DiPiazza’s will celebrate its 60th anniversary this Saturday – the first anniversary celebration the Long Beach restaurant and lounge has ever held.
Owner Mark DiPiazza’s father, Bob DiPiazza, first opened the restaurant on May 5, 1952, as a breakfast and hamburger joint on Second Street in Belmont Shore. However, after getting little business, Bob DiPiazza – and with the help of Mark’s grandmother – revamped it into Long Beach’s first pizza delivery and Italian cuisine.
“This is our first anniversary ever. We are very low-key,” said Maralyn DiPiazza, Mark’s wife and business partner. “We don’t take time out to celebrate things, but we’re doing this because Mark’s dad is 84. We wanted him to see what he started out, that it’s still going on. We wanted to give him something that he could be proud of. We don’t know if he’ll be here for future celebrations, but he’s here for this one.”
Since its opening, DiPiazza’s has had several locations, including Second Street, Anaheim Boulevard and Ocean Boulevard, where it first became a music venue in 1995.
“We’ve had a lot of musical acts here,” Mark DiPiazza said. “Weezer, Steven Perkins of Jane’s Addiction, Flea of Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Heartbreakers without Tom Petty, Slightly Stoopid, Dirty Heads, Marky Ramone and Dee Dee Ramone – and the Ramones, Mike Watt of Iggy Pop and Tenacious D plays every now and then.”
In 2000, DiPiazza’s moved to its 5205 E. Pacific Coast Highway location.
The all-ages celebration will provide live music starting at 6 p.m. The bands include Not Fade Away, a fifty’s and sixty’s cover band; Led Zepland, a Led Zeppelin cover band; and Dumb Love, a contemporary, indie rock band. Free ashtrays will also be given out to the first 200 customers, and DiPiazza fans will have the chance to meet and greet the “OG,” Bob DiPiazza, as Maralyn called him. Admission is $5 at the door after 6 p.m.
“The reason for [the free ashtray] is when we first opened in 1952, people smoked [a lot],” Maralyn said. “So people would steal the ash trays. So we thought, we’ll just give them the damn ashtray! It’s our trademark now.”
The DiPiazza’s staff is expecting to see anywhere from 300 to 400 people come through DiPiazzas this Saturday.
According to Mark DiPiazza and Maralyn DiPiazza, unless sponsored by liquor companies, most of DiPiazza’s shows are all-ages. The restaurant strives to give both the older and younger generation a fun and safe place to hang out. As for DiPiazza’s future, Mark DiPiazza and Maralyn DiPiazza have no plans of retirement any time soon.
“Mark and I still think we’re teenagers,” Maralyn DiPiazza said. “When we are Bob’s age, we’ll still be in there working. I would love to see that our kids would maybe take over someday. We hope that they would want to carry it on. They both love music and are both great chefs.”
Bob will be at the event from about 3 pm to 8 pm.
For more information, visit DiPiazza’s at DiPiazzas.com.
