Dan's Papers - March 14, 2008 - Hampton Tradition XXVIII

Tony Lupo estimates that since his family purchased Astro's Pizza in Amagansett back in 1971 from Juliano Alberto, they have prepared and served over 441,000 pizzas. The story of how the Lupo family went from living in Palermo, Sicily, where patriarch Felice Lupo, now in his 80s, was a police officer, to operating Felice's Restaurant and Astro's Pizza in Amagansett is inspiring.

In 1969, after retiring from the Italian police force, Felice boarded a plane by himself to America. A year later, after working for his brother's pizza establishment in Brooklyn, Felice flew his wife Onfria, son Tony and daughters Alda and Angela to America. In 1971, while living in Hampton Bays, the Lupo family loaded into Felice's brand new 1971 Ford LTD and went for a drive that by chance took them to Amagansett. They stopped to eat some pizza at Astro's, which was then located next to the Stephen Talkhouse. The owner Juliano Alberto, after owning the business for just six weeks, wanted to sell it, and Felice bought it. So on August 8, 1971, the Lupo family started making pizzas in Amagansett. That first Friday, Richie Tuthill came in for some pizza and he has every Friday since. Over the years, Robert DeNiro, Lauren Bacall, Elizabeth Taylor and Alec Baldwin have all stopped in for pizza. The most consistent celebrity customer is Paul McCartney, who has been stopping in for years. Allison Lupo, Tony's wife, said, "He's so wonderful. He treats us all so nice."

For the first 17 years, Astro's Pizza was located at 195 Main Street, but in 1988 moved to the present location of Café on Main. While at that spot, Felice purchased the building at 237 Main Street, where Peter Ranna ran his barbershop, and where Vinnie's Barbershop also first started. Two years later, Felice opened an Italian restaurant he called Felice's Restaurant in the building. Finally in 1995, the family combined both Astro's Pizza and Felice's Restaurant at the present location at 237 Main Street.

Back in 1971, Tony, 12, and Alba, 13, helped their father Felice and mother Onfria run the place. Younger sister Angela, 4, was too young to help at the time. For many years, only family members worked at the business. Even today, Tony's two sons, Joseph, 16, a football star at East Hampton High School, and Gianfelice, 24, work along with aunt Alba's three sons Anthony, 24, Felice, 19 and Alex, 18. Alba's husband Nado works in the kitchen and Felice, now in his 80s, lives upstairs and still works every day.

John Judge, a friend of Tony's for over 40 years, said, "I am proud of the Lupos. They have all made a contribution to the community." Regarding the future, Tony is concerned because recently the price of a bag of flour has tripled from $12 to $36, with predictions of $50 by summer.

Members of the family are always around greeting their neighbors, schoolmates and old friends. Tony seems to know a lot about what is going on and bragged that he has been making pies for 37 years and counting. He added that the food is reasonably priced and said, "Our service is the best."

In 1995, Tony and his father Felice became US citizens in a ceremony in Brooklyn. Mitch Winston and Edna Perez of New York City and Amagansett came into Astro's for the first time as Tony told me this story. As they ate their pizza, Edna said, "We'll be coming back." Shortly after, Dawn Ranna Brophy came in to pick up a pizza pie. She told me she, along with her father and grandfather, lived in the apartments upstairs. That's just the way it is at Astro's - neighbors, friends, family and new customers always stopping in for pizza or delectable Italian cuisine.

Astro's is opened 7 days a week from 11:30 a.m.-10:00 p.m. Call 631-267-8300 to order a pie.