Pagliai's Pizza

Seven votes to none, on 21 May 2024, the city council landmarked the building over the objection of the family that had held it since 1878. Gary Skarda, fifth generation and Joseph Slezak's great-great-grandson, had listed it at $5 million in October 2023, hoping for condos; the designation ended that. Slezak, a Bohemian immigrant, put the place up in 1875 as a dance hall; the Slezak-Holub-Skarda Building now holds sixteen apartments, a laundromat that was once a delivery stable, and this pizzeria. Armond Pagliai Sr. founded the Iowa City store and died in July 2025 at 92, insisting "the pizza is the same from the day we started." The sausage is still made in-house and is the kitchen's most-used ingredient. The current owner, a Fontanini whose grandmother was Armond Sr.'s older sister, bought the store from Armond Jr. around 2020.