Famous lion sign will once again mark the spot of Wichita’s Angelo’s Italian Restaurant
Family lore has it that, when Angelo’s first opened at Pawnee and Laura in 1960, its owners Angelo and Anna Fasciano inherited a sign from a previous building tenant called Leo’s Furniture that featured a lounging lion.
Angelo Fasciano, a practical businessman, decided to just add his restaurant’s name and some neon to the existing sign, and after that, the lion served as a sort of mascot for the restaurant.
The original sign, which featured the words “spaghetti” and “Angelo’s Pizza House,” moved with the restaurant to Harry Street and remained in front of the restaurant at Harry and Hillside until the year 2000, said founder Angelo Fasciano’s granddaughter, Gina Fasciano Hogan, who co-owns today’s version of Angelo’s with her father, Jack.
But that year, it was hit by a food supplier’s large truck and was damaged, she said. It would be too expensive to repair the sign, the family learned, so they had to let it go.
Now, Gina Hogan Fasciano and her father are about to recreate the iconic sign that served as a symbol of their family business for 40 years. As early as next week, crews are expected to start erecting at Angelo’s new location at 5900 E. Central a new version of the lion sign that looks just like the original one but is much, much larger.
“It’s going to be kind of a modern twist because it’s going to be massive and probably scream at you like my grandmother,” Fasciano Hogan said with a laugh.
Fasciano Hogan said she’s not sure exactly how big the original sign was, but the new one will be 10 feet long by 8 feet tall. It will feature the lion and also the words “Angelo’s Pizza House,” which she hopes won’t confuse people. The restaurant hasn’t been referred to as a “pizza house” in decades.
“We hope people still know it’s us,” she said.
Gina’s grandparents, Angelo and Anna, got their start making pizzas out of the basement of their house in the late 1950s. Sicilian-born Angelo, who worked at Boeing, opened a small restaurant at 2411 Laura in 1960. The family moved the restaurant to a building near Harry and Hillside in 1961, then moved to a location across the street in 1976.
Angelo’s was always known for its distinct pizzas, salads with pickled eggplant and homey pasta dishes. At one point, five Angelo’s were operating across the city. The family also had restaurants in Andover, Hutchinson and Tulsa.
Anna Fasciano died of complications from diabetes in March 2004. Angelo died a year later, in March 2005. Son Jack took over the businesses, but the last remaining location at 1930 S. Oliver closed in July 2006.
Wichita never forgot Angelo’s, though, and in 2015, Jack Fasciano launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise money to move his take-and-bake business, which he’d been operating for years out of his home, to a storefront location. Dedicated fans helped him raise $40,000, which he used as collateral to secure loans to open Angelo’s again at 5231 E. Central, which he did in March 2016.
But the new Angelo’s quickly outgrew that space, and earlier this year, Jack and Gina relocated the business to the much larger space down the street at 5900 E. Central, which had previously been home to Picasso’s Pizzeria. They’ve been operating there since early May but have been offering to-go food only while they finish the interior.
Fasciano Hogan said she and her father had long discussed reviving the vintage sign and wanted to do it when they first reopened five years ago. But they were nervous people would be confused.
Their new location, through more than twice the size of the old one, is in a pretty nondescript building that really needs a large, eye-catching sign, Fasciano Hogan said. They recently decided they’d take the risk.
The family is almost ready to open for dine-in at their new location, Fasciano Hogan said, and they’re aiming for the second week of July. They plan to open the back half of the restaurant first while they continue construction on the front.
In the meantime, Fasciano Hogan said, she’s excited for the return of the lion, which has always made her think of her late grandfather.
“It was kind of fitting to his personality,” she said.
This story was originally published July 1, 2021 at 12:28 PM.
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