Abraham Partamian was in his West Adams location for sixty years and saw the neighborhood undergo pretty drastic changes, but his delicious little Armenian pizzas of lamb and peppers have been unchanged for much longer. Upon his death a few years ago he willed the shop to his two long serving bakers. It occupies a modest sized bakery operation supplying goods to the Armenian population of Los Angeles – second only in size to Armenia itself. Armenia is neighbored by Georgia, Turkey, and Azerbaijan. They were a very early national convert to Christianity, which placed them in religious opposition to their powerful Muslim neighbor to the west, Turkey. From 1915 to 1923 Turkey, under the Ottoman Empire, invaded Armenia and committed genocide in the mass killing of over one and a half million Armenians. Every April 24th, Martyr’s Day, the Armenian youth of Southern California drive up and down Sunset Boulevard honking their horns and waving the Armenian flag. With a recorded culture of over 3500 years, Armenia is rich in its own traditions and cultural flavors that make it similar to, but distinct from its Persian neighbors and Greek roots. This is one of the things that makes living in Los Angeles so enjoyable – the diversity of cultures that have been able to maintain their identity even as their children are assimilated into the city. There’s a small table in the grocery, but you’re better off picking up a stack of pizzas for five bucks and heading home.

5410 W Adams Blvd, Los Angeles

Everything that’s good about New York pizza – the zingy sauce, the crunch of a good crust, and a savory, dripping slice combined with the insanely good ingredient combinations of California invention without any of the snooty pretension of a Wolfgang or Joachim! You can get your traditional New York pie or go crazy with just about any topping you can imagine. Absolutely try their gourmet combos like the Popeye’s Chicken: spinach, mushroom, onion, tequila lime marinated chicken with mozzarella cheese on a garlic pesto sauce or one of their many cheese monstrosities with land mine detonations of ricotta cheese. Grey Block Pizza (formerly Abbot’s Pizza Company) boasts “home of the bagel crust pizza” and it does not disappoint. Get a poppy/seasame combo crust on your gourmet pie and revel in a yeast-enriched crunch yielding to spongy soft goodness. Best of all, most pies – gourmet or not – are available by the slice so you can experiment on the cheap. Take that, Mozza!