Peace, love and pizza: Auburn community shows support after vandalism

On the night of Oct. 7, 2023, Little Italy, a popular Auburn pizzeria, discovered their tables had been vandalized. Restaurant owners and management are looking for the suspects and have reached out to the Auburn community for help during this time.

Located on East Magnolia Avenue, the restaurant lays in close proximity to many other well-known spots. Toomer's Drugs and 17-16 Bar are close to Little Italy, which serves pizzas, sandwiches and salads. The pizzeria stays open most days of the week, making it a well-frequented nighttime location. 

In 2008, Mark McClurg and Patrick Walters brought the co-family-owned business to downtown Auburn, where it soon grew into a popular dining spot among students and locals. McClurg and Walters worked together at the first pizzeria location in Athens, Georgia, and brought their wives in to help with the business. 

Last month, co-owner of the pizzeria Susan McClurg discovered someone vandalized the restaurant. Vandalism isn't uncommon to McClurg, but what was carved into the table shocked her. She said people commonly carve their initials in the tabletops; this time it was swastikas.

McClurg noted this was the first time "something hateful" was carved into one of the tables in the 15 years the restaurant has been open. 

McClurg shared images on social media of the alleged males who carved the swastikas into their table. The Facebook post asked the community to identify the vandals and "get them the recognition they deserve." Members of the community offered a variety of replies, some extending condolences and others criticizing their decision to post.

The post was deleted from Instagram later in October, due to a lack of information. On Facebook, the pizzeria added an update to the original post, asking people to contact them with any information so they could talk "human-to-human."

Although McClurg said the business will not tolerate hate, she believes people can change and "do the right thing," which she expressed in all-caps in her Facebook update. 

“We’re believers in second chances, so we always reach out to people – usually over social media – and we try to make it right,” McClurg said, reflecting on the incident. “We notice people are generally good and like to do the right thing. We had hoped this would happen in this situation.”

McClurg stated that one of the alleged males stepped forth from a “burner,” Instagram account, but nothing came from their contact. While the McClurg and Walters families might not have gotten the results they wanted in posting the two suspects, they’re thankful to have support from the Auburn community during this time. 

“The support was 95% positive," McClurg said. "The support was not only from the community but students as well. We’ve had Jackson Haber reach out to us, and he was one of the first people to give support."

Haber, senior in mechanical engineering, is president of the Theta chapter of Alpha Epsilon Pi – the international Jewish fraternity -- and has shared his concern not only with his fraternity brothers but also with members of the Auburn Hillel organization. 

When Haber saw the original posts on the pizzeria’s Instagram, he sent it in his fraternity’s group chat. From there, his brothers shared the post, commented and reached out to the McClurg and Walters families to show their support and thank them for raising awareness.

“I think the reason why we were stunned is because this is Auburn, Alabama," Haber said. "Obviously, we know antisemitism is still real here and anywhere."

Haber, who was one of the first to reach out to Little Italy after the incident, also noted the Jewish community has received support from the Auburn family, which he is thankful for.

“The Auburn community has given us [Jewish people] overwhelming support. To that end, I’ve been happy with the response from the Auburn community," Haber said. "That positive response is what has made me feel at home at Auburn and proud to be a part of the Auburn family."