Rose City Pizza, one of the San Gabriel Valley’s best spots for wildly-topped pies, closed its flagship Rosemead location on Sunday, May 26, after 15 years of business. Owner Brian Nittayo tells Eater that a 40 percent rent increase and the landlord’s unwillingness to negotiate caused the closure. Rose City Pizza gained a loyal following for its inventive menu of New York- and Detroit-style pies, family-friendly atmosphere, monthly local artist showcase, and periodic pop-up collaborations. The family-owned pizzeria continues to operate a location in Covina, which opened in 2021.

Rose City Pizza’s unconventional menu — drawing inspiration from Nittayo’s Filipino and Thai heritage and LA’s diverse communities — has always been its biggest draw. Signature menu items include pizzas topped with al pastor, birria, and even Taiwanese popcorn chicken. “We spent a few years on our [al pastor pizza] recipe and Alex Garcia from Evil Cooks had a big hand in helping us refine it,” says Nittayo. “Our elote pizza is another one that reminds me of looking forward to the elote man coming around my neighborhood. I wanted to start selling it in the restaurant, but we decided to make it a pizza topping instead.”

Nittayo made the difficult decision to close the Rosemead location as the shop’s sales were steady but not robust enough to cover the increased rent. “We’ve looked at every angle to try to stay open,” he says. “People have had their first dates here, and they come back years later to tell me they’re married. I love getting to know people and being part of their stories. I feel like that’s the charm of a mom-and-pop that’s going away.”

Nittayo and his father, Boone, opened the Rosemead pizzeria in 2009 in a strip mall off the 10 Freeway. Nittayo wanted to “do something different” after graduating from Cal Poly Pomona in 2001, and the timing was right with his father retiring from operating a gas station he owned. “To start a pizzeria was my dad’s idea,” Nittayo says. The family found the pizzeria’s location a few doors down from a Cold Stone Creamery that they also operated. When Nittayo’s father passed away in 2015, he was determined to continue the legacy and expanded to a second location in Covina in his father’s honor. “I’ve always wanted to make him proud of me, so I just kept going with what we started,” he says.

While Nittayo is disappointed to leave Rosemead, he is focused on Covina, located 15 minutes away. “We bought the Covina location in 2021, so we are our own landlords. It used to be a flower shop and now it’s Rose City,” he says. “My dad owned a Unocal 76 gas station and across from us is a 76, so it’s like he’s still watching me from across the street.”

Rose City Pizza is open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. at 602 N. Grand Avenue, Covina, CA 91724.