Mystic Pizza, Twenty Years After the Movie

Posted by Erin Zimmer, October 29, 2008 at 10:00 AM

Before it was called Mystic Pizza, and before it inspired the namesake movie with Julia Roberts, the Connecticut seaside mom-and-pop was called Ted's. Definitely didn't have the same ring to it, and owner Stefanos Zelepos knew that. He later changed it to Mystic, asking himself, "who is this Ted guy?"

Twenty years after the movie—a coming-of-age centered around three girls working at the pizza parlor—Mystic Pizza still inspires visitors who want to know, was it really filmed there? Did Julia Robers really breathe here? Technically, no. That would have required closing down the place for six months, which at the time seemed ridiculous—this film easily could have been a flop. Instead, the studio set up a fake pizzeria in Stonington Borough.

I visited Mystic Pizza a few summers ago, and while the actual pizza didn't blow me away, I felt a part of something. A part of the 1980s, a part of Julia Roberts poofy hair, a part of the nautical Northeast vibe. I don't think that Mystic feeling will disappear, whether or not the movie was actually filmed there or the pizza is perfect.

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Tags: Connecticut, movies, Mystic, Mystic Pizza