When October rolls around, Sliced Pizza manager Kristina “K” Banks braces for what she calls “the Super Bowl.” It’s the busiest clip of twelvemonth for the horror-themed pizza store connected Industrial Road.
About 2 years ago, Banks was caught disconnected guard. “October 1, it was an hr hold for a slice,” says Banks. “We didn’t adjacent person clip for inventory.”
Banks and proprietor Jimmy Vesci person since learned their lesson. Vesci’s family, operators of New York Pizza & Pasta connected Jones Boulevard for decades, bought the edifice successful 2024, aft it opened nether Cash Sakoulas successful 2022.
Despite the ownership change, Sliced Pizza remains a destination restaurant, and its decor makes the case. A skeleton hangs precariously from the ceiling. Terrifier’s Art the Clown offers a devilish grin to guests going to the restrooms. Frankenstein’s monster and his bandaged Bride operation implicit Ouija board-topped tables. And past there’s Fluffy, the fanged monstrosity from Creepshow, who keeps the pinball machines company.
Many of the props came retired of retention from Egan Productions, and the Saw Escape Room adjacent doorway sends loads of traffic.
“With Summerween trending, that was creating full Halloween runs,” Banks says. “They’re like, we’ve got Horror Vibes Coffee, and you’re for lunch, and past we’re going to Universal [Horror Unleashed], and past we’re gonna spell to Tonopah for the haunted museum.”
Banks, a comedian and erstwhile wedding planner, recovered Sliced Pizza aft her vocation near her wanting more. When a record-setting merchantability went unacknowledged, that was the past straw. “I was like, astatine this constituent I mightiness arsenic good ain a pizza shop,” she says. “And past this happened.”
She recovered the occupation for Sliced Pizza connected Craigslist.
“She was the past choice,” Vesci jokes.
Banks, who has produced Comedy Rumble astatine Wiseguys, Gringa Fiesta astatine Jimmy Kimmel’s Comedy Club and more, hires artists due to the fact that she is one. That’s partially wherefore the store is known for much than conscionable its celebrated charcoal-crusted “Murder Pizza.”
After Wiseguys closed successful the Arts District, Banks started the Vegas Is Dead drama bid connected the 13th of each month. In her archetypal 11 months, she booked each pistillate headliners and has zero tolerance for hatred disguised arsenic humor.
“If you’re gonna person hatred speech, if you’re gonna marque idiosyncratic consciousness uncomfortable, if you’re gonna speech astir my assemblage for my entertainment, get the f--- retired of here,” she says. “There’s a precise large quality betwixt moving your rima connected a microphone versus an creation form, and we absorption connected the creation form.”
The store has besides embraced its relation arsenic a unrecorded euphony incubator. Vesci says the shows began aft 2 promoters dined astatine Sliced Pizza and asked astir hosting gigs.
“We lease it for ace inexpensive for what they tin afford,” Banks says. “We get a batch of touring worldly we tin conscionable bring in. And it’s a bully spot to merchantability it retired successful a truly chill area, truthful past it looks truly sexy for their adjacent stage.”
A caller metalcore amusement with Sincerely Yours and Floodlit was the champion yet, she says: “This spot was crawling up to the ceiling. We had different 80 radical outside.”
The tricky part? A fake corpse connected a stretcher that has to beryllium moved for shows. “That took maine a agelong clip to get utilized to,” Banks says.
SLICED PIZZA 2129 S. Industrial Road, sliced-pizza-lv.com. Tuesday & Wednesday, 4-9 p.m.; Thursday-Sunday, noon-9 p.m.
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