Frankie, Do You Remember Me?

Want a good way to sort out your real longtime local-and-proud-of-it Miamians from your newly replanted, stick-to-their-enclave residents? Ask them if they’re ever had (or heard of) Frankie’s Pizza. The 50-plus-year-old pizza joint has lasted through hellish hurricanes and rapid development, weathering torrential storms of competition from national half-hour-delivery chain pie places. If you haven’t yet savored the distinct deliciousness of a slice from Frankie’s, tonight you don’t have to trek all the way to SW 91st Street and Bird Road. In honor of historian Cesar Becerra’s book A Love Affair with Frankie’s Pizza, the good stuff will be handed out for free at a reading at Books & Books.

Becerra doesn’t simply enjoy Frankie’s Pizza. He loves it. He reveres the legacy that Frankie Pasquerella created in 1955, and the fact that his family works hard to keep the dream alive three years since his passing. Becerra’s book is chock full of photos that capture the landscape of an evolving Miami – from the days when South Dixie Highway and the University of Miami campus looked more like Frontierland at Disney World, to now, when the small shop and its antique sign seem like a reminder of a more genteel time juxtaposed against the city’s bustle. See, smell, hear, and taste Miami history – with or without anchovies -- tonight at 7. Call 305-442-4408, or visit www.planetcesar.com to learn more about the book.
Sat., March 29, 7 p.m., 2008