Did you know SLO’s most iconic pizza place started in Oregon? Here’s its story
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- The first Woodstock’s pizza opened in Corvallis in 1977; SLO opened in 1980.
- Laura and Jeff Ambrose own the California Woodstock’s now and are planning a Fresno spot.
- SLO makes 170–200 pies on slower days, but can make up to 220 extra-lg. pies per hour.
This pizza place in the center of downtown San Luis Obispo was originally intended 46 years ago as a fun and tasty hub for students.
But go into Woodstock’s Pizza now, and you’re just as apt to see the place packed with silver-hairs mixed in with toddlers and their parents as you are Cal Poly sweatshirts.
Yes, according to devotees, the pizza with its trademark fold-over crust really IS that good, which is why, even on slow days with fewer customers, they can produce about 170 to 200 pies, according to Laura Ambrose, who with husband Jeff Ambrose, co-owns all the California Woodstock’s pizzerias.
And on busy days? They can turn out up to an astonishing 220 pizzas per hour, she said!
With more than 15 eateries in SLO dedicated to the iconic dish and others that offer pizza as part of a more diverse current menu, fans say Woodstock’s still stands out.
For proof, consider that New Times readers have selected Woodstock’s in their annual “Best Of” poll more than 30 times as having the best pizza in SLO.
Likewise, other reader polls frequently tap those pizzas with hand-tossed crusts as being the best in town. And in 2020, the Pizza Today publication tapped Woodstock’s as the No. 1 independent pizzeria in the nation.
Rob Karlskint of San Luis Obispo agrees.
He told The Tribune he started going there as a high school student in the mid-1980s, worked at Woodstock’s when he was a Cal Poly college student and still goes to his favorite pizza spot frequently.
Karlskint is often joined there by SLO school chums, he said, including dentist John Freeman.
“It’s where we reconnect, where we all meet up, where all the memories are,” Karlskint said, adding that another friend reportedly dines at Woodstock’s three or four times a week.
He said he’s proud that Woodstock’s has withstood the onslaught from chain pizzerias.
“They’re still the champs, getting the awards. It’s cool to see a David-and-Goliath type story like that,” Karlskint said
How Woodstock’s started, thrived, grew and survived heartbreak
Woodstock’s backstory is a success saga rocked by tragedy but sustained by steady growth and firmly stated commitments to the original premises of superior taste and service in an enjoyable atmosphere.
In 1977, when Chuck Woodstock opened his first pizzeria in Corvallis, Oregon, it launched what would become a small chain of pizza eateries established as separate corporations.
The San Luis Obispo Woodstock’s opened in 1980, the same year Mike Chew joined as a partner.
It launched in a smaller location, at 1015 Court St. where Thai Palace is now. Then in April 1991, Woodstock’s moved to its larger, current location at the corner of Higuera and Osos streets.
An ad at the time boasted that it was the “Best Pizza This Side of Chicago.”
Under the management of the two men and longtime employee Jeff Ambrose (since 1981), the businesses flourished in a 1980s expansion wave in the busy university towns of Isla Vista/Goleta, Santa Cruz, Chico, Davis and San Diego by San Diego State, where Ambrose was a partner.
But then disaster and heartbreak struck: Woodstock and Chew were killed in late 1985 when the small private plane the pair had been traveling in crashed. They’d been on their way from California to the Pizza Expo in Las Vegas.
The plane was found later in the Sierra Nevada Mountains near Mount Whitney, according to reports in a variety of media, including the Davis Enterprise and the Woodstock’s Pizza Chico website.
During the mourning period that followed the tragedy and since, Ambrose, who started at the Corvallis Woodstock’s as a college student delivering pizzas and quickly worked his way up, also helped the partners open some of the early California restaurants before becoming a partner himself in the San Diego pizza spot.
Current SLO general manager Mike Swift joined the staff here in 1985.
Ambrose became president in 1990, and he and wife/partner Laura Ambrose took over as owners in 2001. They now own the six active Woodstock’s locations in California, plus one being planned now for Fresno, all of which are under a single-ownership structure based in San Diego, the Pacific Beach resident told The Tribune.
“We share ownership with all of our management team of general managers and administrative executive team,” she said.
Woodstock’s wife, Carolee Woodstock, is the sole owner of the Oregon pizzeria.
How Woodstock’s has stayed the same and how it’s changed
Over the years, Woodstock’s has grown and evolved.
Some changes are obvious, like the remodeling done to the SLO pizzeria in 2018, which included buying, merging and redoing a previously vacant adjacent shop on Osos Street.
When the upgrades were happening, Swift told The Tribune the addition was needed as their requirements for space and desires to try a new look increased.
“We just kind of outgrew our square footage; we weren’t able to accommodate large groups the way we wanted to,” Swift said.
In part, the changes created an area modeled on “a funky SLO backyard, even though it’s inside,” Laura Ambrose said.
The outdoor-themed Backyard area even has its own occasional entryway at 1060 Osos St., a room-anchoring, two-sided fireplace, a giant Jenga game, 24-tap bar, grass-imitating carpet and some hanging glass lights that look like stylized Solo cups.
