Before Pete’s Place became one of the most famous Italian American restaurants in Oklahoma, it was just coal miners stopping by for lunch.
In the early 1900s in Krebs, Oklahoma — known as the Little Italy of Oklahoma — Italian immigrant miners would swing by Pete’s house for homemade beer and huge plates of spaghetti, meatballs, and ravioli.
They started calling it “Pete’s Place.”
In 1925, when he officially opened the restaurant, the name stuck.
This is part of Episode 87 of the Italian American Stories Podcast — the story of Pete’s Place and the Italian coal mining community of southeastern Oklahoma.