Original Home Run Inn restaurant reopens after 70 years in Little Village

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Home Run Inn, Chicago's pizza company best known for its frozen pies, has built a new restaurant next door to its original location on 31st Street in Little Village, which first opened in 1947.

The grand re-opening is scheduled for next week, more than 70 years later.

"It's everything to me. It's everything to our family," said Gina Bolger, vice president of branding for Home Run Inn Pizza.

Bolger has been working at Home Run Inn since she was 16 years old, starting with busing tables, hostessing and serving. Her grandfather Nick Perrino and father Joe Perrino founded and built the business. Joe died unexpectedly in 2018.

"I'm just very proud of what they've been able to accomplish and I'm hopeful that we can continue to carry on their legacy and everything that they've started," she said.

From the humble beginnings of Italian immigrants and a small, 20-seat tavern came a frozen pizza empire, and now a $3 million investment in a brand new restaurant in the community where it all started.

The restaurant comes complete with a dog painting, and vintage Tiffany lamps that once hung over booths.

"We've really put a stake in the ground and we're not going anywhere," said Dan Costello, Home Run Inn Pizza CEO.

Costello, who is Bolger's cousin, said this place is all about family - and, of course, the cheese-bubbling, mouth-watering food.

Home Run Inn said their dough recipe hasn't changed in 70 years, so as you dig into one of their pies you know it's got history and purpose.

"We bring people together to create a sense of belonging," Costello said.

"It's stability," said Charlotte Turner, a longtime customer. "So for a business to be in this neighborhood this long is a statement for how good the food is."