When the New Year dawned at Pizza Palace, the ovens were cold.
After 45 years and two locations-first on Ninth Street and then on Guess Road-Pizza Palace closed its doors Jan. 1. The restaurant was Durham's oldest pizza parlor and a popular venue for Duke-sponsored functions.
Owner Faye Rodenhizer said the closing was the result of many factors, among them people eating out less due to a sagging economy. She added that competition also affected the restaurant.
"Mom-and-pop restaurants have been suffering for years because chains can buy advertising for so much less than individual places can," she said. "Pizza especially has a hard time. Not everybody is quality-conscious. Pizza is one of those things that's considered a fast food... but it's not. The truth is we have a quality product."
In 1963, Pizza Palace was one of three pizza restaurants to open in the area. In 1978, Rodenhizer's father, two-time Durham mayor Harry Rodenhizer, bought the restaurant. His daughter took over the eatery in the twilight of its years on Ninth Street.
Pizza Palace moved from its original home on the corner of Ninth Street and Hillsborough Road-where Blu Seafood and Bar currently sits-to Guess Road in 2004. Some regular patrons of Pizza Palace had difficulty finding the three-story barn-like building, which the owner described as "off the beaten path." Rodenhizer said being away from a walkable business district might have affected the restaurant negatively.
"It's nice to go somewhere where there are other businesses," she said. "That's why places like Brightleaf [Square] and Ninth Street succeed. Business begets business."
But after installing a dance floor, adding a bar with liquor and hosting regular entertainment like karaoke and live bands, business began to pick up again.
Duke students also gave the restaurant a boost when they began hosting semiformals and other events at the venue. Senior Taina Thermidor, the former special events coordinator for Zeta Tau Alpha sorority, said she had enjoyed hosting events at the pizza parlor.
"The people were really friendly. It was really casual," Thermidor said. "I think [Rodenhizer] was really in-tune to what people like, so it was more for Durham and for the people who enjoyed going there."
But it's old-time patrons who may miss the restaurant most. Jo Ann Lutz, a resident of Durham for almost four decades, has frequented the restaurant with a group of friends every Tuesday for the past seven or eight years. She said their waitress was always flexible and knew her order every time.
"It was really fun," Lutz said. "It felt like you were going home. It was sort of like the old 'Cheers' show-people coming in and you'd be happy to see them."
Such support was not enough to save the restaurant, which did not perform well financially in the last two months of 2008.
Still, there may be hope yet for patrons sad to see the parlor go. Rodenhizer said she would like to bring the restaurant back to Durham if the financial situation is right.
Referencing the baseball team that once left the city, she said, "If the Bulls came back, we can come back."
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