Half a Century of Slices at Smiling Pizza
Smiling Pizza has been serving up pizza and neighborhood memories for generations
All photos by Park Slope Pulse unless otherwise mentioned
Smiling Pizza turned 50 this year and was inducted into the New York State Historic Business Preservation Registry! The corner of 7th Ave and 9th St has been a favorite slice spot in Park Slope for generations.
Smiling Pizza was started by Santo Zito, who came to New York from Sicily. Santo tried his hand at all kinds of work when he first arrived - from installing duct systems at the World Trade Center to selling fruit out of a van - but he ended up buying a tiny pizza shop here in Park Slope and making it his life’s work.
In the early days there were just a couple of tables and no real kitchen - his wife Maria Concetta would actually make cutlets at their Bensonhurst home and bring them to the shop every morning.
Over the years the Zito family expanded into the storefront next door, turning Smiling Pizza into a popular neighborhood spot.
Congrats to Smiling Pizza and here’s to another fifty years of pizza & community!
Smiling Pizza
323 7th Ave, Brooklyn
(Corner of 7th Ave & 9th Street)
