Lombardi's Pizza

32 Spring Street | Nolita | built 1900

Open on the map2 entries

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

1. 1905

   Gennaro Lombardi applies for a license to sell pizza at 53 1/2 Spring Street, near today's Lombardi's

   Neapolitan immigrant Gennaro Lombardi opened an Italian grocery at 53 1/2 Spring Street in 1897, a short distance from the present restaurant at No. 32. Workers bought cheese pies wrapped in paper and string to carry to job sites. In 1905 he applied for a license to sell pizza, the date behind the restaurant's claim to be the first pizzeria in the United States. He baked in a coal oven, a practical choice because coal was easier to get in New York than wood.

   Source: Ephemeral New York

2. 1994

   Lombardi's reopens at 32 Spring Street after a ten-year closure

   The original Lombardi's closed in 1984 after decades at 53 1/2 Spring Street. A decade later it reopened at 30 and 32 Spring Street, a block away, under Gennaro Lombardi III, the founder's grandson, and his childhood friend John Brescio. They chose the new space because it already had a coal-fired oven. The restaurant now operates at No. 32, and 2019 research into immigration records suggests Filippo Milone may have been the true founder.

   Source: Wikipedia

Further reading

• A piece of pizza history inside a Nolita restaurantEphemeral New York

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• John Harrison House201 Mott Street | 4 entries
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• 225 Mott Street5 entries
• Storefront for Art and Architecture87 Kenmare Street | 3 entries

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