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Object number2013.59.6
Date2008
MediumWood, ink, metal, plastic
Credit LineGift of Robert Aloe
DescriptionWooden key chain in the shape of a wide, flat shovel (pizza peel). Wood is unfinished. Metal jump ring and plastic swivel at the end of the handle. Printed in black in the center of the shovel is restaurant and commemorative information with an image of a pizza slice wearing a chef's hat (toque) in the background.Dimensions6.125 x 2.5 in., 0.125 in. (15.6 x 6.4 cm, 0.3 cm)
InscriptionsPrinted in black in the center of the shovel is "Frank's / Pizzeria / celebrating / 1958 50 2008 / years / Ambridge, PA".
Historical NotesFrank's Pizzeria key chain. Frank's Pizzeria has been a family owned and operated business at 618 Duss Avenue in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, since 1958. Frank and Costanza Aloe immigrated to Ambridge in the late 1940s from Amantea in Calabria. Frank worked in the steel mills until the mid-1950s when he decided to open a fish market in the storefront below his house. Having been a fisherman in Italy, Frank thought this would be a profitable venture. It was not. Next he opened a pastry shop, which was another failed business. In 1958, Frank responded to an ad in the Italian newspaper Il Progresso about a pizza making school in New York sponsored by the Mastro Equipment Company. For $600 he was trained to make pizza and set up with a pizza oven, work table, and several pizza peels and pans. Frank's Pizzeria opened on September 22, 1958, giving away free pizza for the evening. In the early years, pizza was $0.15 a slice and $0.25 for two slices. Calzones were added to the menu in 1983.
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