This Neighborhood Pizzeria’s Been Slinging Slices Since 1982

This Neighborhood Pizzeria’s Been Slinging Slices Since 1982

The reasons to open a business in Lower Manhattan are plentiful: the community, the access to transit and the historic streets that date back to the city’s earliest days. But in 1982, when then-20-year-old Benedetto “Ben” Davi decided to quit his 12-hour-a-day, six-days-a-week job at a pizza joint in Greenwich Village and open his own pizzeria, the draw was even more practical: the hours.

“Back then, the neighborhood was strictly nine-to-five. You could close up at night, and have weekends off,” he told the Downtown Alliance. “So I said, ‘You know what? I got a job that I’m working where I basically have no life, and the job that I’m going to get, I’m going to be off on weekends.’”

Davi, a Sicily native who moved to the United States with his family when he was nine years old, took over a small subterranean pizza shop on Pearl Street, right across the street from fellow legacy business Pearl Diner. Thus, Underground Pizza — now located at a decidedly more above-ground location at 3 Hanover Sq. — was born. 

Underground Pizza owner Ben Davi stands behind display case with fresh pie in front of him.

“When I purchased Underground Pizza, it was a basement store. That’s why it’s called Underground Pizza,” Davi said. “I got a lot of criticism from my friends. ‘You’re 100% Italian, you were born in Italy. What are you doing with a place called Underground?’”

In keeping with Lower Manhattan’s nine-to-five reputation, Davi’s early clientele consisted mainly of white collar finance workers, particularly from finance and insurance giant AIG, which was headquartered on nearby Water Street. Davi drummed up a hefty customer base by catering to these busy downtown workers, even delivering small orders for those who were stuck at their desks during lunch. The gambit worked, with Underground Pizza racking up devotees from other downtown bigwigs, like Citibank, Citigroup and Chemical Bank (now J.P. Morgan Chase Bank).

“The secretaries would call up for two slices,” Davi said. “The gentleman who ran the place before me would not deliver two slices, because he felt like there was no money to be made, but I said, ‘You give that young lady two slices, she’s going to come back in. The next office party, she’ll remember me.’” 

In his four-plus decades downtown, both Davi and Underground Pizza have weathered some ups and downs. There were exciting days, like when the city reopened the Seaport in 1983, and Davi sold pizzas until he ran out of supplies at one in the morning, or when the Brooklyn Bridge celebrated its bicentennial that same year. “That was an even better situation,” Davi said, remembering all the pizzas he sold that day. “People stayed in their offices to watch the fireworks.”

Davi and his son making pizzas.

And there were dark days, like the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and, of course, September 11, 2001. On that date, Underground Pizza was still located in the basement spot on Pearl Street, and when the Twin Towers were hit, Davi and his staff were spinning dough in the store, unaware of what was happening outside. Then, people seeking shelter started pouring in.

“We started seeing people coming in full of soot,” Davi said. “We cleaned up a whole bunch of people. There was an old man that came in — I call him old now, because I was young then, but he probably was about my age, maybe about 65, maybe 70. His eyelids were completely shut.”

Before 9/11, Lower Manhattan’s retail scene largely catered to the neighborhood’s financial firms, with businesses like lunchtime delis, small restaurants and clothing stores hocking officewear lining the streets. Davi says the area started to change after the attacks, and again after the Great Recession of 2008, when the downtown residential market started growing. That kicked off Lower Manhattan’s transition into a 24/7 neighborhood, which meant that Davi had to let go of the work/life balance that brought him here. 

“That’s when I had to make the decision to come in on Saturdays and open later,” he said. The store is now open six days a week, Monday through Saturday (“If I go seven, my wife will put divorce papers on my table,” Davi joked), and Davi comes in every day of business, starting at a quarter to eight.

“I get up at 4:30 in the morning,” he said. “When I was younger, I used to get home at this time. Now I’m working.”

The hard work is worth it, though. Davi says he puts everything he has into the store, and has fought for its survival, even when business collapsed during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

“Financially, it destroyed me,” he said of Covid. “But I was able to put two and two together and make it a three. Not even a four, but I was able to stay.” 

His customer base still hasn’t completely recovered, with many office workers still working from home, though he says he gets more tourists and residents than he did before. Crucially, he still gets old-timers from Underground Pizza’s early days, who remain devoted to Davi’s cheesy, saucy, meaty pies. 

The pizzas are, of course, the standouts. Davi says he implements some of his Italian mother’s bread, pasta and sauce-making methods in his recipes, and the results are superb. He’s dedicated to his staff and his products — he’s even been using the same supplier for 40 years. And though Davi’s a sucker for the classics (he’s a pepperoni guy, of course), he offers a full menu of toppings, as well as gluten-free options, so you can enjoy pizza even if you can’t eat a traditional pie. This is good news, because Davi’s pizza is great. 

He’s modest about it, though: “I think I make a pretty good slice,” he said. 

Tags: feature, legacy business, underground pizza

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