After visiting Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana, the next stop on our Midwest Tour was Beggars Pizza in Lansing, IL.
Beggars Pizza is a regional franchise chain in Illinois and Indiana, with about two dozen restaurants.
The Lansing location is unique because it was originally a cinema – the Lans Theater, which first opened in 1947. After falling on hard times and multiple changes in ownership, the theater was closed and eventually sold in 1983 to a group that turned it into a pizza & pipe organ venue called “Pipes & Pizza”, which incorporated (and modified) a Barton theatre organ from the Oriental Theater in Milwaukee, WI.
Unfortunately, by 1990, the restaurant closed due to a lack of business – in part due to the fact that they did not have a liquor license and it was therefore not possible to serve beer or wine with a pizza.
The building sat unused for five years until it was sold and became a Beggars Pizza location, this time with a liquor license. Uniquely, the franchise owner decided to keep the pipe organ, and hired organist Glenn Taller to perform Tuesday and Friday evenings. Glenn continued to perform there for 16 years, until moving away in 2021. Glenn’s departure, along with the impact of the COVID pandemic on the restaurant industry, meant that the organ sat dormant.
That changed in 2023, when then-16-year-old Christian Schoop applied and was hired as the new organist at Beggars. Christian, with the advice and help of members of the American Theatre Organ Society Chicago Area chapter, brought the organ back to playable condition once again, and it made its official debut on Halloween night, 2023.
Christian has since moved on from the staff organist position, but continues to be involved with the instrument, which is now played regularly by Dennis Peters, organist at Christ Our Savior Parish in South Holland, IL.
(By coincidence, Dennis’s church is the “de facto home parish” of newly-elected Pope Leo XIV. Perhaps the Pope will stop in at Beggars the next time he’s in town to enjoy a pie with some pipe organ music?)
And that’s why we’re calling Beggars “The Upstart” – it isn’t the biggest, it’s had a troubled past, but it’s still here and still going despite the adversity, thanks to the dedication of those who want to keep the music playing.
You can help support the project by purchasing from the Crowdfunding Shop.
