For many Oregon kids, pizza is less a dietary staple than a fact of life. But that wasn’t always the case. Even after World War II, newspaper references to “pizza” were still put in quotations, with recipes typically calling for ”4 English muffins” or “2 cans Maine sardines.” That was before 1949, the year Caro Amico opened on Southwest Barbur Boulevard.

Though not the first Portland restaurant to serve these “open-faced cheese and tomato pies,“ as has previously been reported, it was the first to define itself by the dish, putting “pizza” front-and-center on its signage and advertisements. And at 75 years old this year, it remains Portland’s oldest Italian restaurant.