Pizza. It is one of our favorite food groups (it IS a food group people). It is with near maniacal excitement that we announce that Pizzanista, located in downtown Los Angeles and owned by some dear friends, Price Latimer and Salman Agah, now has a second location in Long Beach.
We covered them way back in 2012 and man, have they grown. They now have a clothing line sold in Japan and gained a cult following for their radical pies.
We caught up with Price to get an exclusive interview about the new spot.
What’s been shaking since last time we covered you guys?
So much! Since we don’t do traditional marketing; our growth has all really been word of mouth and organic.
Our downtown location has done really well. The neighborhood has been growing since we originally opened our doors. A SoHo House is opening across from us and BuzzFeed is opening down the street too. The neighborhood is really expanding and changing.
Tell us about the clothing.
We are selling t-shirts and accessories to 150 stores in Japan. It came about from a customer of ours who takes a bunch of big brands to Japan. Because of Salman’s skate background we already had a big following over there. We have been producing for four seasons now and ideally we would like to open a store there.
We also collaborated with some great artists to do limited edition pizza boxes. We have a book signing with Shepard Fairey coming up and a fundraiser for the Paris victims. We are good friends with the band, Eagles of Death Metal, and we want to give back in any way we can.
We have collaborated with some great artists and personalities to create limited edition pizza boxes and t-shirts, such as Mark Gonzalez, Neckface, Estevan Oriol, Glen E. Friedman, The Hundreds, Andrew Jeffrey Wright, Christian Hosoi, Brothers Marshall and Brian Lotti. We also have some exciting, upcoming events in the pipeline for the Long Beach location with Mike Vallely and Nike.
Why Long Beach?
It is very untouched, chill, charming and up and coming. We looked at so many locations, then we got a tip from a customer who that told us about a 1911 craftsman bungalow for sale that had been a family-owned Italian restaurant for about 50 years. We went to look at it and it was perfect. There is a yard and great space for outdoor seating. We had to strip it down to its bones, then do major renovations and it came out beautifully.
How’s the hood?
The neighborhood is great. There is a skate park down the street and a rock n’ roll bar a few doors down. Everyone in the neighborhood has been warm and welcoming; even the Mayor’s office called to welcome us!
Are you offering anything different at this location?
The menu will be the same as our flagship location in downtown LA. We will be serving our classic Macaroni and Cheese pizza on Sundays and brunch beverages soon, including house made Bloody Marys and Mimosas.
What’s next?
We launched brunch in Long Beach and will be launching in Downtown LA soon.
We have seven brunch pizzas we have designed including:
- Rise & Shine Pizza with Bacon & Egg
- Italian Sausage, Scrambled Egg & Caramelized Onion Pizza
- Potato, Egg, Spinach & Fontina Pizza
- Smoked Salmon Pizza
- Vegan Breakfast Scramble Pizza
- Berries, Ricotta & Orange Honey Pizza
- Nutella & Banana Pizza with powdered sugar & cinnamon
Pizzanista Long Beach is located at 1837 E. 7th Street
All photos courtesy of Renee McMahon.
