Bear Silber Goes from Pizza Eater to Pizzeria Owner

Posted by Adam Kuban, January 23, 2009 at 8:53 AM

Bear Silber, from pizza eater to pizzeria owner.

In December 2006, we blogged about Bear Silber winning a pizza challenge at what was then called Pizza and Pipes. Well, Mr. Silber has gone from downing a 20-inch five-pound pie in less than an hour to owning the restaurant where he pulled off that feat.

Now called Pizza Party, the restaurant still offers the pizza challenge deal. You eat the giant pizza, you get a pizza a month for a year.

Interestingly enough, Pizza Party's former name, Pizza and Pipes, comes from the fact that it was part of a regional chain of pizza parlors that also had pipe organs. Yeah. The '70s was a weird decade.

7 Comments

Tags: Bay Area, Bear Silber, California, Northern California, Pizza and Pipes, Pizza Party, Santa Clara

7 Comments:

Wow! Thanks Adam, two articles in one day:
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_11530836?nclick_check=1

That's a picture of my friend Cooper who tries the Belly Buster but failed. Here's a picture of me:
http://static.flickr.com/116/313499146_6ab4c72dee.jpg

If you're ever in the Bay Area come stop by for the best pie around :)

bearsilber at 10:06AM on 01/23/09

Yeah, sure "pipe organs". That's the ticket. HA!

Mooner at 10:28PM on 01/23/09

I had a meeting a few years back with one of the old owners of Pizza and Pipes. He told me all the reasons why he left the pizza business for the semiconductor business. The pipe organ thing was all about family fun, but animatronics killed the pipe organ star. He still holds a grudge against Chuck E. Cheese.

pizzalogist at 5:28PM on 01/25/09

@Adam Did you replace a picture of Cooper with the shot of Ben or did Ben give you a link to a picture of Cooper again? Or perhaps Ben and his friend Cooper are identical twins?

Ciao,

Paulie Gee

pauliegee at 6:38PM on 01/25/09

Yeah I know, Bear not Ben.

Ciao,

Paulie Gee

pauliegee at 6:39PM on 01/25/09

Sounds like Organ Stop pizza http://www.organstoppizza.com/ in Phoenix. The pizza's pretty bad, but the Wurlitzer organ is awesome.

apizzagirl at 12:30PM on 01/27/09

I used to go to this Pizza and Pipes location back in the 70's, when I lived in San Jose from '76-'78. I couldn't tell you about the quality of pizza other than the fact that I liked it when I was 8 years old, but I do have many fond memories of going there and having a great time with my family and friends. While the organ was playing they would show Our Gang, The Three Stooges or some other black and white movie on the wall and they had Atari's Lunar Lander.

Brian Spangler at 1:51AM on 01/28/09

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