{"id":1316,"date":"2025-05-22T17:41:30","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T21:41:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu\/nyfoodatlas\/?post_type=locations&p=1316"},"modified":"2025-10-11T13:45:48","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T17:45:48","slug":"johns-of-bleecker-st","status":"publish","type":"locations","link":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/nyfoodatlas\/locations\/johns-of-bleecker-st\/","title":{"rendered":"John\u2019s of Bleecker St."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

John\u2019s of Bleecker Street Pizza is located at 278 Bleecker Street in the center of Manhattan\u2019s Greenwich Village, a historically Italian immigrant neighborhood.1<\/a><\/sup> The iconic pizzeria, one of the oldest in New York, has been serving Neapolitan style pizza at this location for nearly one century. In 1915 Filippo Milone, an Italian immigrant opened the original pizzeria at 175 Sullivan Street. Giovanni John Sasso, also an Italian immigrant and husband of Milone\u2019s niece, took over the Sullivan Street pizzeria in 1925. In 1929, Sasso founded John\u2019s Pizza at the original Sullivan Street location. After losing his lease on Sullivan Street, Sasso disassembled his old coal-fired brick oven imported from Italy and relocated to Bleecker Street.2<\/a><\/sup> Sasso operated the pizzeria until 1954, when he sold it to the Vesce Brothers. In the 1960s, Augustine (Chubby) Vesce bought John\u2019s Pizzeria from his brothers. After Augustine\u2019s death in 1984, John\u2019s was taken over by his two children and Bob Vittoria, a longtime employee and nephew of the Vesce family. In 1993, Bob Vittoria became John\u2019s majority partner. John\u2019s is renowned for its tomato pie style pizza, which is baked in a coal fired brick oven.3<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
John\u2019s Pizzeria since 1929. Image is in the public domain. Courtesy: John\u2019s of Bleecker Street.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Historic photograph of John\u2019s Pizzeria founded in 1929. Giovanni John Sasso, founder (center) and the Vesce family. Image is in the public domain. Courtesy: John\u2019s of Bleecker Street. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The pizzeria exclusively serves full pies in 14 inches or 16 inches and calzones that are baked at 850 \u00b0F (454 \u00b0C). \u201cNo Slices\u201d as noted on the canopy are served. \u201cJohn\u2019s Original\u201d pie is made with mozzarella and tomato sauce which is the foundation for all their pizzas. The \u201cSasso\u201d is essentially the traditional John\u2019s original pie with parmigiano cheese, oregano and black pepper. A variety of toppings from fresh basil to pork sausage to meatballs can be added to any pizza. Various specialty pizzas, salads and pasta are also offered. John\u2019s is well known for its original wooden booths where patrons are allowed to carve their names.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Interior photograph of original wood booths. Image is in the public domain. Courtesy: John\u2019s of Bleecker Street. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
John\u2019s Original Pizza. Image is in the public domain. Courtesy: John\u2019s of Bleecker Street.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n
<\/div>
278 Bleecker St, New York, NY 10014<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
By Chris Constantinou
A taste of history and a glimpse of the past can be found at John’s Pizza of Bleecker Street in the heart of Greenwich Village. For almost a century, John’s, a New York City landmark, has been crafting traditional coal-fired tomato pie pizza using generational recipes from the old country.
Campus: City College
Professor: Renee Romano
Location: 278 Bleecker St, New York, NY 10014
References: John\u2019s of Bleecker Street https:\/\/johnsofbleecker.com\/
Garcia, Dylan. (2019, July 29) \u201dJohn\u2019s of The Village\u201d, Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. https:\/\/www.villagepreservation.org\/2019\/07\/29\/johns-of-the-village\/
Scott\u2019s Pizza Tours. (2024, October 29) \u201cOldest Pizzeria in New York City!\u201d Youtube. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=AG1t7Q2BZ9s
Barett, Liz. Pizza, A Slice of American History, (Voyageur Press, 2014)<\/div>\n\n\n
  1. John\u2019s of Bleecker Street https:\/\/johnsofbleecker.com\/ \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  2. Garcia, Dylan. (2019, July 29) \u201dJohn\u2019s of The Village\u201d, Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. https:\/\/www.villagepreservation.org\/2019\/07\/29\/johns-of-the-village\/ \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  3. Scott\u2019s Pizza Tours. (2024, October 29) \u201cOldest Pizzeria in New York City!\u201d Youtube. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=AG1t7Q2BZ9s \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><\/ol>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    John\u2019s of Bleecker Street Pizza is located at 278 Bleecker Street in the center of Manhattan\u2019s Greenwich Village, a historically Italian immigrant neighborhood. The iconic pizzeria, one of the oldest in New York, has been serving Neapolitan style pizza at this location for nearly one century. In 1915 Filippo Milone, an Italian immigrant opened the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1317,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"portfolio_post_id":0,"portfolio_citation":"","portfolio_annotation":"","openlab_post_visibility":"","api_coordinates_pp":"40.7316098,-74.0033416","footnotes":"[{\"id\":\"890d4239-e2a3-4fe4-80f4-2a6acd8012d5\",\"content\":\"John\\u2019s of Bleecker Street https:\\\/\\\/johnsofbleecker.com\\\/\"},{\"id\":\"d92d2f6b-c098-4f31-8f8b-b0ed6110cdb2\",\"content\":\"Garcia, Dylan. (2019, July 29) \\u201dJohn\\u2019s of The Village\\u201d, Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. https:\\\/\\\/www.villagepreservation.org\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/29\\\/johns-of-the-village\\\/\"},{\"id\":\"5c60ff0c-7f7a-4784-8685-3cbe7a83e3fe\",\"content\":\"Scott\\u2019s Pizza Tours. (2024, October 29) \\u201cOldest Pizzeria in New York City!\\u201d Youtube. https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/watch?v=AG1t7Q2BZ9s\"}]"},"tags":[10,12],"location_types":[17],"class_list":["post-1316","locations","type-locations","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-manhattan","tag-pizza","location_types-location"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/nyfoodatlas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/locations\/1316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/nyfoodatlas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/locations"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/nyfoodatlas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/locations"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/nyfoodatlas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/nyfoodatlas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1316"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/nyfoodatlas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/locations\/1316\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1480,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/nyfoodatlas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/locations\/1316\/revisions\/1480"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/nyfoodatlas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/nyfoodatlas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/nyfoodatlas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1316"},{"taxonomy":"location_types","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/nyfoodatlas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location_types?post=1316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}