Nightly shows also include dancing marionette cats, disco balls and spectacular light show.
The one-of-a-kind organ has 1,074 individual keys, buttons and switches linked to a series of xylophones, glockenspiels, gongs and cymbals to create the sound of a full-blown orchestra.
Many visitors have even likened their experience to seeing the Grand Canyon for the first time, now that’s a heck of a comparison!”Įach night, Organ Stop’s Mighty Wurlitzer rises above the audience on an 8,000-pound rotating hydraulic elevator to sit 10-feet above the 700-seat dining room. “We are proud to be the home of one of the greatest instruments ever created and our patrons come from across the world to experience this lost art form. “Our Wurlitzer is a genuine living piece of history,” said Organ Stop Pizza co-owner Jack Barz, who originally worked at the restaurant as a dishwasher before rising through the ranks and eventually buying into the business in 2004. Through the years, several rare sets of pipes have been added to the organ, including a massive set of 32-foot wood diaphones, which are visible from the front of the building. The console, where the musicians sit to play, is an exact replica of a Fox Special console, the largest console ever designed and built by Wurlitzer. Today, Organ Stop’s instrument has been embellished from its original state and is now the largest Wurlitzer Theatre Pipe organ ever created. With the advent of the talking picture and the Depression, the organ was rarely heard and it was ultimately silenced when a fire in the auditorium caused extensive damage to the organ’s relay. Organ Stop Pizza’s Wurlitzer theatre organ was originally built for the Denver Theatre in 1927 where it was used until the early 1930s. Originally opened in 1972, Organ Stop Pizza is home to the “Mighty Wurlitzer” the largest and most valuable theatre organ in the world, worth more than $6 million. Fast forward a few decades and today there are only two remaining restaurants in the entire country that provide organ entertainment with a side of pizza – including the oldest establishment of its kind – Organ Stop Pizza in Mesa, Ariz., celebrating 50 years in business this fall. If you're planning on passing by and want to see if it's open, you can call (928) 767-3348.- Jack Barz, co-owner of Organ Stop PizzaMESA, AZ, UNITED STATES, Aug/ / - In the 1970s and 80s “pizza and pipes” restaurants were on nearly every corner in the U.S. The phone recording says that it should reopen within "a week or so," but it's said that for at least a couple of months, which is why we're writing about it in the past tense. After the discovery of a stolen safe and gas cans at the scene, arson was suspected to cover the theft.Īs of this writing, Rosie's is still closed. Then, on July 31 and August 3 of this year, Rosie’s was damaged by two fires. He claimed that they were simply settling up accounts and we haven’t heard anything about it since, so we assume the debt was paid. We’re not sure about skimming, but we can say that when Brad Larsen parted ways with the Arizona Lottery, he owed it some money. A nearby Chevron station and Arizona Last Stop (which is its own story, but for another day) both picked up the lottery slack. He discontinued lottery sales in March 2016.
Brad Larsen took it over, but in poor health and legally blind, he was challenged by running it. It was rebuilt and reopened in 2013, but Rosie died a couple years later in Vegas. Rosie’s son Brad said, “It was my mother’s ‘ministry’ to help weary hungry travelers along US 93.” At its peak, Rosie’s Den was also the second-largest Powerball ticket-sales location in the nation.Īn electrical fire destroyed the place in 2011. Rosie Larsen, fresh from Florida, founded the diner in 1984, decorating it with personal items she trucked out from the Sunshine State and naming it Rosie’s Den to give it the feel of someone’s family room at home. The business was something of a landmark for nearly 85 years, established as a gas station in 1933.
For those who don’t know about Rosie’s Den, it was a restaurant, bar, gift shop, and lottery outlet in White Hills, Arizona, roughly 25 miles southeast of Boulder City on US 93.