Licorice Pizza gets its name from an old slang term for vinyl records and from a real Southern California record-store chain that used that phrase, which Paul Thomas Anderson then borrowed as the title of his 2021 film. The odd, playful combination of the words also captures the nostalgic, youthful mood of the 1970s setting he wanted to evoke.

What “licorice pizza” literally means

The phrase “licorice pizza” started as a jokey way to describe a vinyl record.

  • Records are round and flat like a pizza.
  • Classic LPs are black, like licorice.

A Los Angeles record-store chain founded in 1969 adopted “Licorice Pizza” as its name, explicitly drawing on this vinyl-as-licorice-pizza slang.

The record store and local nostalgia

The Licorice Pizza stores spread through Southern California in the 1970s and became a recognizable part of the local youth and music culture.

  • They were known for passionate staff, new releases, and even free licorice for customers.
  • For people who grew up in that time and place, the name “Licorice Pizza” instantly evokes records, hanging out, and adolescence.

Why the movie is called Licorice Pizza

Paul Thomas Anderson titled his coming‑of‑age film Licorice Pizza as a direct nod to that record-store chain and to the broader 1970s Valley vibe.

  • He has said the two words give him a powerful childhood flashback and capture the feeling of being a kid running around then.
  • The title does not describe the plot; instead, it works as a mood phrase—youthful, messy, pop‑culture soaked—much like the film’s structure and tone.

Extra fun detail: the older joke

The “licorice pizza” idea goes back even further than the store.

  • A folk/comedy duo, Bud & Travis, once joked about putting sesame seeds on one side of unsold records and selling them as “licorice pizzas” at feed stores.
  • That joke helped cement the phrase in music culture, where it later got picked up for the store name and, decades after, for Anderson’s film.

TL;DR: It’s called Licorice Pizza because that was a playful old nickname for black vinyl records, used by a beloved Southern California record-store chain, and Anderson chose it as a nostalgic, mood-driven title for his 1970s coming‑of‑age movie.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.