The slices at Mid-City Pizza are New York-style: thin, broad and crisp. But Mid-City Pizza itself is a creation unmistakably in the style of Rand Owens, according to those who knew him best.

“Rand saw the restaurant as a way to harness all his creative energies,” said his sister, Sarah Owens. “All his best qualities were expressed through it.”

Rand Owens died Feb. 29 at his home at age 33. Relatives say his cause of death has not been confirmed.

In addition to his two Mid-City Pizza locations, Owens also owned the Banks Street Bar, a longtime corner bar and music venue across the street from his first pizzeria.

On Saturday, his family, friends and colleagues will honor Owens with a memorial service at the House of Blues and then a nighttime block party between his Banks Street businesses in Mid-City. That event is being dubbed a Festival of Pizza because, friends say, Owens had long wanted to host a pizza festival. (See details below.)

Mid-City Pizza and Banks Street Bar remain open. Owens’ family wants to ensure they continue to operate as Rand Owens would have run them, his sister said.

Owens was originally from Lafayette. He lived in Austin, Texas, for a stretch, working in the music business. He started out in the New Orleans pizza game as an employee of Lazaro’s, which once occupied the small restaurant space attached to the Banks Street Bar.

Owens eventually took over Lazaro’s and renamed it Mid-City Pizza. It was a humble start, with a tiny kitchen and a business delivering pies around its namesake neighborhood and slinging slices of cheese and pepperoni to the late-night crowd at Banks Street Bar.

By 2014, however, Rand was able to buy the restaurant across the street, formerly home to Crescent Pie & Sausage. Here he developed Mid-City Pizza as a pizzeria with the look of a pop art installation. Walls were covered with phantasmagoric murals and memorabilia from “The Simpsons” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” It simultaneously gave the place a punk aesthetic and a family-friendly feel.

When he opened a second location, this time dubbed MCP Uptown, a similar style soon bloomed across its building on South Claiborne Avenue.

His sister said that for Owens the restaurant was another way to collaborate with artists and other creative people.

“From the jump, he was able to get so many people involved in what he was doing,” she said. “His friends were his family too.”

He soon developed another outlet for those interactions when, in 2018, he bought the Banks Street Bar, a longtime Mid-City watering hole.

With a pool table up front, water bowls for dogs outside and a ramshackle feel throughout, it’s a classic New Orleans dive. After Owens took over, it also sported a fresh style with new murals and signs and a reinvigorated music schedule for its small stage. The small eatery in back, where Owens once served Lazaro’s slices, is now home to Trilly Cheesesteaks.

Friends remember his gregarious spirit and generosity, including his support of their artistic and business endeavors.

“He was an extremely supportive friend to everyone who crossed his path,” said his friend Mariana Coelho.

As plans for Saturday’s block party in his honor have progressed, many of those friends are contributing to pull it together, she said.

There will be pizza contributed from many different restaurants, and local bands playing outside and inside Banks Street Bar.

Relatives and friends are invited to attend the memorial service for Rand Owens at the House of Blues, 225 Decatur St., on Saturday (March 7) at 2 p.m.

Festival of Pizza begins at 6 p.m. in the 4400 block of Banks St. (between Banks Street Bar and Mid-City Pizza).

Music on the outdoor stage includes:

Deltaphonic, 6-6:45 p.m.

Blind Texas Marlin, 7-7:45 p.m.

Portwood & Co., 8-8:45 p.m.

The Ice Man Special, 9-10 p.m.

Music continues inside Banks Street Bar with:

Gland, 10:15-10:45 p.m.

Pope, 11-11:30 p.m.

Melters, 11:45 p.m.-12:15 a.m.

A late night set inside Banks Street Bar begins at 12:30 a.m. with

Tiny Books

Tristan Dufrene

Otto

Shanook

DJ FaerieGothmother

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