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Lou Caniglia's Family: Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 When World War II broke out, Lou and Pearl already had one daughter, JoAnn, and Lou received a deferment from active duty. He worked in the Martin Bomber Plant, which was located near what is now known as Offutt Air Force Base. I was born during the war, so Lou remained working at the bomber plant. But in 1943, he was drafted into the Navy and stationed in San Francisco. The United States was still not sending fathers with two children into active combat so he was assigned stateside. At first Pearl remained behind with their two little girls, five year old JoAnn and one year old Joyce. But, as soon as possible, she left for California to join her beloved husband, on what Pearl called a "cattle train" with minimal creature comforts. The family moved into military housing on Treasure Island. In 1945, Lou received orders to ship out from San Luis Obispo for Japan and active combat duty. Luckily VJ Day preceded his embarkation and the family was spared the separation of war. While in the army and on leave from active duty in 1942, Lou's brother Eli happened to eat in a Baltimore restaurant. They were serving a Caniglia mainstay and calling it "pizza." Eli wrote his father and brothers about it. He suggested that this is something the brothers could do after their return from the war. The family agreed this was a good idea and they began what became the Caniglia dynasty. A dining room and bar were built by the father and sons in front of the existing bakery, and they used the brick bread oven to bake their new creation. The restaurant opened August 3, 1946 with Cirino as the bread baker, Ross as the bartender, Eli and Yano as the pizza makers, Lou as the cook, and the wives Pearl, Joanne (wife of Eli), and Helen (wife of Ross) as waitresses. The early years were interesting as Omahans learned first how to pronounce the word pizza and then to make Caniglia's Pizzaria their favorite eatery. Until 1954, no other restaurant in Omaha made pizza. During those years Lou and Pearl's family continued to grow with the birth of Patricia in 1950, Michele in 1954 and Louis, Jr. (King Louie as Dad liked to call him) in 1962. Though there were only five children in the family, they were born in four decades — JoAnn in the 30's, Joyce in the 40's, Pat and Mikki in the 50's and Lou in the 60's. Dad always had a flare for the dramatic. The family lived next door to the restaurant until December, 1952 when they moved to "far west Omaha" to a home Lou helped build on North 73rd Street. At that time, the Crossroads Shopping Center was a field and the city had not yet annexed the area. Lou had a major commute of fifteen minutes to the Pizzaria. |
