Speaker 1: (00:00)
For decades, it stood as an ISO and a landmark in Hillcrest. Now it's gone. The dilapidated Peron's restaurant building closed and deteriorating since the 1980s has been demolished in its place. An ambitious multipurpose development will provide new housing, hotel rooms and retail space to the, a community, the legend of Perons and Wyat stayed in dilapidated limbo for so long as many twists and turns joining me to explain is San Diego union Tribune reporter Jennifer van Grove and Jennifer. Welcome.
Speaker 2: (00:35)
Thanks for having me
Speaker 1: (00:37)
That Perna Conos sign with a broken Casa de BFI sign right next to it has been a constant for years on sixth avenue near university, and they both used to be restaurants, right?
Speaker 2: (00:49)
That's that's right. So per Conos opened in 1946 and then, uh, Casa de BFI in 1961,
Speaker 1: (00:58)
Tell us about Perna Conos in its heyday.
Speaker 2: (01:02)
So it was according to, um, Gary precon, who's the son of George precon. It was kind of the it spot. Um, so George moved out here from Detroit. He was a former service man. He brought all 10 of his brothers, um, out to San Diego ago and, uh, they opened prone Conos as what, what, um, Gary describes the first pizza house in, in Southern California. They opened it. And George actually became a interesting figure in, in chargers lore. So he, he, according to his son spare in Hilton to move the team down here and he had a very small ownership, stake, 5% that's the family still holds a 3% stake today, but so that relationship and others relationships made it, so that George was kind of a, a central figure in San Diego and in Hollywood circles there, you know, were lots of celebrities that could came. And, you know, apparently according to a lot of the stories that, that our paper has from, from back in the day, um, you know, the food was also pretty good too.
Speaker 1: (02:12)
You spoke with Perna son, Gary, and he remembered those days.
Speaker 2: (02:17)
Yeah. So he says he grew up there, right? So he said he was thrown, not throne, but he started, you know, know, thrown into the kitchen essentially at five. And he started washing dishes. He started cooking at 12. He spent most of his days there. So even after school, he would go to the restaurant. Um, and so it was really his, his home. Um, and it became a, you know, popular place for him. And that's, you know, where he, since he got to interact with a ton of celebrities, you know, from everyone, from Jane Mansfield and Lu OAL to Dean Martin, um, and he got to meet, of course, a lot of the, the chargers players, um, over the years,
Speaker 1: (02:56)
Why did the restaurant go outta business?
Speaker 2: (02:59)
You know, I don't know for sure, but Gary's version of events is that George, his dad, um, closed the restaurant to take care of his mother who was very sick. And so that became the family's priority. Uh, I don't know that the family ever really want, wanted the restaurants to be closed permanently. So George closed, um, per con's and Casa a Buffy both in the early eighties, but he reopened pre Conos on a very limited basis in 85. And I, and the story gets a little convoluted from there based on, you know, what George has said in other meteor. But what I believe happened is because it was just such a temporary schedule and he had a liquor license that he had an issue with with the liquor board, um, which, you know, I guess limited or was requiring him to be open seven days a week and that just wasn't gonna happen. And so things just closed and they never opened again. And Gary had said that he had plans to reopen the restaurant, but it was just too cost prohibited, given the state of the, um, of the restaurant and some vandalism that's taken place over the years. And that's kind of where we are today. Yeah.
Speaker 1: (04:15)
Why did it stay empty for so long though?
Speaker 2: (04:19)
According to Gary it's because his father just never wanted to part with it. Um, there were just so many memories attached to it, uh, and it was just a very personal, um, family oriented place that they, they just didn't wanna let go on. And, and as I had said before, I think, think that there were still intentions in the family to revive it, to make it into, you know, the next great, um, pizza house in San Diego. And those kind of just fell apart. Those, uh, dreams fell apart because of the cost to do it. And then according to Gary, um, you know, they had to, to sell the property to pay for Georgia's estate taxes. And so that kind of, uh, was the, the, um, the thing that kind of changed the course of what was gonna happen. So
Speaker 1: (05:11)
Who bought it and what are they doing with the property?
Speaker 2: (05:14)
So a developer named Carmel partners and, um, they're based outta San Francisco and they do multifamily housing. They bought it in 29. Uh, they bought it for 8.4 million. Um, and the city has said that they are proposing a mixed use project that would have 77, um, multifamily units and 74 hotel rooms with there would be some ground floor retail and restaurant space as well. And that would be on the fifth avenue side. And the permits also indicate that, um, and they've, they've been created, but not approved is, uh, they indicate that it would be an eight story building with two levels of underground parking.
Speaker 1: (05:55)
Are there still Perna restaurants in the county?
Speaker 2: (06:00)
There are, there are two. So there's one on mercy road and there's one in El Cajon. Um, Gary is the owner operator of, of the location in El Cajon. Um, I believe he, he lives out in that area. And so the name lives on,
Speaker 1: (06:15)
I've been speaking with San Diego union Tribune reporter Jennifer van Grove. And thank you so much. Thanks, Maureen. Bye.
