High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Shakey's Pizza is a pizza restaurant chain based in the United States. The chain currently has about 400 stores globally, and about 60 in the United States. Shakey's Pizza was founded in Sacramento, California, on April 30, 1954, by Sherwood "Shakey" Johnson and Ed Plummer. Johnson's nickname resulted from nerve damage following a bout of malaria suffered during World War II. The parlor opened on the first weekend, but since the pizza ovens were not yet completed, only beer was served and Shakey took the profits from beer sales and bought ingredients for pizza the following Monday. Shakey personally played dixieland jazz piano to entertain patrons. Shakey's initially became known outside Sacramento, not for its pizza, but for the jazz program it sponsored on a regional radio network. Shakey Johnson is honored in the Banjo Hall of Fame in Guthrie, Oklahoma, for his longtime use of banjo music at his pizza parlors. Other live music, including piano, was also a staple in the old Shakey's parlors.