Two pizzerias from the Charlie’s Pizza family are closing, just weeks apart
The shutdowns of Original Charlie’s Pizzeria and the Fishtown branch of Vince’s Pizzeria, owned by cousins, are apparently unrelated.
Two pizzerias with ties to the Charlie’s Pizza family are closing within weeks of each other, and while they share a common ancestry, their shutdowns are unrelated.
The Original Charlie’s Pizzeria, which Don Vittorelli Jr. opened in 2021 in Morrell Plaza in the Far Northeast, sold its last pizzas on March 13 — a final batch of 40 pies that had been frozen, according to its Facebook. The shop had announced Feb. 28 as its final day.
Vittorelli said on Facebook that he was unable to negotiate a new lease. “I’m seriously considering a pizza truck/trailer after a few months off,” he wrote. He did not reply to messages seeking comment.
Meanwhile, Vince’s Pizzeria at 965 Frankford Ave. in Fishtown announced that its last day would be March 20. Patrick Buckley, who opened it in 2021 with his wife, Shannon Murray, told the Philadelphia Business Journal that the snowy winter’s effect on business prompted the decision. Buckley did not reply to The Inquirer’s messages seeking comment.
Both parlors trace their roots to Erminio “Charlie” Yacovetti and his wife, Mary, who started selling pizza from their rowhouse on Rising Sun Avenue in North Philadelphia in 1946.
In 1959, three of their children turned the operation into a full-fledged restaurant. Viola Yacovetti and her husband, Vince Rota; Angelo Yacovetti and his wife, Margaret; and Lucy Yacovetti and her husband, Bill Rieger, opened Charlie’s Pizzeria at 4300 Roosevelt Blvd. in Crescentville, a block from the massive Sears, Roebuck & Co. store and catalog distribution center on Adams Avenue, marked by a 14-story clock tower that dominated the neighborhood skyline until its implosion in 1994.
The Rieger branch kept the Charlie’s name going. In 2021, Don Vittorelli Jr. — great-grandson of Bill and Lucy Rieger — opened the Original Charlie’s Pizzeria in Morrell Plaza. The move came as the aging Roosevelt Boulevard building faced mounting maintenance issues. Vittorelli later told The Inquirer that the closure of the original Boulevard location in 2022 was essentially unavoidable as the building’s mechanical systems had deteriorated and the cost of keeping it operating no longer made sense.
The family had branched out further with Vince’s Pizzeria. In May 1988, members of the Rota side — Mary Ann Murray, her husband Ed Murray, her sister Geraldine, and her brother Vince Rota with his wife, Becky — opened the first Vince’s on Grant Avenue near Roosevelt Boulevard.
The Vince’s brand expanded through the next generation of Murray children. In June 2019, son Ed and daughter-in-law Heather Murray opened Vince’s Pizzeria & Taproom in Wrightstown, Bucks County. Two years later, their daughter Shannon Murray and her husband, Patrick Buckley, opened the Vince’s in Fishtown.
The Vince’s locations in Northeast Philadelphia and Wrightstown remain open. The Fishtown location, just off Delaware Avenue, is being offered for lease through Nadia Bilynsky of MPN Realty.