01/11/2026
We thought this might be a good moment to share some Martolli’s history. As kids growing up in Portland we worked together at a small pizza place in the southwest hills. We began attending Grateful Dead concerts in the 80's, which helped spark a lifelong passion for live music. We moved to Central Oregon in 1995 shortly after the passing of Jerry Garcia, and eventually fulfilled our dream of opening our own pizza shop in Sisters. We sold the original Martolli’s in 2009 and moved to Ashland upon purchasing the Ashland Bakery Café, keeping the Martolli’s name. We were struggling to come up with a theme for the new restaurant when we discovered that Ken Kesey and Mountain girl had once made a pit stop to the ABC in the Further bus on their way to take the bus to the Smithsonian. Knowing the Grateful Dead ties to Further and Brad being a relative of the Kesey family, we knew that we had to incorporate that into our theme. Local designer Larry Addington created our logo influenced by 60’s rock posters and complete with a small lightning bolt as the apostrophe. We gathered up posters collected from years of concert going, slapped them on the walls and started slinging slices!
We have been lucky enough to enjoy so many concerts over the years, especially anything to do with the Grateful Dead. Together we have seen Bob Weir play countless times and in just about every iteration since 1995 from Rat Dog to the Dead, Further, the Fare the Well shows and Dead and Company. To say that he made an impression on our lives is an understatement. Thank you Bobby for all of the amazing memories. You will be sorely missed. We will do our part to help ensure that the music never stops and your legend lives on. May you rest in peace.
Mark and Brad
