Newport’s Original Pizza says goodbye after more than 50 years
It’s been a long run for Original Pizza, but after decades of serving simple slices in a no-frills atmosphere, the pizza parlor on Newport Beach’s Balboa Peninsula is shutting down.
The family-run business’ last day is Tuesday, said owner Steve Kalatschan, whose father, also named Steve, founded the restaurant at 2121 W. Balboa Blvd. in 1963. It will be replaced by a Mexican food establishment.
Kalatschan said the closure is the result of several consecutive years of declining business. The restaurant sees a tourist surge in the summer but has a harder time the rest of the year, he said.
Kalatschan also wants to focus more on Original Pizza II, located in the Back Bay Center at Irvine Avenue and Mesa Drive in Costa Mesa. It’s essentially a clone of Original Pizza but with a slightly expanded menu and bar.
Original Pizza, whose kitchen aromas can be taken in on the sidewalk outside, has been a vestige of so-called Old Newport. The decidedly untrendy restaurant changed very little over the decades.
It outlasted another old-school pizza joint, Perry’s Pizza, which opened in 1973. Perry’s closed its Newport Pier location in 2014 and moved to Huntington Beach.
Kalatschan, 47, stood in the restaurant on a recent afternoon, reflecting on the family enterprise where he has worked since he was a kid. He wore a special T-shirt made for Original Pizza’s closing. It reads, “Last call: 1963 to 2017.”
“I’ve literally spent my whole life in here,” Kalatschan said. “I teethed on the crust.”
Behind him was a mural painted in 1968 by a homeless man known only as L. Kavich. It depicts a beach scene. Kavich received $20, some pizza and a case of beer for the job. After he finished it, he was never seen again at Original Pizza, Kalatschan said.
As Kalatschan spoke, a former employee, Steve Hill, walked in and said hello. It was a reunion.
“I worked in here before he was born,” Hill said, pointing to Kalatschan.
Hill, who lives in Costa Mesa, made pizzas at the restaurant in the mid-1960s. Before getting a job there as a teenager, he would frequent Newport Beach in the mornings, then wander into Original Pizza, where Steve Kalatschan Sr. gave him free food in exchange for helping to clean up the restaurant.
“It was really cool,” said Hill, 67.
How Original Pizza came to Newport Beach is a family legend. Steve Kalatschan Sr., of Russian descent, immigrated to Boston from Europe after World War II. His family wanted to start a business and decided that making pizza would be profitable.
Because they knew nothing about making pizza, they dug through other pizza companies’ trash to find out what they were doing.
“They dissected the best pizza places in Boston,” the younger Kalatschan said with a smile. The end result was their first restaurant: a takeout window in a bar in Revere Beach, north of Boston.
Later, Kalatschan Sr. went to Newport Beach. He wanted to rent the place where Original Pizza ended up, but the owner tried to discourage him because he didn’t think Kalatschan Sr. was making a good investment with his hard-earned savings.
Kalatschan Sr. thought the owner was discriminating against him because he was Russian. Eventually, though, the owner relented and let him have the space.
Original Pizza had a slow start. But Kalatschan Sr. “worked his butt off,” made the business work and even was able to buy the building, his son said. The family has since sold it.
Kalatschan Sr. died in 1998 at age 72. His likeness is on the restaurant’s sign.
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FAREWELL PARTY
What: Original Pizza plans a goodbye party for guests 21 and older, featuring a raffle, live music, pizza and drinks. Prizes will include a piece of the restaurant’s 1968 mural.
When: Noon to 6 p.m. Saturday
Where: Near Original Pizza, 2121 W. Balboa Blvd., Newport Beach
Cost: Tickets are $25, with proceeds benefiting the Environmental Nature Center, T1D Exchange and Newport Beach Film Festival.
Tickets and information: thealumnicollective.com/originalpizza
Twitter: @BradleyZint
