WESTCHESTER, Fla. – There’s a South Florida restaurant that many of us have been lucky enough to enjoy for decades. This year, the Bird Road staple, with its crunchy, cheesy squares, is turning 70.
Frankie’s Pizza has been serving South Floridians at its location on 9118 Southwest 40th Street since 1955.
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The sign at the storefront was first installed in 1958.
It will celebrate on Valentine’s Day, the day Frank and Doreen Pasquarella opened Frankie’s Pizza in Miami. After 6 p.m. until closing at 11 p.m., on Feb. 14, Frankie’s will have a party, complete with classic cars, drinks and of course, Frankie’s Pizza.
Roxanne Pasquarella, one of Frankie’s daughters, said: “It’s something my family created that lives on. We’re very proud of it. The pizza shop was my dad’s first child. I am the second and my sister is the third.”
She shared with Local 10 that her parents visited Miami for their honeymoon in 1954 and opened the shop six months later. Pasquarella said their original pans are still being used in the shop.
Roxanne said she and her sister took over the shop when her father had a stroke in the 1980s and it has grown ever since. Her son Chris also works at the store every day, making the sauce and dough from scratch.
During the month of February, Miami historian Cesar Becerra will also celebrate the anniversary of the South Florida favorite.
Becerra wrote a book about the iconic pizzeria for its 50th anniversary and with the 70th anniversary around the corner, has written a new addition, Frankie’s Pizza: A 70 year Love Affair.
Frankie’s is on GoldBelly and pies can be shipped all over the country, also to Canada. The store also has its half-baked pizzas ready for customers to pick up at the store.
For more information about Frankie’s Pizza, click on this link.
For a little more Westchester nostalgia, Jackie Gutstein wrote a book about growing up in the area in the late 1960′s called “The Westchester Kids.”
Gutstein started compiling stories from friends, family and social media groups in August of 2020. In all, she collected 31 stories, spanning from the 60′s to present day.
Westchester has been a Miami-Dade County Community since the late 1950′s. “Back then, it was a post WWII development. My family moved into the Bel Mar model in 1967, a three bedroom, two-bath home that we purchased for $17,500,” said Gutstein.
According to Zillow, the average price of a single-family home in the Westchester area right now, is about $500,000.
For a trip down memory lane and to read the stories, click here.