In SLO and in some of Woodstock’s other sites, the bars, dining rooms, kitchen and game area were modified and enlarged, she said. They also added the “Frequent Woody” loyalty group.
“(There’s) an expanded menu, with six or more different sauce options, way more team members, bringing the food to the table, a huge lineup of beers on tap, and lots of fun events in-store, plus professional catering off-site,” Ambrose said.
“We have evolved over the years, expanding our selection of fresh salads, adding Wildebread (garlic or garlic/cheese) and Cinnabread, creating new pizza options, and full bars in most of our restaurants... we hope to add that in SLO soon,” Ambrose said.
And in the kitchen and dining room?
“We try to embody ‘the ultimate pizza experience,’ which means we have invested in nicer kitchens, large dining rooms, better sound systems, customer-service training, etc. We embody green restaurant practices, including permanent dishware, energy-efficient equipment and recyclable containers” for takeout, Ambrose added.
What hasn’t changed and has contributed to Woodstock’s longevity, even as some independent and corporate pizzerias have closed up shop or cut back?
Ambrose rattled off some of the traditions that keep fans coming back.
Their “OG sauce.” The trademark move of folding the edge crust over the sauce. “Kissing” pepperonis — there are at least 63 regular-sized slices on each extra-large pie, according to Swift. Using the same dough recipe through the decades, made fresh in-store each day. Generously loaded toppings and lots of premium whole-milk mozzarella on pizzas hand-made when they’re ordered.
Woodstock’s offers various crust types: classic white, whole wheat and gluten-free. It also offers multiple thickness options, including thick, think and the standard depth.
“We can make it however our customers want,” said Xander Buteau, an assistant GM in SLO.
And yes, if a customer wants pineapple on their pizza, they get pineapple, whether it’s om one of the five combo pizza options that include it or not.
Acknowledging the passionate opinions that can make it controversial, Laura Ambrose said with a laugh, “I can’t stand pineapple on my pizza, even though I like pineapple!”
TWoodstock’s “build-it-yourself” topping list includes 27 regular and four gourmet options, which range from the classics to such specialties as three kinds of tomatoes, bleu cheese, tots and kalamata olives.
But back to the red sauce: It’s been the same for decades.
“We were always under the belief that it came from our founder’s grandmother,” Ambrose said. “But recently Carollee Woodstock told us that wasn’t the case, so we’re not sure (who to credit).”
What is certain is that customers love it.
“It was so popular that people were trying to steal the recipe, so now we have it made off-site by a company that specializes in taking tomatoes fresh from the field and creating a year’s worth of sauce for us in one day,” Ambrose said.
“That’s about 50,000 industrial-size cans of our sauce.”
Even divvied up between all the restaurants, that’s a lot of cans!
General manager has been another constant
Swift, a native of Patterson, was a third-year Cal Poly student when he went to work for Woodstock’s in 1985. He graduated, rose through the ranks and became the GM two decades later.
After 41 years there, he knows the business well, from its foibles to its regulars.
He also knows Woodstock’s trivia.
For instance: Pinball is the most popular arcade game. Saturday is the busiest day of the week, and Tuesdays can be the slowest. The most popular pizza is the Classic (sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, olives and onions). And he knows what made the seasonal, spicy Jamaican Jerk pizza so eccentric for a pizza.
“It was the renegade BBQ jerk sauce base,” he said of the limited-time offering that “packs a punch!,” according to the website menu.
The Jamaican Jerk already is off the menu, assistant GM Buteau said, “but we’re bringing back a popular seasonal flavor from last year.”
There currently are 14 combo pizzas on the online menu, plus seven salads from Antipasto to Tree Hugger, apps like tots and wings, and desserts that include Cinnabread with fruit or pizza-style with berries and pecans.
As for the regular customers, Swift has served Rob Karlskint for decades.
Karlskint is such a devotee that he’s in the legion of pizza fans who love eating leftover Woodstock’s slices for breakfast.
He said he still remembers what it was like to roll and flip those pizzas.
“On Mardi Gras nights, I’d roll 250 pizzas, doing it for hours and hours and hours,” he said. “If the dough was cold, it was a workout!”
Naturally, the pizzeria’s lively, fun atmosphere helps.
“Lots of events in my life started or ended there, from concerts and midnight movies at the Fremont to casual get-togethers,” he said. “It was great going into work, being happy, busy and efficient. It was a perfect college job. We ate a LOT of pizza.”
He likened the friendly, welcoming eatery to a pizza-parlor version of the “Cheers” bar of TV fame, because Woodstock’s also is “where everybody knows your name.”
“You don’t see that much anymore,” he added.
Learn more about Woodstock’s SLO
Woodstock’s is located at 1000 Higuera St., with another occasional access at 1060 Osos St. for the Backyard.
It’s is open from 11 a.m. to midnight Sundays through Thursdays and 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
Make reservations online or directly by calling 805-541-4420, which is also the number to call for reservations for 13 guests or less. Order online or call 805-541-4420. Deliveries are available to five separate zones of the county, each with its own minimum order and delivery fee.
According to the website, catering is available offsite for groups of up to 2,000.
You can learn more about Woodstock’s at its website, or on Facebook or Instagram.
