{"id":138334,"date":"2021-02-25T09:34:17","date_gmt":"2021-02-25T14:34:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=138334"},"modified":"2023-01-24T13:45:24","modified_gmt":"2023-01-24T18:45:24","slug":"whats-in-a-lewiston-name-luiggis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2021\/02\/25\/whats-in-a-lewiston-name-luiggis\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s in a Lewiston name: Luiggi’s"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Bates haunt since the 1950s, Luiggi\u2019s Pizzeria, next door to the Blue Goose on the corner of Sabattus and Horton streets, is named for its founder, Luiggi Carmino Talarico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Albi to Lewiston<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Luiggi \u201cLouis\u201d Talarico was born in 1922 in Albi, Italy. After immigrating to America and settling in Lewiston, he and his wife, Annis, founded the pizzeria at the corner of Horton and Sabattus streets in 1953. A former deputy chief of the Lewiston Fire Department, he died in 1992.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His brother Frank, born in Lewiston 14 years later, was the well-known public face of the family business for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luiggi\u2019s is now owned by several partners, including the St. Hilaire family, who also owns the Blue Goose pub next door. \u201cBates alumni know us pretty well,\u201d says co-owner Angie St. Hilaire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Images
Luiggi\u2019s restaurant in Lewiston, “Home of the Fergy.” (Jay Burns\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Two with Onions\u2019<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The 1955 Mirror <\/em>published photos and comments about five popular hangouts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • Luiggi\u2019s: \u201ctwo with onions!\u201d<\/li>
  • Blue Goose: \u201cpre-exam paradise\u201d<\/li>
  • Steckino\u2019s: \u201crolls and real butter<\/em>\u201d<\/li>
  • Kenmore Hotel: \u201cSaturday p.m. jazz sessions\u201d<\/li>
  • Ye Olde Hobby Shoppe: \u201cMike and the gang,\u201d a nod to Mike Buccigross \u201941, who owned the popular, 1950s-style malt shop.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    The latter three are long gone, and the Hobby Shoppe building is now headquarters for Bates Campus Safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"
    The first mention of Luiggi’s in The Bates Student<\/em> was in March 1954. The restaurant’s phone number is still the same, 782-0701.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
    The Fergy<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

    Created in the 1960s, Luiggi\u2019s signature sandwich, the Fergy, is named for Lewiston police officer Arthur Ferguson, a friend of the Talarico family, who \u201cshould receive a pension for conceiving it,\u201d noted The Bates Student<\/em> in 1974.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ferguson “was like 6-4 and took no crap,” says a reviewer on Yelp!, where the restaurant garners four stars out of five. “He worked with another officer named Murphy, and when Murphy and Ferguson were on the beat down on Lisbon Street all was quiet. Those guys were tough as nails.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ingredients for a Fergy: ham, American cheese, tomato, onion, lettuce, and mayo on Italian bread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"
    Luiggi’s in the 1980s with its bygone rooftop sign. (Photograph courtesy of Sean Carlos ’86)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    Rule of Three<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

    The distance from the steps of Hathorn Hall to the front door of Luiggi\u2019s is exactly<\/em> 3,000 feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Dogging It<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

    By virtue of its meals being available for takeout, Luiggi\u2019s is included in Dog-Friendly New England: A Traveler’s Companion<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Meat Me There <\/h5>\n\n\n\n

    Iconic eateries have their quirks, and this is Luiggi\u2019s\u2019: All their pizzas, even a \u201cplain\u201d cheese pizza, have meat on them, a kind of luncheon meat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"
    Taken in 2012, this image shows the famous quirk of Luiggi’s pizza: They all have meat. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    A favorite Bates haunt since the 1950s, Luiggi\u2019s Pizzeria is named for its founder, Luiggi Carmine Talarico.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":138345,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[10830,11507],"class_list":["post-138334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lewiston-auburn","tag-lewiston-auburn","tag-whats-in-a-lewiston-name"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138334"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138334\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":138373,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138334\/revisions\/138373"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}