| In 1972, the
original Organ Stop Pizza restaurant premiered in Phoenix, Arizona
at the corner of 7th Street and Missouri Avenue with a Wurlitzer
pipe organ which was originally built for Grauman's Hollywood
Egyptian Theater. This unique concept of a pizza parlor with a pipe
organ was envisioned by William P. Brown, a Phoenix real estate
developer whose enthusiasm for the theater pipe organ and its music
led to the creation of this landmark attraction.
The phenomenal
success of the Phoenix restaurant prompted plans to open another
Organ Stop in Mesa. It opened in 1975 near the corner of Dobson and
Southern Avenue with a Wurlitzer organ from the Denver Theater in
Denver, Colorado. In the theater, the Denver instrument had 15
ranks, or sets of pipes. The instrument was totally rebuilt, and the
decision was made to enlarge the organ to 23 ranks for its debut in
the new Mesa Organ Stop.
 The
success and popularity of the new Organ Stop Pizza mirrored that of
the Phoenix location. In 1984, Bill Brown decided to retire from the
restaurant business. The Phoenix Organ Stop was sold to a real
estate developer, who sold the pipe organ and demolished the
building in favor of an office complex. Incidentally, that
instrument was sold to a couple in Downers Grove, Illinois, for
installation in their home! The Mesa Organ Stop was sold to longtime
employee and manager Mike Everitt and his partner Brad Bishop. Under
the new ownership, improvement of the pipe organ became a high
priority. Over the course of the ensuing years, careful acquisition
of rare pipework and percussions were made, culminating in what is
now the largest Wurlitzer pipe organ in the world. With the change
in ownership, the restaurant continued to gain in popularity.
Inevitably plans were made to move into a facility twice the size of
the original in order to accommodate the ever increasing number of
patrons and ever-expanding organ. This new mega facility, located at
the corner of Stapley Drive and Southern Avenue, was designed
specifically to accommodate the expanding scope and size of the Organ
Stop Wurlitzer. Construction of the new facility began in
May of 1995 and the grand opening was Thanksgiving weekend of that
same year.
In its new and
improved location, Organ Stop Pizza and its Mighty
Wurlitzer have come to be known as the biggest and best in
the world as attested to by many of the world's finest theater
organists and, more importantly, the hundreds of thousands of
patrons who visit each year. There are continuing efforts to make
additions and improvements to the organ, endeavoring to fine tune
the instrument closer and closer to perfection. |
