Fun House Pizza & Pub
Fun House Pizza & Pub
The Fun House Pizza & Pub is a family-owned and family-friendly business founded by Martie and Helen Graham in 1964 at 9120 E. MO Hwy 350 in Raytown, Missouri. Their four children worked in the business at one time or another: Gary and Wanda as managers, sister Marty Lynn on the pizza supply side, and son Steve as the Fun House attorney.
Martie first tasted pizza while in California in 1960. He was so impressed, he decided to open a pizza restaurant in the Kansas City suburb, Raytown, MO, and called it Pepi’s Pizza. A name conflict in Texas forced the name change to Zepi’s Pizza. Martie partnered with Ken Hopper to open the second Pepi’s Pizza on Wornall Road in Kansas City. When the partnership dissolved in 1964, Mr. Hopper kept the Wornall Road Zepi’s and Martie the Raytown location which he changed to Fun House Pizza & Pub.
Martie and Helen Graham were not new to the service industry—they had operated Kansas City’s King Arthur’s Lounge. Helen customized an appropriate pizza spice mixture while Martie concocted marketing gimmicks to attract customers. Fun House had the first delivery service in Kansas City. As Helen took phone orders, the Fun House fleet of trucks made deliveries.
Ultimately, Martie helped establish seven stores through partnerships. After his passing in 1974, Martie’s children, Gary and Wanda, helped their mother run the business. Eventually, Gary and wife Anna took ownership—the business thrived.
In 1965, the best-selling 15-inch “Fun House Combination” sold for $4.25. Throughout the 70s and 80s, live music, pinball, arcade video games, including Pacman, and even a merry-go-round kept customers coming. Sundays were particularly busy thanks to carry-out beer (with food orders) at a time when selling packaged liquor on Sunday was prohibited at liquor stores and groceries.
Celebrity visitors included Derrick Thomas and Nick Lowery of the Chiefs, local golfing legend Tom Watson, and even barbeque baron Ollie Gates.
For 53 years, Fun House Pizza’s towering landmark sign was seen for miles and will forever rank among Kansas City’s brightest stars. The star itself, a C-152 Lectra, is in fact quite special. Only about 50 were produced in the 1960s by Jim Henry of Oklahoma Neon in Tulsa and distributed by the Standard Neon Supply Company. These sign-toppers are more than 12-feet tall and wide. One hundred fifty-two bulbs flash sequentially on each arm. When this 1964 Raytown sign was repainted and its star refurbished in 2014, it was the only one still in operation. By 2018, only 11 were still standing in MO, NM, OK, SC and TX.
Gary and Anna Graham carried on the family traditions of Fun House Pizza until closing their Raytown location and retiring in 2017. Said Gary, “I didn’t want to sell it. I didn’t want somebody else to run it down or change it. I wanted to go out still owning it and running it our family way.”
While retaining ownership of the star and keeping it safely stored, Gary and Anna have graciously agreed to share it with the LUMI Neon Museum so that its story can shine on.
The Fun House Pizza & Pub is a family-owned and family-friendly business founded by Martie and Helen Graham in 1964 at 9120 E. MO Hwy 350 in Raytown, Missouri. Their four children worked in the business at one time or another: Gary and Wanda as managers, sister Marty Lynn on the pizza supply side, and son Steve as the Fun House attorney.
Martie first tasted pizza while in California in 1960. He was so impressed, he decided to open a pizza restaurant in the Kansas City suburb, Raytown, MO, and called it Pepi’s Pizza. A name conflict in Texas forced the name change to Zepi’s Pizza. Martie partnered with Ken Hopper to open the second Pepi’s Pizza on Wornall Road in Kansas City. When the partnership dissolved in 1964, Mr. Hopper kept the Wornall Road Zepi’s and Martie the Raytown location which he changed to Fun House Pizza & Pub.
Martie and Helen Graham were not new to the service industry—they had operated Kansas City’s King Arthur’s Lounge. Helen customized an appropriate pizza spice mixture while Martie concocted marketing gimmicks to attract customers. Fun House had the first delivery service in Kansas City. As Helen took phone orders, the Fun House fleet of trucks made deliveries.
Ultimately, Martie helped establish seven stores through partnerships. After his passing in 1974, Martie’s children, Gary and Wanda, helped their mother run the business. Eventually, Gary and wife Anna took ownership—the business thrived.
In 1965, the best-selling 15-inch “Fun House Combination” sold for $4.25. Throughout the 70s and 80s, live music, pinball, arcade video games, including Pacman, and even a merry-go-round kept customers coming. Sundays were particularly busy thanks to carry-out beer (with food orders) at a time when selling packaged liquor on Sunday was prohibited at liquor stores and groceries.
Celebrity visitors included Derrick Thomas and Nick Lowery of the Chiefs, local golfing legend Tom Watson, and even barbeque baron Ollie Gates.
For 53 years, Fun House Pizza’s towering landmark sign was seen for miles and will forever rank among Kansas City’s brightest stars. The star itself, a C-152 Lectra, is in fact quite special. Only about 50 were produced in the 1960s by Jim Henry of Oklahoma Neon in Tulsa and distributed by the Standard Neon Supply Company. These sign-toppers are more than 12-feet tall and wide. One hundred fifty-two bulbs flash sequentially on each arm. When this 1964 Raytown sign was repainted and its star refurbished in 2014, it was the only one still in operation. By 2018, only 11 were still standing in MO, NM, OK, SC and TX.
Gary and Anna Graham carried on the family traditions of Fun House Pizza until closing their Raytown location and retiring in 2017. Said Gary, “I didn’t want to sell it. I didn’t want somebody else to run it down or change it. I wanted to go out still owning it and running it our family way.”
While retaining ownership of the star and keeping it safely stored, Gary and Anna have graciously agreed to share it with the LUMI Neon Museum so that its story can shine on.
