As part of their annual “Pizza Week” coverage, the Portland Mercury has posted an online article about the Organ Grinder and the documentary project.
Excerpt:
Amid the strip malls and used car lots along SE 82nd, one big building, now home to Super King Buffet, looks out of place: glass walls stretching tens of feet tall, ceilings sharply sloping in different directions. Turns out these glass add-ons, designed by none other than Pioneer Square architect Willard K. Martin, were once home to a massive Wurlitzer pipe organ, which provided the live soundtrack for what some believe was once the world’s highest-volume pizzeria.
That restaurant was called Organ Grinder Pizza, and it holds fond memories for many Portlanders whose childhood years coincided with the business’s operation from 1973 to 1996. It was a prime location for kids’ birthday parties, with live organ performances of the Star Wars theme song, bubbles that would float down from the ceiling, a mechanical monkey, and even live monkeys (one with a particular penchant for cannabis) toward the beginning of the Organ Grinder’s tenure.
A monkey with a penchant for Cannabis? That’s right! This part of the story we’ve been holding back for awhile now, but it seemed like the Mercury was the perfect place to deliver this exclusive.
Read the full article by Mercury food editor Katherine Chew Hamilton:
Pipe Dreams and Pizza Crusts Will Dive into the Wacky World of Organ Grinder Pizza
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