There is a comfortable, well worn lie that we tell ourselves in adulthood: once you hit a certain age, your path is set. You put in your time, climb the corporate ladder, collect your pension, and leave the dreaming to the young.
Then you meet Paulie Gee.
At 56 years old, after spending 30 draining years in corporate IT, Paulie didn’t just step off the ladder, he threw it in a wood fired pizza oven and watched it burn. Today, the pizzeria that bears his name is a Brooklyn institution, celebrated by pizza purists and casual diners alike.
Recently, Paulie sat down with Erica D’Arcangelo on the Pizza Story Podcast to talk about leaving the corporate rat race, the power of speaking your dreams into existence, and why it is never too late to start playing with fire.
Denied Slices and Sunday Dinners
Long before he was a pizza icon, Paulie grew up in Kensington, Brooklyn, surrounded by a lively mix of Irish, Italian, and Jewish families. His mother learned to cook spectacular Sicilian food from his father’s side of the family.
“Sunday dinner was always at 2:00 PM,” Paulie reminisces. “I loved Italian food. For the longest time, I had to have my pasta on Sunday. When I got my own freedom, it became pasta almost every day.”
Yet, despite his deep love for Italian cooking, pizza was a rare luxury. Money was tight, and his parents often turned down his pleas for a Friday night pie.
“Our neighbor upstairs would walk past our door on Friday nights carrying pizza from Scarola’s,” Paulie says. “I’d smell that cardboard box. I’d beg my mom and dad, and they’d say no. The more I was denied the pizza, the more I wanted it.”
That lingering desire followed him into adulthood, even as he settled into a stable, highly sensible career in corporate IT.
Breaking Through the “Not-a-Geek” Glass Ceiling
For three decades, Paulie worked his way up in the tech departments of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and later, AT&T. But he wasn’t happy.
“I hit the ‘not-a-geek’ glass ceiling,” he jokes. “I knew I had to do something else.”
His friends had always encouraged him to open a restaurant because they loved his cooking, but Paulie knew the grueling reality of running a full service kitchen. Pizza, on the other hand, felt simpler and far more attainable.
To build up his confidence, he decided he needed to construct his own backyard oven. When professional masons quoted him astronomical prices, he downloaded free Pompeii oven plans from the internet, bought a stack of firebricks, and got to work.
“Once I bought the bricks, I was committed,” Paulie says. “Commitment is a powerful thing.”
That backyard oven became his testing ground. He started hosting private tastings for friends, neighbors, and eventually, prominent food writers like Adam Kuban of Serious Eats. When Kuban published a glowing feature calling him a “pizza madman,” Paulie knew there was no turning back. He and his wife took out a home equity loan, risking everything they had to secure a space in the up and coming neighborhood of Greenpoint.
The Harrowing Road to Opening Night
Securing a location was one thing; getting the doors open was another. Paulie faced a grueling five month delay waiting for New York City to approve his certificate of occupancy, leaving him unable to secure a beer and wine license.
To make matters worse, his initial “friends and family” test run was an absolute disaster. The chef he hired messed with the dough recipe, leaving buckets of over proofed dough literally overflowing onto the kitchen floor.
Desperate, Paulie called in a favor from Chris Parancini, one of the owners of the legendary Roberta’s in Bushwick. In a display of true industry solidarity, Roberta’s sent over two of their best pizza makers to rescue the night.
“I’ll never forget that,” Paulie says. “They stood outside to make sure everything went okay. You can’t buy that kind of generosity.”
Eventually, the city approved the pipes, the liquor license arrived, and overnight, business doubled. Paulie went from worrying about keeping his head above water to seeing lines stretch down the block.
Paying Homage to the Past
While the original Paulie Gee’s serves up wood fired Neapolitan pies with sweet and savory toppings, Paulie’s retro Paulie Gee’s Slice Shop around the corner serves a very different purpose: preservation.
Designed to look exactly like the pizzerias of his 1960s youth, complete with wood paneled walls, orange counters, and vintage booths, the slice shop is a living time capsule.
“It’s like vinyl,” Paulie explains. “Young people want to know what that classic experience was like, and older people want to remember it. We aren’t trying to change to keep up with the times. We’re providing something that stood the test of time.”
Living the Best Life
Now in his seventies, Paulie is living proof that life’s most rewarding chapter can begin when most people are planning their retirement. He has built a thriving franchise system with locations across the country, made friends all over the globe, and created a legacy that his children and grandchildren can look up to.
“I wanted to show my kids what they were made of,” Paulie says. “I couldn’t tell them to go out and succeed if I was just sitting on the couch working for somebody else. Now, my wife and I are living our best life.”
To keep up with Paulie’s pizza adventures, follow him on Instagram at @pauliegee
Stay updated with the latest from amazing family-owned pizzerias across the globe by subscribing to The Pizza Story Podcast today!
Get our books: A Story About Pizza, Pietro’s Pizza, Pietro’s Pizza Toppings, Pietro’s Italian Christmas.