BUSINESS

New pizza shop serves nostalgia by the slice

lofi.pizza pairs handmade pies with a carefully curated atmosphere of analog nostalgia.lofi.pizza pairs handmade pies with a carefully curated atmosphere of analog nostalgia. It's exactly what it says it is.

BY PAT MOREAU BUSINESS MONDAY, OCT 26, 2026

There's a new pizza place on Main, and it's in no hurry. lofi.pizza opened this month with one thing on the menu worth crossing town for: a family recipe for Sicilian pan pizza, baked in half-sheet pans and cut into big square slices.

The dough takes two days. It starts with a poolish the night before, then rises slowly in the pan until it's thick, airy and crisp on the bottom. The sauce goes on top of the cheese, the way the LaRose family has always made it.

“It's the pizza we grew up on,” the owner said. “Friday night, a pan in the oven and a movie from the rental store. That's the whole idea.”

FRIDAY NIGHT RENTAL

The room is set up like a 1990s living room on movie night: a tube TV in the corner, a VCR, and a pile of tapes customers can pick from while they wait. Each tape tells part of the family's pizza story. The last one is the recipe.

“Friday night, a pan in the oven and a movie from the rental store.”

LOFI.PIZZA

lofi.pizza is open on Main. Be kind, rewind.lofi.pizza is open on Main. Be kind, rewind. It's exactly what it says it is.

Three road workers, one in an orange safety vest, stand behind a striped road-closed barricade on a rural road at dusk. — From left: Ray Dunleavy, Gus Pell, Marv Toivonen and Ted Lusk, Baraga Dr., Tuesday.From left: Ray Dunleavy, Gus Pell, Marv Toivonen. Ted Lusk is standing on the right. Look again.

LOCAL CONSTRUCTION

Road work will close a stretch of Baraga Dr. through NovemberThe crew on Baraga Dr. isn't fixing the road

Public Works director Ray Dunleavy calls it routine. "Nothing down there worth worrying about."No asphalt has been delivered. Neighbors hear drilling after midnight. Dunleavy: "Nothing down there worth worrying about."

An abandoned wooden sawmill with a sagging roof on a misty riverbank surrounded by autumn trees. — The old Pell Sawmill, Hollow Creek.The old Pell Sawmill. Do not walk here after dark.

ENVIRONMENT

Residents near the old sawmill report a sweet smell along the riverSomething blooming at the mill is putting the east side to sleep

Several east-side neighbors say the smell is strongest just before they fall asleep.Residents who walk the river after dark wake up three days later on their porches.

A wooden telephone pole on a quiet residential corner covered in layers of stapled lost-pet flyers. — Flyers on the corner of Elm and Third.Flyers on Elm and Third. Every one is the same dog.

COMMUNITY

Hundreds of lost-pet posters appear across town in a single weekAnimal control stops counting. Keep pets inside after dark

Animal control says it has never seen anything like it. Most of the missing pets were last seen near Hollow Creek.The posters are real. So are the tracks along Hollow Creek.