Lu's Pizza memories sought

While visiting Aberdeen in June, Doug Griess of Eden Prairie, Minn., was so surprised with all the stories he heard about his mother's pizza that he decided to put them in a book.

From the early 1960s to the early 1990s, Lucille Brick, 74, now a Las Vegas caterer, ran various pizza villas in Aberdeen. Her creations were known as Lu's pizzas.

"In the beginning, it was the only pizza place in town," Griess said Friday on another visit to Aberdeen. "Pizza was a new thing."

In June, Griess and volunteers made more than 600 pizzas for an all-school reunion at Roncalli Junior/Senior High School, using his mother's recipes.

"People kept telling me all these stories," Griess, 49, said Friday. "They were so passionate about the pizza."

He has a favorite story of his own. As a youth growing up in Aberdeen, he worked as a delivery boy at his mother's business. One evening a woman came in and ordered a pizza. After it was made, she asked if it could be delivered to her home. Griess said yes.

"Then she asked, 'Can you deliver me with it?' " So Griess went outside with the pizza and the woman. Outside stood six children who also needed delivering home.

He packed the pizza and the seven people into his little Volkswagen. Griess said he clearly remembers the moon was full that night, possibly explaining the bizarre delivery.

Anyone interested in submitting a story may do so via mail or e-mail. Write to Griess at P.O. Box 44007, Eden Prairie, MN 55344 or at luspizza@yahoo.com. Or, contact Alexander Mitchell Public Library. The library at 519 S. Kline St. in Aberdeen is assisting in the project. Some of the stories Griess has already received are posted at luspizza.com. The finished document will be available free to check-out from the library or as a free pdf download from luspizza.com.

Griess said he'd like to hear from customers, former employees, health inspectors, people who delivered supplies to the business, and anyone else with a special memory of Lu's Pizza.

With the explosion of reality television shows, Griess said he hopes would-be contributors to his project see it as a reality book in which they can participate. "It's kind of a historical document," he said.