THE STORY OF
PIZZA CALIFORNIA
A love of pizza
Like most kids in America, I loved pizza when I was little. What made me different is that I REALLY loved pizza.
When I was a kid, going out to eat was something we did only on special occasions. Both of my parents are native Californians (going back several generations), so eating out also meant exploring the diverse food and culture of our state. Chinese, Japanese, Mexican and Indian food: I loved it all.
But to me, hearing that it was pizza night was the best of all. I remember almost shaking with anticipation as the family drove to the 1970s style pizza parlor. There was a glass wall and a platform where kids could press against the glass and watch in awe as round sheets of white dough went spinning in the air. It was the best.
Pizza California was designed to be a place that could become a fixture in the community for families, friends and even the local workforce.
When it was my time to get my own job, I knew what I wanted to do. We had moved to a new town and there was a great little pizza place that I could walk to. Naturally, I got a job there as soon as I was old enough and absolutely loved it. Before long, I knew that I wanted to have my own pizza restaurant someday.
And so, with a lot of help, in 1997 I opened Pizza California. Named after the state where my family has lived for five generations, we wanted to take the best of all the local, delicious food I had loved as a kid and put a few fresh twists on it.
We also wanted to make sure that we had a clean, comfortable and fun restaurant to serve up our delicious creations. So, Pizza California was designed to be a place that could become a fixture in the community for families, friends and even the local workforce.
As it has been for over 20 years, my goal at Pizza California is this: just like I did, our youngest guests (and maybe a few older ones) will smile and cheer when they hear those magic words: “Pizza Night!”
-Tony Brierly