Business & Tech

Happy 30th Birthday, Zachary's!

The Oakland pizzeria — first in the four-location chain — opened on July 25, 1983.

Zachary's Chicago Pizza turns 30 this week — Thursday, July 25, marks exactly three decades since the first Zachary's opened in 1983 at the corner of College and Oak Grove avenues in Oakland.

To celebrate, the local restaurant chain is asking customers to submit photos of memorable Zachary's moments at any of its four locations (other Zachary's locations are Berkeley, San Ramon and Pleasant Hill).

Photos may be emailed to memories@zacharys.com. The restaurant is posting one customer's photo a week throughout July, with the weekly winner receiving a free Zachary's pizza of their choice.

See http://www.zacharys.com/30thanniversaryphotocontest.html for more details of the contest.

The restaurant was founded by Zach Zachowski and Barbara Gabel, Wisconsin natives with a fondness for Chicago-style pizza who moved to the Bay Area and opened the Oakland pizzeria in a former lampshade store. They added a second location on Solano Avenue in Berkeley a year later.

Zachowski and Gabel retired in 2003 and transferred ownership of the chain to company employees through a stock ownership plan.

Read more about Zachary's history here and share your Zachary's memories in the comments section below.

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