Destroyed Aug. 3, 1999, during a Tuesday night late dinner rush, by a fire in a pizza oven and fueled by grease built up in the oven's vent. When the alarm sounded, organist Sherrie Mael Gibelyou was performing the "Titanic" love theme, "My Heart Will Go On."
The restaurant didn't go on. Didn't have a sprinkler system. The organ's console burned, its keys melted. Not enough insurance to rebuild.
Two days after the 1999 fire, Dick Daubert gathered at the restaurant with former employees and patrons. A reporter captured the moment:
"I hoped and prayed I wouldn't see my building burn," he said, standing and hugging his wife, Margaret, while choking back tears near the organ's bent and water-damaged pipes. "We were going to be here forever."
Dan Voelpel: 253-597-8785
dan.voelpel@thenewstribune.com">dan.voelpel@thenewstribune.com
1 comment:
I do remember Pizza and Pipes ... was a favorite for our family over the years.
Whatever happened to the organists who played there?
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