At John’s Pizzeria

May 5, 2014: The weekend turned out to be quite busy with so many things to do. On Saturday, I went to Stamford to meet Komal and Amit Juneja.

Amit is into information technology and Komal had served six years in the Indian military before marrying Amit and settling down in the US.

Stamford is an hour by train from New York’s Grand Central station.

On Sunday I saw a movie Lunch Box and then went to John’s Pizzeria which is said to be one of the most famous pizza joints in New York.

In the late twenties when the city streets of New York were cobblestone with trolley cars running on them, one Madeline Castellotti a visionary transformed an abandoned church on the 44th Street.

Patrons eat their pizza under a five-story stained glass cupola of what was once the Gospel Tabernacle Church, was born. Built in 1888, this sight the site was reconstructed to house the largest pizzeria in the country. With over 500 seats, four pizza ovens, and two kitchens, this outpost can accommodate both small and large parties.

John’s Pizzeria opened its doors in the late 1920s when the city streets were cobblestone, trolley cars were a familiar sight. Since then the story of John’s Pizzeria is one legends are made up of with generations of New Yorkers and tourists alike have come to enjoy the finest pizza. It has a traditional 75-year-old coal fired oven for making pizzas and no thermostats or controls. Pizzas are hand made.

In 1984 John’s opened a branch on the Upper East Side which till this day continues to draw dedicated pizza fanatics. John’s has drawn notables such as Frank Sinatra, John F Kennedy, Woody Allen and others.

After last Sunday, when I spoke at the New York University, my official work in New York had finished and since then I have been venturing out on long walks to these new places in and around Times Square and the Central Park area.

ess bee