When Tina Weinert comes home to visit her folks in Grayslake, she always stops first at Pat’s Pizza, where she used to work.
Now living in Iowa, she looks forward to seeing many of her friends who still work at the restaurant. But that won’t be an option when she visits next weekend.
After 31 years, Pat’s Pizza, at 719 Barron Boulevard, closed its doors Feb. 1.
Weinert said she feels like she is losing a member of her family.
“I literally grew up there,” said Weinert, 24, and now working in the marketing field.
Pat Harris, 63, who owned the restaurant with his wife, DeAnn, said walking into the shop for the last time was an “emotional experience.”
“The economy, taxation and competition drove me out of business,”said Harris. “We’ve had such an explosion of pizza places in the area. I couldn’t keep it going. I ran out of money.”
Other pizza places in the area sell liquor, added Harris But he and his wife never applied for a liquor license.
“I wanted more of a family atmosphere,” Harris said.
It was certainly that for the Weinert family. Tina Weinert was asked to the prom at Pat’s Pizza. Her boyfriend at the time asked the Harrisses to put the question on the marquee. Her brother, Andrew, also worked at Pat’s. And her younger brother, Bill, a senior at Grayslake Central High School, was working there when it closed.
Weinert’s mother, Karen, has been a manager at the store as well as friends with the owners for 21 years.
“It’s the last true neighborhood experience,” Karen Weinert said, through tears. “It was so family-friendly with the peanut shells on the floor and the parties going on in the banquet room for baptisms, wedding showers, post-football games, the post office and Special Olympics.”
Twenty-one years ago, Karen Weinert wanted to make some extra money but didn’t want her children to be home alone after school. She got a night job as a waitress at Pat’s and soon became a manager. When her husband was getting home late from work, she’d bring the kids to Pat’s so they could play in the banquet room.
“We used to call it DeAnn’s DayCare,” she said.
Memories have come flooding back for other Pat’s Pizza patrons and employees, as well.
Adam Fischer, who is in his 20s, met his wife, Heather, at Pat’s.
“I was working as a sophomore in high school and a year later I trained Heather, who was then to be my wife,” he said.
He didn’t propose to her at Pat’s, but said, “We had our first kiss in the parking lot next door.”
“It’s sad that it’s closed,” he said. “I feel like I belonged to the place for many years. ”
Fischer said the restaurant was filled with Grayslake memorabilia, including photos of prom and homecoming in Grayslake as far back s the 1950s.
“All the decor was the history of Grayslake,” he said. “And everyone knew this was the best place to get pizza.”
Another important memory he said is how Pat Harris trained the employes. “It was always a place to discuss the importance of being profoundly polite,” he said.
Pat Harris insisted all the employes dress appropriately–with the males wearing belts and having their shirts tucked in. They learned how to say please and thank you, something you don’t find much today, Fischer said.
When Max Householder was growing up, his parents went to Pat’s every Friday. Householder, now in his 20s, said his dad claims his first words were “Pat’s Pizza.”
“It’s the end of an era, a Grayslake institution” he said.
Pat Harris said he’s left a message on his marquee suggesting folks who used to go to his restaurant go to Bill’s Pizza in Grayslake. Bill Flowers, who opened Bill’s Pizza in Mundelein and later in Grayslake, helped Harris start his business 31 years ago.
“It was a boyhood dream of mine to own a business,” Harris said. “Bill Flowers really helped me.”
Pat’s Pizza is now in the hands of the bank, and Harris said his next step is to look for a job as well as to help his former employees find jobs.
“I’ve had tremendous employees over the years,” he said.
Harris added he never could have run the business without his wife, DeAnn, whom he’s been married to for 40 years.
