Members of the Brooksville City Council voted unanimously to rename a section of Veterans Avenue in honor of longtime Brooksville business owner Fred Kirshy and his family. The vote took place during the Council’s regular meeting on Aug. 7.
Fred Kirshy moved to Brooksville from Brooklyn, NY, in 1969 and opened Luigi’s Pizza restaurant in the Hernando Plaza on Sept. 7, 1970. The business relocated to its current 750 S. Broad St. location nine years later.
Since then, the business has been a fixture in Brooksville, with three generations of the Kirshy family operating the eatery over the course of 53 years.
On August 7, the Council voted to approve a resolution that renames Veterans Avenue from Broad Street to Benton Avenue to Kirshy Avenue. Before the vote took place, Brooksville Community Development Director David Hainley told the panel that the two property owners on the street had been sent certified letters announcing the change and that the remaining stretch of roadway required the City to install three new street signs.
After the Council approved the resolution directing the city’s staff to change the street signs, Fred Kirshy’s son thanked the group for the renaming. “My dad founded it in 1970—it’s been a long time, 53 years—and I think he’d be looking down and be very happy and very grateful for what you’re doing for us,” George Kirshy said. “I thank you very much.”
