If you search for Prince Street Pizza in Los Angeles you will still find listings for Melrose, for Santa Monica Boulevard and for Sunset. Those locations have closed. The one that is actually trading is at 827 East Third Street in the Arts District downtown, and it runs to midnight midweek and three in the morning on Friday and Saturday.
Karpo can confirm which Prince Street location is actually trading right now and route you to Third Street rather than a Melrose address that closed.
Getting the address right first
This matters more than it should because the closed listings persist across review sites and map applications, and people drive to Melrose on a Friday night on the strength of a search result. The Arts District shop is the Los Angeles location. Set the destination to East Third Street and check the street number before you leave.
The geography is also a meaningful difference. Melrose and the Arts District are on opposite sides of the city in practical terms, and a plan built around a West Hollywood evening does not adapt easily to a downtown one. Decide where you are eating before you decide what.
The square slice is the whole point
Prince Street is known for the Sicilian-style square — a thick, airy base with a fried, crisp bottom, sauce and cheese, and cupped pepperoni that curls into little bowls of rendered fat in the oven. That cupping is not incidental; it is the specific pepperoni variety and the specific bake that produce it.
The house version is the one carrying the name, and it is what you should order first. The round New York-style pies are also available and they are fine, but ordering a round pie at a place famous for a square one is a decision you will regret about halfway through when you see somebody else's tray.
The late hours, and what they are for
Monday and Tuesday the shop runs from eleven in the morning to eleven at night. Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday it goes to midnight. Friday and Saturday it stays open until three in the morning.
Those weekend hours put it among a small group of Arts District rooms still serving after the bars close, which is the entire reason it works in that neighbourhood. Downtown Los Angeles empties hard after midnight and the options collapse; a square slice at two in the morning is a genuinely scarce thing.
The Arts District context
East Third Street sits in a neighbourhood that has converted from warehousing to breweries, galleries, coffee roasters and restaurants over the past decade and a half, and the street pattern still reflects the industrial layout. It is walkable within itself and awkward to reach on foot from anywhere else.
That makes Prince Street a natural end-point for an Arts District evening rather than a destination in its own right. Start at a brewery or a gallery on Traction or Mateo, walk, and finish here. It is a considerably better shape of evening than driving in specifically for a slice.
Ordering and the queue
This is a counter operation with limited seating, and the queue on a Friday night after eleven can be substantial. Slices come from finished trays, so what is available is what is in the case, and the popular squares sell through and get remade rather than being held indefinitely.
Look at the case before you order and ask when the next tray is coming if what you want has just gone. A four-minute wait for a fresh square is a materially better outcome than the last cold corner of the previous one, and nobody at the counter will be surprised by the question.
Getting there and parking
Street parking in the Arts District is workable outside peak and difficult on weekend evenings, and the industrial street layout means the spaces that exist are not always near the door. Rideshare is the low-friction option, particularly if the evening involves the breweries.
On transit, the Metro A and E lines serve Little Tokyo/Arts District station, which puts you within a walk. That walk is fine in daylight and less appealing at two in the morning, so plan the return leg before you plan the arrival.
What else to put in the order
The garlic knots are the thing regulars add without thinking about it, and they are a better use of a few dollars than a second slice if you are undecided. They also hold up considerably better than pizza does on a fifteen-minute walk, which matters if you are carrying food back to a party rather than eating at the counter.
If you are ordering a whole tray for a group, phone it through rather than turning up and asking. A full Sicilian tray takes real oven time and arriving at midnight on a Friday expecting one made to order is an optimistic plan. Half an hour of notice turns it into a collection instead of a wait.
How it compares to the original
The New York original on Prince Street in Nolita is the reference point, and people who know it sometimes find the Los Angeles version slightly different — a different room, a different crowd, a West Coast rhythm. The square itself holds up, which is the thing that matters.
Phone (213) 266-8355 to confirm hours if you are making a special trip, particularly around holidays when the late-night weekend schedule is the first thing to change. And check once more that you are heading to Third Street rather than one of the addresses that no longer exists.
- Address: 827 East 3rd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90013, in the Arts District
- Hours: Monday-Tuesday 11:00 AM - 11:00 PM; Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday 11:00 AM - midnight; Friday-Saturday 11:00 AM - 3:00 AM
- Phone: (213) 266-8355
- Closed locations: Melrose, Santa Monica Boulevard and Sunset Boulevard listings are out of date
- What to order: the Sicilian-style square with cupped pepperoni, not the round pies
- Seating: limited; this is a counter operation
- Getting there: Little Tokyo/Arts District station on the Metro A and E lines, or rideshare
- Best use: the end of an Arts District evening rather than a destination drive
Tags: #PizzaNearMe #LosAngeles #PrinceStreetPizza #ArtsDistrict #DowntownLA #SohoSquare #SquareSlice #DTLA #LateNightEats #LAEats #NeighborhoodGuide #Pepperoni #ThirdStreet
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Ask Karpo first
Ask Karpo which Prince Street Pizza location is open right now, how late Third Street is running tonight, and what else in the Arts District is still serving if you have arrived after the last slice.
