Organ Stop Pizza is located in Mesa, AZ. The world’s largest Wurlitzer theater organ may be found there, drawing crowds from all over!
In 1972, the first Organ Stop Pizza debuted in Phoenix, Arizona, featuring a Wurlitzer pipe organ from Grauman’s Egyptian Theater. The organ was the inspiration for the restaurant’s moniker. Phoenix real estate entrepreneur William P. Brown, who has a soft spot for the music of the theater pipe organ, came up with the concept for this one-of-a-kind pizzeria.
The success of the Phoenix site inspired the owners to begin making preparations for a second Organ Stop to open in Mesa. In 1975, a new theater opened at the corner of Dobson and Southern Avenue, and it was there that the Denver Theater’s Wurlitzer organ made its way. There were fifteen separate tiers of pipes in the Denver theater’s instrument. After a thorough restoration, the organ now has 23 ranks and will be showcased at the newly opened Mesa Organ Stop.
The Phoenix outpost of Organ Stop Pizza was met with the same level of success and popularity as the original location. In 1984, Bill Brown decided to leave the hospitality sector to focus on other things. The Phoenix Organ Stop was demolished after its purchase by a developer who planned to demolish the building and replace it with an office complex.
Mike Everitt, the restaurant’s longtime manager, and his partner, Brad Bishop, purchased the Mesa Organ Stop. The new administration prioritized the repair of the pipe organ. In the years that followed, a collection of rare pipes and percussion instruments was painstakingly collected to form the biggest Wurlitzer pipe organ in the world.
After the new owners took control, the restaurant’s popularity did not decrease. The increasing demand for the organ necessitated making plans to move to a structure twice as large as the current one. The large structure at the corner of Stapley Drive and Southern Avenue was built specifically for the purpose of housing the Organ Stop Wurlitzer. The groundbreaking for the new structure occurred in May of 1995, and it first welcomed customers on the weekend before Thanksgiving.
The new and improved Organ Stop Pizza, together with its Mighty Wurlitzer, have been praised by many of the world’s finest theater organists as well as by hundreds of thousands of customers each year. Constant efforts are made to perfect the organ so that it can perform at the highest possible level. Visit today!
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