Washington Square West gets its groove on with Paulie Gee’s Soul City Slice Shop.
From its funky but chic R&B musical selection to its pool tables, from its whack insignia take on its Chef Boyardee to its Brooklyn-style pizza and canned beer, Paulie Gee’s Soul City Slice Shop in Washington Square West at 412 South 13th Street, is unique. Add in its high school vibe of serving pizza slices on cafeteria trays, its access to old-school Pac-Man video games, and bold pizzas dedicated to the 1970s (what else could a Freddy Prinze pie done as an upside-down Sicilian style za with fresh mozzarella, tomato sauce, Pecorino Romano and a sesame seed bottom be?) and Paulie Gee’s Philly joint just jumps.
“I love the city, and after discovering that some of the neighborhoods in Philly were similar to where we had been successful in Brooklyn I felt that this would be a good location for one of our pizzerias,” says Paulie Gee from Brooklyn. “I’ve been looking for the right business partner for quite a few years, but never found the right person at the right time. Eventually, my son, Derek, felt that it was something that he wanted to do and we set out to find a space.”
Paulie Gee is always looking for opportunities in various cities throughout the country in which to place his pizza parlors. In addition to its Brooklyn homebase locations and Philadelphia, Paulie Gee has licensed locations in Chicago, Baltimore, and Columbus, Ohio, along with currently owning a shop in New Orleans. “The reason I like Philly is because the demographics are similar to those that can be found around our North Brooklyn locations,” says Gee.
And as for the Washington Square West location, an area that I personally can’t remember a pizza place in previously, Gee says when the one-time home to an Amis location became available, “I quickly saw the potential of it to provide us with not just a pizzeria but a significantly sized bar with room for a pool table and vinyl shop which are things my son Derek felt very strongly about having.”
Like their beloved Brooklyn hot spots, Paulie Gee loves touching on the local vibe, from design to beers. That means Philadelphia too. “In our Brooklyn slice shop we have many 1960s and 1970s New York Yankee artifacts,” states Gee. “In Philly, I am paying homage to the Sixers and the Phillies of the 1960s and 70s to go along with the motif of the pizzeria.”
Even if you don’t go for the atmosphere or the pool tables (which are a major plus for me), you’ll go for the Philly-favoring pizzas such as the Roast Pork Italian.
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