Mystic Pizza | 1988

The locations for Mystic Pizza can be found on the south coast of Connecticut, within a few miles of the town of Mystic itself, and just across the state line in Rhode island.

First off, like the bookshop in Notting Hill, there is a ‘Mystic Pizza’ which inspired the setting, but it’s not seen in the film. The real-life Mystic Pizza is at 56 West Main Street, Mystic. As well as pizzas, there are lots of memorabilia here, and it’s your chance to pick up a ‘Slice of Heaven’ t-shirt.

Also in Mystic, you can find the raised bridge, where Jojo (Lili Taylor) is horrified to find her prudish boyfriend has renamed his fishing boat Nympho. Mystic Bridge, Main Street, really is a working bascule drawbridge.

The town’s other great attraction is Mystic Seaport: The Museum of America and the Sea, 75 Greenmanville Avenue. A collection of sailing ships and boats, berthed at the recreation of an entire 19th-century seafaring village, it consists of more than 60 original historic buildings, moved to the 37-acre site and meticulously restored.

It’s here that astronomer Kat lectures on navigating by the stars at the Treworgy Planetarium, designed in 1960 specially for Mystic Seaport. One day in the future, when all our satellites go offline, you’ll be glad you got that basic lesson in celestial navigation using the stars and planets.

Mystic Seaport is used as the ‘New Haven’ seafront in Steven Spielberg’s Amistad.

The pizza parlour setting, where the mysterious toppings are blended with secret spices from the Algarve in Portugal, was created in an empty property at 70 Water Street in Stonington, a couple of miles to the east of Mystic. The building now functions as Stonington Harbor Yacht Club Sailing Center.

Also in Stonington, a little to the south, you’ll find both the local bar and the restaurant.

The ‘Peg Leg Pub’, where blowsy Daisy (Julia Roberts) impresses rich boy Charlie (Adam Storke) with her pool skills, is Zack’s Bar and Grill, 201 North Main Street, toward the north of Stonington.

A block west of the ‘pizza parlor’ location, Daisy and Charlie enjoy a first date at seafront restaurant Skipper’s Dock Restaurant, 66 Water Street. It’s here that Charlie confesses he’s been thrown out of law school. But since that’s his dad’s schooner berthed outside, that hardly seems to be a major problem.

At the eastern end of Church Street stands the grand, white-pillared mansion of the snobby Windsor family, where Daisy storms out of the family meal (yes, that’s Matt Damon in his first film role as Charlie’s little bro, Steamer). It’s 53 Church Street, opposite Orchard Street. And, as ever, remember this is a private home so please don’t trespass or disturb the residents.

Jojo’s wedding appears to take place in the village of Noank, on the coast southwest of Mystic.

78 Front Street, at Bayside Avenue, was the church where she keels over before the nuptials can take place. The steeple has gone and the building has been remodelled into a private home. I said ‘appears to take place’ because the church interior was filmed a few miles to the west, in the St Peter & Paul Polish National Catholic Church, which stood on State Pier Road in New London. I understand the church has recently been moved.

Ford’s Lobsters, 15 Riverview Avenue, back in Noank, became‘Ferriera Lobsters’, to which Kat (Annabeth Gish) delivers pizza to her mom.

The homes of Daisy, Kat and Jojo are east at the Rhode island border in Pawcatuck. Daisy and Kat live at 187 Mechanic Street, Pawcatuck, Jojo lives next door at 185 Mechanic Street.

Just over the border in Rhode island, more locations can be found to the south of Westerly in the Watch Hill Historic District. The country club, outside which Daisy tips a truckload of odoriferous fish into Charlie’s Porsche, is Misquamicut Club, 60 Ocean View Highway in Watch Hill.

Also in Watch Hill, Tim’s house is nearby on Breen Road, while the house he’s renovating is on Water’s Edge Road.

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