Culture
How Place Makes Pizza
Where To Eat Pizza looks at what cities worldwide put into a pie. Thank the auto industry for Detroit’s square-shaped tradition.
Blue steel industrial utility trays were ubiquitous in Detroit in 1946. At the height of the auto industry’s power, these could be found in virtually any factory. They were wholly conventional. They weren’t even blue: That’s just the name of the grade of steel used to make them.
But Gus Guerra saw something special in blue steel utility trays: He saw a little piece of home. Guerra, who was working at Buddy’s Pizzeria in 1946, figured that he could make a decent Sicilian-style pizza in a blue steel utility tray. Even if the pan was rectangular in shape.