About the Original Gino's!
Over the years, patrons have asked about the history of Gino's Pizza. This is how the Pizza King remembers it:
"The story began in the old White Hut Hamburg location at the corner of Monroe Street and Central Avenue—an area affectionately known as 'The Colony' in Toledo, Ohio. The year was 1953 and the world was ready for change. A young man with the odd name of Elvis was shocking folks with his outrageous gyrations and wild music, cars were becoming much more than a way to get around, and Toledoans were first tasting the strange but delicious new food called Pizza. A few months after Gino's Pizza opened, it was sold to Steve Sparks.
Throughout the years, Steve brought his three brothers and their wives into the business, and Gino's Pizza became a favorite destination for hungry people from miles around.
Chuck Kreutz loved Gino's Pizza and over the years became good friends with the Sparks family. In 1986, when all of the families were ready to retire, Chuck purchased Gino's from them. Things have been going gangbusters ever since. Voted Best Pizza in Town in several contests over the years and placed in the Top 100 Pizzerias in the U.S.A. by Pizza Today Magazine, Gino's owes its success to the hard work and insistence on quality that every Gino's employee brings to the company. That along with their commitment to the freshest best quality ingredients and their customers’ appreciation for delicious food, keeps Gino's on top.
Steve, his brother Bill Sparagowski, and his sister-in-law Gloria Showronek, are no longer with us, but they still watch over Gino's from above. Lately, there have been more changes. The latest remodel and new dining room was completed in 1998. Brand new look, same great food.
We all know what that young man did for music and of course the '55 Chevy has become a classic. At The Original Gino's the legend lives on!"
