Situated on Beverly Drive, just blocks from Rodeo Drive and the Golden Triangle, the Beverly Hills California Pizza Kitchen is the first restaurant of the enduring chain , which now has locations across the globe. Opened in 1985 by Rick Rosenfield and Larry Flax, the Beverly Hills location — and more broadly, the California Pizza Kitchen brand — just celebrated its 40th birthday on March 27. California Pizza Kitchen, or CPK for short, was born in the era of Beverly Hills power lunches, where movers and shakers would slip out of the office, briefcase in hand, and settle in for a mid-day meal that doesn’t come close to resembling the desk lunches of today.
Although the restaurant has evolved in some ways, the menu and interior still spiritually feel like a time capsule of the ’80s and early ’90s. Tile in CPK’s signature shade of yellow wraps around the pizza oven, which roars with flames as pies slide in and out, crusts puffing up from the heat. A 40th birthday special of $9 take-home pizzas is hand-written on a black chalkboard.
Families with young children sit flanked on one side of the room. Although CPK was founded in Beverly Hills, it became a suburban American fixture over the years, taking up anchors at malls across the country where families would flock for affordable Barbecue Chicken pizzas, crispy avocado egg rolls, and grape-dotted Waldorf salads. Although the mall restaurant has declined over the years, CPK has persevered.
Maybe it’s a product of early.