Bub and Grandma’s, one of Los Angeles’s most popular bread purveyors, is opening a New York-style pizzeria on York Boulevard in Highland Park in 2025 called Bub and Grandma’s Pizza. The space was formerly occupied by the decade-old pizza parlor Town Pizza which closed on Saturday, September 7.

“I’m from New Jersey, I grew up in New York. I am obsessed with pizza just like I’m obsessed with sandwiches and bread,” says Andy Kadin, the force behind Bub and Grandma’s, who started making bread from his home in 2015 and coincidentally used Town Pizza’s ovens to bake loaves during the business’s earliest days. The bread operation has since expanded to include 175-plus wholesale accounts as well as popular stalls at the Hollywood and Culver City farmers markets. In 2022, Kadin opened Bub and Grandma’s Restaurant & Bakery in Glassell Park.

The 18-inch New York-style pies at Bub and Grandma’s Pizza will take cues from the East Coast pizzerias Kadin remembers from childhood. “We are trying to make the best crust possible. It’ll have a nice crunch on the exterior, but be very airy in the center, leoparded on the bottom, and the pizza will hold up on its own,” he says. Pizza toppings will include traditional ingredients like pepperoni, mushroom, sausage, onion, garlic, and fresh basil. Kadin’s pizza is inspired by some of New York, New Jersey, and New Haven’s most iconic pizza parlors, including L’Industrie, Scarr’s, Grimaldi’s, Di Fara, and “super-famous New Jersey pizza spot” Star Tavern.

When Bub and Grandma’s Pizza opens in 2025, it will sell both pizzas by the slice and whole pies to-go only with a few outdoor seats on the sidewalk. Once the kitchen gains its “sea legs,” the 3,000-square-foot dining room will be revamped for in-house dining, along with beer and wine service and Town Pizza’s beloved photo booth, Kadin tells Eater.

The incoming pizzeria — located next door to Donut Friend, across the street from Taiwanese spot Joy, and a stone’s throw from the new Ggiata Delicatessen and expanded Belle’s Delicatessen & Bar — is part of a growing wave of newer businesses changing the face of Highland Park. Like many neighborhoods across the Southland, this corner of Northeast Los Angeles has experienced rapid gentrification in recent years, sparking activism among some longtime residents who fear displacement.

With the community in mind, Kadin will continue the tradition he started at the dinette in Glassell Park by providing branded keychains to locals that give them 5 percent off at the restaurant for life.

“It’s important to me that what we’re doing on this side of town is authentic and real, and not bullshit and not a money grab,” he says. “It’s about making sure that we have an authentic connection with our customers and make sure that they’re satisfied with what we’re bringing them.”

Cathy Chaplin