Miceli’s opened in 1949 when Carmen and Sylvia Miceli, with the help of their brothers Tony and Sammie, and sisters Angie and Millie, put their funds together to start a restaurant. Carmen, a Chicago native, came to Los Angeles shortly after serving in World War II.

He earned four Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star, and went from being a singing shoeshine boy to a World War II hero and ultimately owning the first pizzeria in Los Angeles. With the family recipes brought from Sicily by way of old Chicago, they opened what would become Micelis, Hollywood’s first pizzeria.