New Haven Library had only the 1959-1960 telephone
> book, and 1920s
> phonebooks before that.  (The city directories are not much
> help.)  The
> librarian there was very kind and said he'd ask around (New
> Haven Colony
> Historical Society, telephone company) for earlier phonebooks
> for me and for
> his library.
>    "Apizza"--not entered in OED or DARE--is everywhere (see
> also old ADS-L
> archive) in 1959-1960:
>
> Al's Restaurant (..."Grinders"...)
> Big Apple Restaurant, 164 Wooster (since about 1948--ed.)
> Bobbie's Apizza
> Cappie's Apizza & Restaurant...Apizza & Grinders
> Capri Bakery & Restaurant...Apizza...Grinders
> DePalma's Apizza
> F&H Apizza
> Gag's Apizza
> The Grand Apizza  (Ad advertises "grinders" and has the
> winking chef giving
> the "OK" sign--ed.)
> High Ridge Gardens Apizza and Restaurant
> Johnnie's Apizza Restaurant
> Lew's Apizza
> Luigi's Apizza Restaurant (ad has "grinders"--ed.)
> Mike's Restaurant and Spaghetti House (Ad has "apizza"--ed.)
> Modern Apizza Place (Ad has "grinders"--ed.)
> Nicky's Apizza Spaghetti House
> North Haven Pizza House (Gotta be a typo--ed.)
> Palm Beach Apizza & Restaurant
> Paul's Bakery (Ad has "apizza"--ed.)
> Raccio's Apizza
> Ralph's Pizza (Probably another typo--ed.)
> Sam's Apizza & Restaurant
> Shorty's Apizza (Ad has "submarines"--ed.)
> Sloppy's Joe's 466BeachWH
> Smitty's Drive-In...Hamburger & Pepperburger Specialties
> Soundview Apizza Restaurant
> Tontine Restaurant (Ad has "apizza"--ed.)
> Tony's Apizza Restaurant
> Vece Peter Apizza
> Zuppardi's Apizza
>
>    I checked the handwritten card index and found this from
> the NEW HAVEN
> REGISTER, 6 June 1979, pg. 40, col. 1:
>
> _Did New Haven Grind Out The First Hamburger In America?_
> (...)(This UPI story is from Dallas.  The 1904 St. Louis
> World's Fair claim
> is detailed--ed.)
>    Other claims exist.
>    Yankees in New Haven are convinced Louis Lassen served the
> first burger in
> America at his establishment there in 1895.
>    Tolbert admits Lassen served something--but not a hamburger.
>    "That was sliced beef," Tolbert said.
>    Kenneth Lassen, who now presides over the cubbyhole that is Louis
> Lunch--seating capacity 28--emphatically says it was not
> sliced beef.  He
> says the burgers served there today were cloned from the 1895 model.
> (...)
>
> (See 1880s "hamburgers" in the ADS-L archive--ed.)
>