{"id":410941,"date":"2026-07-24T16:53:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T16:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/410941\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T16:53:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T16:53:09","slug":"new-documentary-celebrates-l-a-s-rich-pizza-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/410941\/","title":{"rendered":"New Documentary Celebrates L.A.\u2019s Rich Pizza History"},"content":{"rendered":"

We compare the pies from the new film \u201cThe Best Pizza is in L.A.\u201d to our Los Angeles magazine guide from 1981<\/p>\n

Forty-five years ago, Los Angeles magazine went in search of the city\u2019s best pizza. We reviewed more than two dozen Italian joints from Long Beach to Woodland Hills and mentioned that a decade before this survey, Barbera\u2019s in West L.A. was our favorite. \u00a0Our 1981 list included plenty of classic restaurants that are still open today, including Little Toni\u2019s, Antonio\u2019s, Miceli\u2019s, Barone\u2019s and Palermo in Los Feliz. Our lead photo was of the owner of Domenico\u2019s, which is still serving it up in East Pasadena.<\/p>\n

\"\"L.A.\u2019s Best Pizza in the December, 1981 issue of Los Angeles magazineCredit: Photo by Richard Clark\/Los Angeles magazine<\/p>\n

Pizza in L.A. goes back to the 1930s at Chianti and Lucca, but really took off when Pasquale D\u2019Amore introduced the exotic foodstuff at his Casa D\u2019Amore in Hollywood. Today, his daughter Filomena D\u2019Amore continues to run Patsy D\u2019Amore\u2019s Pizzeria<\/a> at the Original Farmers Market.<\/p>\n

\"\"Pizza from The Ivy and Mulberry Street Pizza in the December, 1981 issue of Los Angeles magazine<\/p>\n

With all this esteemed history, filmmaker Pete Ferriero\u2019s new documentary The Best Pizza is in L.A.<\/a> is bittersweet. While we revel in his praise of the city\u2019s contemporary pizza scene and his declaration that he, and other East Coast expats, found their favorites here, we don\u2019t want to forget L.A.\u2019s long history of delicious pizzerias.<\/p>\n

\"\"Tim Rosenman and Pete Ferriero in The Best Pizza is in L.A. Credit: Photo by Vicky Sarro<\/p>\n

Ferriero sets out to prove that \u201cthe best pizza is not in New York, Chicago, or Italy, but actually in Los Angeles.\u201d Ferriero describes himself as a \u201cfoodie that grew up watching television,\u201d and his youthful TV memories often involve food \u2013 from Emeril Lagasse\u2019s \u201cBam!\u201d to Brian Austin Green and Tori Spelling sharing a pizza on Beverly Hills 90210. \u201cIn another devastating blow to the city that never sleeps,\u201d a newscaster says in the film. \u201cLos Angeles has been named the best pizza city in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scroll to continue reading<\/p>\n

In the doc, Ferriero meets up with other foodies, chefs and his TV favorites Green and Spelling to try out the pizzas of the moment all over the city. \u201cAt one point pizza was not really a thing in L.A.,\u201d Ferriero tells Green. The L.A. native responds, \u201cPizza\u2019s always been a thing in my family.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Joe Sasto and Pete Ferriero in The Best Pizza is in L.A. Credit: Photo by Vicky Sarro<\/p>\n

He explores New Haven, Chicago, Tokyo and Detroit-style pizzas all over the city and on his road trip hits more than a dozen pizzerias from Fred Eric\u2019s recently closed Pi La<\/a> to Prime Pizza<\/a> to Appolonia\u2019s<\/a>, Pizzeria Sei<\/a> and Nancy Silverton\u2019s Pizzeria Mozza<\/a>. If I have a complaint, it\u2019s that none of the classic joints made his list, although I must admit it was fun watching him sing the praises of Shakey\u2019s<\/a> in Hollywood.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason I think the best pizza is in L.A. is because all of it is so different yet culturally diverse,\u201d Ferriero says in the movie. \u201cIt can be heartwarming like a Hollywood movie and for the most part all of it is really good.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Best Pizza is in L.A. <\/a>will be available on demand starting July 28.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We compare the pies from the new film \u201cThe Best Pizza is in L.A.\u201d to our Los Angeles…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":410942,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[28729,48,52,51,164591,47,50,49,164592,6927,35086,158308,85601,26480],"class_list":["post-410941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-documentary","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-little-tonis","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-micelis","tag-pizza","tag-pizzeria-mozza","tag-pizzeria-sei","tag-prime-pizza","tag-tori-spelling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/410942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}