What a find!
OK…so I pride myself on having a pretty good eye for noteworthy dives, which seem to be cheap and somewhat supsended in time. But this one is the best one I’ve come across in years. I’ve passed it several times while driving down Hesperian Boulevard in Hayward and filed it away for a future visit. I didn’t realize that Ye Olde Pizza Joynt would be the kind of place I’ve been seeking (without success) for such a long time.
The Pizza Joynt opened in 1958, about the same time all the tract houses were going up on the edge of Hayward. In the early 60’s, owner Carsten Heningsen added an unusual touch: the decommissioned organ from San Francisco’s Warfield Theater. After this, all remodelng seems to have stopped, leaving the Pizza Joynt pretty much frozen in about 1964.
It’s dark, with the only illumination coming from some strange hybrid “western-style” lamps overhead. Wood panelling covers the walls. Dark wooden picnic-style tables with benches provide the seating. An order-taking contraption involving tinfoil and numbered chips evokes memories of long-forgotten “high tech”. And at one end of the dining room, there’s this tremendous organ, illuminated by a spotlight and a candelabra of flickering electric candles.
The Pizza Joynt is not really even campy. They’ve avoided the temptation of plastering the walls with cute old signs (aside from the Wurlitzer neon and two signs reminding parents to keep their rugrats in tow). They’ve managed to skip the trend toward pastels and plants and bright flourescent lights (a la Denny’s) or “instant cute” (as in TGI Friday’s). Were the joynt not located in the Fascist Repulblic of California, one could imagine it filled with smoke, especially around the bar. By the way…there’s a bar…
Big surprise: the place still brings in huge crowds on weekends. Maybe not everyone has fallen completely for the sanitized family restaurants of the 90’s. Even in the age of canned adult-contemporary Muzak, some people actually prefer a live guy sitting at the organ, playing standards and even Christmas songs. A train medely (which, through the magic of theater organ technology, made me think the Wabash Cannonball was about to crash through one of the walls) even included the theme to “Petticoat Junction”.
David, Sarah, Brad (roomie not pictured).
And the pizza is incredible. None of this foofy “feta, tofu, and sun-dried tomatoes on a whole wheat crust” bullshit (although pineapples are offered, for some inexplicable reason). Amazing crust, amazing cheese, and truly amazing prices.
Alas, this kind of place could no longer exist in San Francisco. One of two things would have happened. it might have become yet another trendy California pizza cafe, offereing pasta dishes and individual pans of pseudo-healthy crap. Otherwise, some designer fag might have bought the place, expanded its camp value and turned it into a microbrewery.
We love Hayward, with its tendency to thumb its nose at the pretentiousness of the Bay Area in general. And we really love Ye Olde Pizza Joynt!
Ye Olde Pizza Joynt, 19150 Hesperian Boulevard, Hayward.
Open every night; no organ music on Mondays and Tuesdays. Some credit cards accepted.
