Photo: Bradley Zint
Of all the ATMs in Costa Mesa, the undisputedly best one is on Fairview Road, in a strip mall called Villa La Costa.
It’s not that this ATM doesn’t levy a fee. It does.
What makes it the best is if you present at the nearby cash register your withdrawal receipt, you’ll get a free drink.
Because why not? Everybody’s happy.
This is the spirit of Lil’ Pickle, a sub sandwich shop that, popular food aside, may have Costa Mesa’s very best sandwich-shop name. But don’t ask owner Peter Bower how Lil’ Pickle got its moniker. He doesn’t know.
The Lil’ Pickle is full of community spirit with its walls of old sports team photos and other memorabilia, not to mention its restaurant mascot – a pickle. (Photo: Bradley Zint)
Here’s what is known. Jim DiCamilli, born of Italian parents in Glens Falls, N.Y., in 1929, founded the first Lil’ Pickle in downtown Costa Mesa in 1962. It became a small, Southern California chain with as many five restaurants. The first one was in the vicinity of where Petco is today. In the early 1970s, it moved uptown to its current spot at 2985 Fairview Road.
They say DiCamilli loved people. He brought that spirit with him to Lil’ Pickle, sponsoring local sports teams and contributing to charities. He put that love all over his restaurant’s walls, gathering decades worth of pictures.
Now, 56 years later after Lil’ Pickle first started serving sub sandwiches, that spirit hasn’t changed. Walking into the shop, one immediately gets it: This is a community hangout. It defines what community really means. It’s intricately tied to its hometown, making a trip there about more than just about a tasty sandwich.
Pictures of local sports teams — some from Estancia and Costa Mesa high schools —adorn the walls. Kids were kids in those photos. Now they’re adults, coming back to the Lil Pickle’ where, Bower says, sometimes they’ll run into each other as long-lost friends. The sandwich shop becomes the incidental host of elementary school reunions.
Then there are rows of plaques memorializing thank yous to Lil’ Pickle for its contribution. Another wall section is full of Daily Pilot sports stories.
These plastic drink cups were designed by Orange Coast College students, which the Lil’ Pickle has long supported. (Photo: Bradley Zint)
Many photos show off Orange Coast College’s athletic program. The store’s plastic drink cups were designed by OCC students. One features the (unnamed) restaurant mascot: a pickle with eyes, feet, hands and a big nose. It’s wearing a chef’s apron and hat.
OCC, located just down the street, honored Bower in 2015 with its Community Partner of the Year award. Bower keeps the recognition in a frame near the register, where he can be found three days a week.
Bower wasn’t even sure he would go to that awards ceremony. He initially shrugged it off, but his wife convinced him to attend. It ended up being very moving.
Bower wore a cap and gown and received the honor during the college’s commencement in 2015. “That was a big deal,” he says. “It was really gratifying.”
Lil’ Pickle employee Zayder Velazquez makes a sub sandwich. She’s been at the restaurant for about three years. (Photo: Bradley Zint)
The pickles of Lil’ Pickle are Vienna kosher pickles. (Photo: Bradley Zint)
Bower, a mild-mannered Tustin native and Costa Mesa resident since 1988, acknowledges that he’s an unlikely man to get into the sandwich shop business.
Before buying the Lil’ Pickle, Bower had a varied career before it. He attended Saddleback College and got his bachelor’s degree from San Diego State. He and his brother founded a lumber business, selling material to boatbuilders for 13 years.
Bower eventually left that and, with help from a friend whose family ran the Bay Arcade in the Balboa Fun Zone, he bought Balboa Beach Treats.
The lumber man wasn’t an expert on Balboa Bars and frozen bananas.
“I knew absolutely nothing about food,” he says.
But Bower learned and revamped the tiny stand. A few years later, he acquired Pizza Pete’s nearby. He didn’t know anything about pizza, either. But he soon found out, partially by attending a pizza convention.
“It does exist,” he says with a laugh.
It’s coincidental that he bought a business with his first name.
That same friend of the Bay Arcade family also knew Jim DiCamilli. He helped connect DiCamilli with Bower.
After a few years of talks, DiCamilli sold the Lil’ Pickle to Bower in May 2005.
Bower didn’t change a thing in that first year. Not even the napkins. As the new guy, he didn’t want to perturb the longtime customers.
“I wanted to depend on their continued loyalty,” he says.
Bower eventually made some minor changes, namely putting up lots of golfing memorabilia in his restaurant because he likes that sport. When the Chargers moved their headquarters to Costa Mesa, Lil’ Pickle changed its Club Sub to the Chargers Club. It has ham, beef, turkey, cheese and mayo.
The Lil’ Pickle’s mascot, an unnamed pickle wearing a chef’s hat and apron, has been made into a neon light sign. (Photo: Bradley Zint)
Employee code of conduct has remained the same since the DiCamilli days. The code is printed out and placed on a back wall. Many Lil’ Pickle employees are high schoolers on their first job. Most will never return to the sandwich world, but they’ll take with them some of the lessons from that sheet: Serve customers happily, promptly and efficiently; leave personal problems at home while at work; look professional; don’t use the phone for personal calls while on duty; be on time, 10 minutes before your shift, ready to go.
Lil’ Pickle is a tight-knit group of eight employees, headed by Bower and manager Rudy Delgado, a Costa Mesa resident. Delgado has been loyal to Bower, having worked for him since the Pizza Pete’s days.
Pete Bower, a Costa Mesa resident since 1988, has owned the Lil’ Pickle since May 2005. The restaurant was founded in 1962 and once had multiple locations. Now the Costa Mesa one is the only one left. (Photo: Bradley Zint)
And what of the pickles at Lil’ Pickle? They are of the Vienna kosher pickle variety.
“They’re excellent,” Bower says. “And I’m not a pickle fan.”
Speaking of pickles, after ordering, eating in a booth or taking it go, say hi to the hanging pickle near the exit.
It’s not an actual pickle, though. It’s a stuffed animal pickle — another holdout from the DiCamilli era.
Apparently, DiCamilli really believed in the power of those stuffed, inedible pickles.
“He bought a whole case of those things,” Bower says.
Only one remains in the shop now, the last of its kind. ♥
