Chi-Chi’s Pizza, recognized by their famous logo of the friendly chef with the heavy rimmed glasses, headquartered in Chatsworth, California with locations in the San Fernando Valley, Santa Clarita, and Simi Valley is celebrating its 65th year in business. Generations of loyal customers deserve the credit.
Frank Paul Miccolis opened the first Chi-Chi’s in Panorama City, California in January 1958. That’s the same year the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles from Brooklyn, New York and Elvis Presley’s “Jailhouse Rock” was on the top of the charts. Frank, known by his friends and customers as “Judge”, came from Gary, Indiana with his wife Ida Mae. He came with plenty of experience after working for several years in famous Italian restaurants and nightclubs owned by his father in the Gary and South Bend areas. His father was also named Frank Paul Miccolis but friends called him "Cicci Paul", a nickname for Frank in Italian, pronounced "Chi-Chi Paul".
When Judge opened his first restaurant, he named it Chi-Chi's Pizza in honor of his father. Back in 1958, Judge wanted to make sure people pronounced the name properly so he spelled the name phonetically. That's where the name Chi-Chi's Pizza came from!