Organ Stop Pizza Pizza from p 14 There’s “practically nothing” the organ- ists don’t know how to play, according to Barz. “You name it and our amazing organ- ists can play it,” he says. As the tunes continue and the audi- ence becomes more animated, colored lights flash, a disco ball rotates overhead casting rays of light, and a bubble maker showers the floor with thousands of bubbles at the organist’s command. It’s an electric atmosphere mixed with laughter, song, and applause — all while diners enjoy their meals. Once All the Rage Queen Creek native Shelly Snyder recently visited Organ Stop on a first date. She described it as “the best first date I’ve ever had!” The food, while nothing fancy, is delicious. The pizza, piled high with cheese, is offered with a variety of toppings, all balanced on a thin, crispy crust. The menu features a few specialty pizzas beyond the classic cheese-and- pepperoni, such as the Spicy Italian, with spicy sausage and banana peppers. The fried mozzarella sticks and zucchini are crispy and satisfying, and the fried mushrooms are juicy and packed with umami flavor. The garlic bread is decadent, slathered generously with melted garlic butter and cut thick for easy dunking in marinara sauce. At Organ Stop, there’s a palpable tinge of nostalgia present throughout the entire experience, and the novelty of the enter- tainment-based pizza parlor still holds up 50 years later. Pizza-and-pipes restaurants were once all the rage. Hundreds sprang up across the country in the 1970s and ’80s. Now, they are considered a rarity. “It was one of those things that devel- oped as more of a family entertainment destination where the whole family could go and enjoy the whole place together,” Barz says. “So it was really something that developed at that time to fill that niche of good, wholesome family entertainment, and food that pretty much everybody liked.” These restaurants were early examples of novelty entertainment dining, and they sparked a boom that later included Rainforest Cafe and T-Rex Cafe. They Organ Stop Pizza directly inspired the foundation of Chuck E. Cheese eatery concept, explained Nolan Bushnell, founder of the Chuck E. Cheese Pizza Time Theatre chain, in a 2013 inter- view with The Atlantic. As the novelty wore off, pizza-and-pipes restaurants began to die out. They were replaced with new experiences to satiate the ever-changing appetite of consumers. Three locations of Organ Stop Pizza sprang up in the Phoenix area during the early 1970s, but only the store in Mesa, which opened in 1975, stood the test of time. It made the move from a building with a roughly 300-person seating capacity to its current 700-person theater in 1995, continuing to thrive while others failed. Organ Stop is proudly celebrating the 50th anniversary of its debut, making it the oldest surviving institution of its kind. One secret to its success is the organ itself. Organ Stop Pizza claims to have the largest Wurlitzer organ in the world, composed of nearly 6,000 pipes and featuring more than 1,000 keys, pedals, and buttons, according to the Above: One of Organ Stop’s pizzas along with beer, wine and a salad. Below: Co-owner Jack Barz. >> p 18 17 phoenixnewtimes.com | CONTENTS | FEEDBACK | OPINION | NEWS | FEATURE | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | PHOENIX NEW TIMES SEPT 15TH–SEPT 21ST, 2022
