Customers of Cafe Pizzaria reminisce after the restaurant closed

BLOOMINGTON – Café Pizzaria has fed generations of Bloomington residents and Indiana University students, but the restaurant suddenly closed without offering its loyal fans one last slice.

A note posted on the restaurant’s door on Wednesday said the owners of Café Pizzaria had retired after 70 years to focus on their family instead.

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Several people tried to visit the restaurant near the IU campus for a last meal, but found that the cafe was already closed.

“We were going to come here for lunch today,” said Gary Clem, a Bloomington native now visiting Indiana from Oklahoma. “We went there, there was a note on the door and they’re gone. It’s heartbreaking, it’s one of the iconic places in Bloomington. It was part of my childhood and it’s gone.”

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The Café Pizzaria enjoyed a prominent location in Bloomington’s Kirkwood Avenue shopping district and provided its customers with unforgettable memories.

“This means a lot to me,” said Clem. “This is where I ate my very first slice of pizza in the late ’60s.”

“It was a hangout in high school,” said Stacy Morton, a graduate of Bloomington South High School. “It was a staple of my childhood and in Kirkwood for a very long time.”

“The first time I was there was when we picked up my sister,” said Gloria Nicole, who moved to Bloomington with her sister. “I have to admit, the highlight was the photo with the cute little guy holding the pizza box.”

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The pizzeria gained local notoriety when major restaurant chains such as Chipotle, Jimmy John’s and Raising Cane’s opened on Kirkwood Avenue.

Nicole believes there is a reason why there are fewer and fewer restaurants in Kirkwood.

“First of all, it is not as cost-effective as other places and I like to take things with me to go, but it is sad when something as valuable as a monument disappears,” Nicole said.

Clem hopes that the Café Pizzaria will not remain closed for long.

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“I hope someone with money will reopen it, keep it as it is, freshen it up a bit and keep making that legendary pizza,” Clem said.

The owner’s notice did not mention what might happen next with the business or the building.