ELMHURST — Iconic pizza joint Singas Famous Pizza — known for its personal pan pies — closed last week after the owners lost their lease, the company said.
The pizza chain shuttered its very first location at 82-86 Broadway after nearly 50 years in the neighborhood, because the owners and the landlord could not agree on terms to renew the lease, according to Enrique Almela, director of operations at Singas.
The company doesn't have any immediate plans to reopen in Elmhurst, but it's continuing to make deliveries to the area from its Long Island City outpost, Almela said.
Singas, which only serves personal pan pizzas, has 15 other restaurants in New Jersey and New York, including in Long Island City and Forest Hills.
Greek immigrant Bill Singas opened Singas Pizza's first oupost in Elmhurst in 1967, after working at his uncle's pizza shop in Massachusetts, where he learned how to make the chain's signature New England Greek-style pizza, which is cooked in a personal pan and has a charred crust, Almela said.
In the 1970s Singas sold the business to his cousin, Gary Tsanis, who still runs the company.
Singas was an Elmhurst institution that remained popular even as the neighborhood around it changed, Almela said.
"Pizza is something that transcends cultures and ages," he said.
The landlord could not immediately be reached for comment.
