Lusca’s Pizza

Lorain has long been blessed with several family-run pizza parlors specializing in the real thing, with recipes straight from Italy.

It’s incredible just how many there were in the city during the 1960s and 70s. Although some cities might only have one or two dominant businesses, Lorain had at least a half-dozen longtime favorites, each with its loyal fans.

I’ve written about Yala’s, Selenti’s and Rosie’s here on the blog, mainly because I’ve eaten a lot of each of them over the years – and still do. Happily, they are all still around, along with Eliseo’s and Giovanni’s. Together, they help make Lorain the Pizza Capital of Lorain County.

I’ve also written about D’Agnese’s, Chicken Delight Pizza, and a family-run pizza joint in Avon called The Pizza Hut (not the national chain.)

But there is one well-remembered Lorain pizza that I never tried, although I have heard great things about it: Lusca’s. It was suggested as a topic here on the blog in a comment left a few weeks ago, and I thought it was only right to give it a little attention since so many people loved it.

Lusca’s first showed up in the Lorain City Directories in the 1955 edition. The original address was 2940 Grove, although by the time of its next listing it was at its longtime home at 2853 Broadway.

The original names attached to the listing were George and Mary Rufo. Within a few years the listing changed to Mrs. Mary and John Rufo.

A short history of the business appeared in Mary Rufo’s obituary at the time of her passing in 1990. It noted, “She and her husband attended a pizza-making school in Chicago and returned to open Lusca’s Pizza. Mrs. Rufo operated Lusca’s Pizza for 26 years, from 1954 until she retired in 1980.”

Here’s a great 1957 phone book ad featuring Mary.

1957 Lorain Phone Book Ad

As a Lusca’s fan noted in a comment left here on the blog, Lusca’s was ahead of its time in that it was one of the first pizza places in Lorain to offer delivery. The commenter observed, "They had a couple of brand new Volkswagen Bugs in the early 60's to do their delivery in."

Indeed, while other pizza parlors promised that their pizzas would be ready when the customer arrived, Lusca's was still the only one advertising delivery in its telephone directory ads in the early 1960s.

Here’s a simple phone book ad from 1961.

After Mary Rufo retired, Lusca’s Pizza apparently carried on for a few years, appearing in the city directory until its listing disappeared in the 1988 edition. The building was later acquired by its neighbor, American Slovak Club, which demolished the building sometime around 2009.