Sixty-five years ago, few, if any pizza shops in Northeast Ohio offered carry-out service. So, when Michael Geraci opened his tiny pizzeria at Cedar and Green Roads with this novel concept, it was an instant success. The original menu included a few Italian dishes – spaghetti, veal cutlets, ravioli and meatballs, and, of course, there was the hand-tossed pizza – all made from family recipes straight from Frances Geraci’s kitchen.

“But the real interest was in the pizza because you could take it home,” said Marti Geraci Spoth, a second-generation restauranter who literally grew up behind the counter. Her husband, Greg Spoth disagrees – saying the real draw was the show folks got with their order.