Perry’s Pizza celebrates 50 years in Orange County
Dawn Bingaman still remembers meeting her future husband Jess while he was working at Perry’s Pizza on the Newport Peninsula in 1985.
She went in for some pie. She also found her guy.
“I was in high school and he worked there,” Dawn said, adding her hearty laugh. “I thought he was cute.”
They didn’t know at the time what would transpire in the decades to come. Jess got his own studio apartment at the beach, and she eventually moved in.
“That’s how we started,” Jess said. “It kind of made her dad mad.”
Ten years later, they got married. A year after that, in 1996, they bought Perry’s.
After their lease was not renewed in 2014, the Bingamans moved the restaurant from the peninsula 2 miles away to south Huntington Beach, in the corner of a shopping center anchored by a Trader Joe’s.
“It was scary when we moved over here,” said Lynette Swanson, Dawn’s younger sister and another longtime employee. “I remember I was like, ‘I don’t want to be in a strip mall, I don’t want to be in a strip mall.’ We never thought we would leave Newport.”
New beginnings have now turned into a significant milestone. This month, Perry’s Pizza is celebrating its 50th anniversary in Orange County.
The restaurant had a party with various food specials on Nov. 4.
“One of the special things about being being in business so long is to watch your friends’ kids grow up,” said Jess Bingaman, now 64. “Then they have kids and they grow up. It’s an amazing thing.”
Perry’s is not affiliated with the Perry’s Pizza on the other side of Huntington Beach, Dawn said, though they share a logo and serve the same Sicilian-style pizza. This Perry’s features a unique garage door, which is often raised to offer an open dining experience.
Perry’s also doubled in size last year after the Bingamans acquired the space next door. It now features an enclosed patio, indoor seating, a 10-seat bar and 16 taps. Beer — including libations from local breweries like Huntington Beach-based Four Sons — gets poured into their famous milk jugs.
Specials include prime rib on Wednesdays and prime rib sliders on Thursdays. As for the pizzas themselves, Dawn Bingaman said that staff has come up with about six or seven creations like the Spicy Goat (Swanson’s contribution), Lemon Pepper Pig and El Serrano.
“They’ve got to pass the final test, which is [Jess’] taste test, and they’ve got to come up with an appropriate name,” she said. “Then we’ll try it out with customers, and if it makes it, then it’s actually on the menu.”
The restaurant survived the coronavirus pandemic, with the garage door allowing cars to line up, similar to a drive-through. Employees used walkie-talkies to head outside of the restaurant and fulfill orders.
Now, with the expansion, there’s more breathing room. Laminated tabletops are adorned with photos taken through the years that used to be on the walls at the Newport Peninsula location.
The sense of a neighborhood pizza place is strong at Perry’s, Dawn Bingaman said.
“Everybody knows everybody,” she said. “Whether their kids play sports or they go to school together, or somebody was somebody’s teacher, people just kind of join each other’s tables. They know each other, and they start to get to know each other here too. It’s kind of cool.”
Fifty years have flown by. Some things stay the same, like house-made meatballs and sausages, dough and sauces. Kids who have frequented the place as customers often become workers there.
But Perry’s also keeps trying new things. This year, the restaurant started serving breakfast on weekends. Dawn Bingaman said the meal features oats from Perry’s regulars Bonnie and Lynn Rogers, who founded Coach’s Oats.
“We feel very fortunate to have moved over here to Huntington,” Bingaman said. “We love Newport, that’s a lot of our history too, but this has allowed us to do so much more. It’s allowed us to partner with the community more, and that’s just something that we love doing, whether it’s giving a gift card or a gift basket or doing a fundraiser.”
The photos on the restaurant’s most recent table are from the Huntington Beach location. Customers had fun finding themselves at the 50th anniversary party, said Swanson, who organized the table.
“Some people are in here a lot, so I had to spread them out,” she said.
Dawn Bingaman believes it. She said one patron often comes in for breakfast and again for dinner.
“We don’t judge,” she said with another belly laugh. “We love it.”
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.
