\u201cOn the simple end, it could just be full of documents or a final cash deposit. On the higher end, who knows, it could be full of guns or jewelry.\u201d<\/p>\n
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That\u2019s\u00a0Hal Mooney, the owner of the newly opened Mooney\u2019s Pizza Tavern in Long Beach<\/a>, talking about an 18-inch, square-shaped locked metal safe that he discovered in the walls of the restaurant\u2019s office during construction last year. The safe, by Mooney\u2019s estimation, weighs more than 100 pounds and takes two people to lift.<\/p>\n \u201cI really have no context for the safe, but it\u2019s been here for at least 30 years, and probably more like 60 years,\u201d Mooney says. \u201cThere are drill marks on it, so you can see people have tried to open it, but no one\u2019s been successful. It\u2019s too heavy to shake.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The exterior of Mooney\u2019s Pizza Tavern in Long Beach, Calif.<\/p>\n Courtesy of Mooney\u2019s Pizza Tavern The pub-style dining room at Mooney\u2019s Pizza Tavern in Long Beach, Calif.<\/p>\n Courtesy of Mooney\u2019s Pizza Tavern<\/p>\n Soon, though, the contents (or, perhaps, the lack thereof) will be discovered: On Sunday, May 3, Mooney\u2019s is having a safe-opening party with the help of \u201cprofessional safe openers\u201d Mooney found online. Guests can purchase raffle tickets for $5 for a chance to win the contents of the safe \u2014 and should it be empty, they\u2019ll win free\u00a0pizza<\/a> for a year. It\u2019s a smart marketing tool for the new pizzeria, and hopefully a moneymaker, too. All proceeds from the raffle will be donated to Casa Youth Shelter, a local nonprofit that provides emergency temporary shelter for youth ages 12 to 17 who are homeless, abused or in crisis.<\/p>\n Mooney, a certified cicerone (beer sommelier) who also ran a pizza pop-up named Crumb, used to run beer tours around Los Angeles and Orange County through his company LA Beer Hop with his wife Cindy, also a cicerone. The couple shifted to online\u00a0beer<\/a> sales during the pandemic but decided to pursue a new dream as sales began to fall off.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cI could see the writing on the wall three years ago that it was winding down, so I signed one more two-year lease on the warehouse where we were shipping beer out of,\u201d Mooney says. \u201cI would pass by this restaurant all the time. It had been empty for six years before we signed the lease.\u201d<\/p>\n A close-up shot of the locked safe found in the walls of Mooney\u2019s Pizza Tavern in Long Beach, Calif.<\/p>\n Courtesy of Mooney\u2019s Pizza Tavern<\/p>\n Starting in January 2025, Mooney embarked on a six-month permitting and planning process. During the construction of the restaurant, the\u00a0Mooneys raised more than $100,000 to help cover costs, all while sharing the day-to-day minutiae of opening a restaurant to their growing social media fanbase.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n They opened the 5,200-square-foot, 175-seat restaurant in a former diner on February 27 as an old-school sit-down\u00a0pizza pub<\/a>, complete with curved green booths and custom-designed Tiffany-style stained-glass pendant lamps. The kitchen makes both classic round and 14-inch pan pizzas topped with everything from pepperoni to fried eggplant with garlic confit.<\/p>\n A classic round pizza and a cheeseburger at Mooney\u2019s Pizza Tavern in Long Beach, Calif.\u00a0<\/p>\n Courtesy of Mooney\u2019s Pizza Tavern A custom-made Tiffany-style stained-glass lamp at Mooney\u2019s Pizza Tavern.<\/p>\n Courtesy of Mooney\u2019s Pizza Tavern<\/p>\n \u201cThe menu, if anything, is very Midwestern,\u201d Mooney, who\u2019s originally\u00a0from Illinois, says. \u201cThe restaurant is nostalgic to no particular era.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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