An astute reader of our Facebook page noted that Rocco's Pizza had a funny hand-scrawled sign up in the window after we declared the death of the pizza institution yesterday:

But, no, it seems that despite the sign, Rocco's is closed for real. The pizza place sent out a press release last night vaguely explaining the closure:

Rocco’s Pizza would like to thank the public for the generous patronage and support that has afforded the opportunity for Rocco’s to become not only a graciously respected brand in Portland for many years, but also a landmark.

While we have given great effort and countless hours in an attempt to keep our doors from closing, the challenging financial times we are all experiencing along with unforeseeable family challenges, have made it impossible to do otherwise.

We again thank the Portland metropolitan community and the City of Portland for allowing us to serve them for such a generous period of time.

We also deeply appreciate the media’s cooperation in allowing us privacy to attend to the many challenges left to us.

Lots of people shared fond Rocco's memories yesterday. RIP to greasy pizza and people watching.