Draft:Side Pie
| Side Pie | |
|---|---|
| Restaurant information | |
| Established | 2021 |
| Closed | January 8, 2025 (temporarily) |
| Owner(s) | Kevin Hockin |
| Food type | Pizza |
| City | Altadena |
| State | California |
| Other information | Destroyed in the Easton Fire in January 2025 |
Side Pie was a pizza restaurant in Altadena, California that began during the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020 as a pop-up in the yard of the Altadena home of owner-chef Kevin Hockin and his wife, Rosanna Kvernmo. After it was shut down by the health department following a complaint, it reopened in 2021 as a brick-and-mortar operation at a nearby storefront location owned by Hockin since before the pandemic. Both Side Pie and Hockin and Kverno's home were lost in the January 2025 Eaton Fire.
History
[edit]On March 19, 2020, Hockin closed Collage Coffee, his shop in the Highland Park section of Los Angeles, telling customers he would reopen at a time that is less full of pandemic. Two months later, he built a wood-fired brick oven in the side yard of his Altadena home and, with the help of two other chefs, opened Side Pie, slipping his thin-crust pizzas through a slot cut into his fence. Included in a 2023 Los Angeles Times list of the best pizza in LA, [1] the restaurant was publicized via an Instagram page and quickly developed a clientele. A neighbor's complaint to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health eventually led to the shuttering of the business. Hockin, however, already owned a nearby commercial space at the corner of Altadena Drive and Lake Avenue, where he planned to one day open a new restaurant. He shifted Side Pie's operation there and reopened in May of 2021.[2] [3]
Deadhead connection
[edit]In addition to his role as restaurateur, Hockin is a longtime fan of the Grateful Dead, dating back to his youth in Atlanta, Georgia. When he opened Side Pie, he incorporated his love for that band into the restaurant's motif. His pizza oven featured the Dead's "skull and roses" logo, and he sold a line of tie-dyed clothing that incorporated the band's legacy look while promoting Side Pie.[4]
Hockin developed a relationship with the L.A-area Deadhead community that included leading outings to Dead-related shows. Side Pie soon began holding all-ages musical performances -- many by local Dead tribute bands -- on the loading dock of the outdoor seating area behind the restaurant. [4] One of the performances before the Eaton Fire, on October 12th, 2024, was by the Altadena-based duo Dawes, whose singer-guitarist Taylor Goldsmith is a Deadhead.[5][6]
The Eaton Fire
[edit]Side Pie operated at 900 East Altadena Drive until it burned down in the Eaton Fire on January 8, 2025.[4] That morning Hockin and Kvernmo took their daughter Juliet to Disneyland to celebrate her seventh birthday. Hockin was uninsured at the time of the fire; his previous policy was terminated by the insurer and he was in the process of securing a new insurance policy. In an interview in the LA Times Hockin said he planned to rebuild when it was safe to do so. “We love Altadena, and there’s nowhere else we want to live. We’re in this for the long haul."
Draft:Side Pie
[edit]- ^ Subscribers, Bill AddisonRestaurant Critic For (2023-09-13). "Welcome to L.A.'s golden era of pizza: Try 21 of the best slices at these pizzerias". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2025-01-29.
- ^ Wilson, Emily (2020-11-12). "Their Restaurants Shut Down. They Got Laid Off. But They All Kept Cooking". Bon Appétit. Retrieved 2025-01-28.
- ^ Rao, Tejal (2021-01-26). "Cooks Turned Instagram Into the World's Greatest Takeout Menu". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-01-28.
- ^ a b c Mejia, Paula (January 16, 2025). "LA pizzeria beloved by Deadheads worldwide burns to the ground". www.sfgate.com.
- ^ Ferguson, Neil (May 14, 2015). "Easy Answers: Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes Talks Grateful Dead". Glide.
- ^ "Mandy Moore Reveals 'Main Part' of Home 'Still Standing,' Shares Photos of Destruction: 'Every House on Our Street Is Gone'". People.com. Retrieved 2025-01-29.