The familiar neon sign on Miceli’s Italian Restaurant just off the Lankershim Boulevard exit on the 101 has often been called the Gateway to the San Fernando Valley and/or Hollywood depending on which direction you’re driving down Cahuenga Boulevard (or Ventura Boulevard which it turns into). But, to many regulars who eat here, it’s simply home.

Eileen Zigman and her husband, Robert, have been coming here every Tuesday for four-and-a-half years.

"We love it. It’s like going to family’s house for dinner," Zigman said. "Joe (the owner) goes out of his way to make us feel special. He also hires very talented, very warm and friendly servers, Charlie [Pecoraro], Robb [Wolford], and Jessica [Wynn] are wonderful too. David who plays the piano is fabulous and all the singers are excellent—a really, really, really pleasant atmosphere.”

Singing waiters perform Broadway and opera songs while they serve.

Owner, Joe Miceli, 55, has been working in the family business since he was 4 years old. Always enterprising, even at 4, he said, “I was paid one cent for every carrot I peeled. After 100 or 200 peeled carrots I would trot over to my mother who would give me a dollar or two to go buy a toy at the old Oakcrest Market up the street” which he would then terrorize everyone with back a the restaurant.

While many friends his age at North Hollywood High School were busy playing sports, Joe grew up tossing pizzas with his brothers, washing dishes, hosting and driving after school between all four Miceli's Restaurants his family owned at the time in downtown Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Hollywood and Burbank. His favorite job at that time was washing dishes because it was “serene” and because it was away from everything.

Joe attended Los Angeles Valley College and Cal State Northridge University, and boasts of never taking a business class in his life—he is, he says, a graduate of the school of hard-knocks.

His mentor and best friend, Kevin McCarney, founder/owner of Poquito Mas, remembered standing in the middle of Regal Place talking business when they both were starting out with their neighboring restaurants.

“I think Joe is the one most passionate customer service restaurant operators that I know," McCarney said. "It’s always about customer service. It’s always about what he can do better for the customer and he truly looks at his customer’s as guests. Joe’s been a close friend since high school and is one of the truest friends I have. Joe loves what he does. He loves being in the 'people business' and serving pizza.”

 In the '70s during the bad economy the family closed two of their locations, Beverly Hills and downtown, when the leases expired. When he turned 21, Joe and his uncle began construction in the late '70s on the current Studio City location which took three years to build. They brought all the furniture, lamps and stained glass windows over from the closed locations and used second-hand wood from construction sites for the framing, wood trim and wrought iron creating a rich, lived-in ambiance.

“There’s a feeling people get when they arrive," Joe said.  "If you’ve never been here before when you see all the lights and the arches, it looks like a Hollywood set or like an Italian piazza in Italy. When people walk in for the first time, their eyes light up and they say ‘Wow.  I didn’t know this place was here.’ ”

Ivy covered one outside wall until 1984, and in 2001 artists did the rest of the murals.

Building this Miceli’s was a real family affair. Joe’s father Carmen designed it all with no plans, just directions like “build me an arch” which Joe and his Uncle Sid ably created along with the entire framework of the actual restaurant.  Joe even did all the brick and stucco himself having briefly worked in construction when times were tough.  

His sister, Angela, did all the tile work and his older brother, Jim and wife, Dawna, who own James Thomas Stained and Leaded Glass in Studio City together, created all the stained glass inside including the stained glass homage to their Aunt Angie and her meatballs which hangs on the back wall. 

Joe estimates she made more than three million meatballs in her lifetime, in addition to all the sauce and lasagna for the family restaurants.

Joe proudly explained, “Our sauce, made from family recipes passed down many generations, takes two days to make and cooks for hours, stewing with shredded meatballs and vegetables, 80 gallons at a time. We still make all the dough and meatballs, too.”

Despite his slim frame, Joe claims to eat his own pasta every day and his favorite dish is the chicken parmigiana. He stole his chef, Fernando Garcia, from Wolfgang Puck years ago and guests  love the food.

Customer  Zigman gushed, “We order the same thing every Tuesday. Pizza and a house salad chopped. It’s my favorite out of all the restaurants my husband and I have ever been to.”

At the front desk, guests can purchase the house sauce, salad dressing and rolls, in addition to, T-shirts, mugs, watches and four different wines—Chardonnay, Chianti, Merlot, Cabernet—bottled by the only producing winery in downtown Los Angeles, the historical San Antonio Winery, with the Miceli logo.

Many pieces of memorabilia from the past are displayed on the walls which Joe takes great pleasure in pointing out to guests who are interested.

“That’s the old accordion Uncle Sammy played in our Hollywood location,” he explained pointing to the instrument mounted on the balcony, a popular spot on Valentine’s Day.

Joe said their secret to success is based on multiple factors, one being Miceli’s has a respected name in the city.

"Our history goes back to 1949 as the first pizza house in Hollywood," he said. "Famous people like JFK, Marilyn Monroe, and the Beatles in 1966 have eaten at Miceli’s.”

Once, the brothers wrote a list of all the celebrities who have eaten their delicious Italian cuisine at Miceli’s and came up with more than 400 recognizable names.

At one point rumors swirled that Miceli's was connected to the mob, and Joe revealed his father earned the respect of mobster, Angelo Marino, who considered his father his best friend, but that was all there was to that rumor.

Carmen Miceli, Joe's father, is no longer in the business telling his wife, Sylvia, at 84, “I’m outta here. You pay the rent.” He now spends his time at the race track in Del Mar and Santa Anita where he is a local celebrity.

His mother also retired leaving the two locations to Joe and his brother Frank to run. Frank runs the popular Hollywood Miceli location a few miles through the Cahuenga Pass and not far from the Hollywood and Highland complex.

The Studio City Miceli’s is a draw since they’re freeway-close from anywhere. The Lankershim Boulevard exit wasn’t there when they opened, but Joe said, “We got lucky. Concierges from local hotels often refer guests here who want to experience the local area away from Universal City Walk, too.”

Tourists aren’t the only ones willing to travel to visit this local Miceli’s. Regulars from as far away as Apple Valley and as close as up the street visit frequently, often eating here two and three times a week; while generation upon generation of families celebrate wedding rehearsal dinners, birthdays, anniversaries and other special occasions annually. 

Joe is an active contributor to the local community often hosting benefits where he gives back 30 percent for local school fundraisers. His eyes lit up with delight describing the annual Christmas program and the children from Dixie Canyon Elementary School who perform in the middle of the restaurant every December.

“We love to have the kids here," Joe shared. "So much fun.” 

He also helped raise thousands of dollars for fallen policemen including the first Los Angeles SWAT officer to be killed in action, Randall Simmons, who was “one of our best customers.” For years Joe regularly hosted a local cancer fundraiser until it became so popular it outgrew his location and is now held at CBS Radford Studios.

Another secret to his success is the extremely talented singing waiters and waitresses who serenade guests nightly. When Joe opened this location in 1980, he decided to bring back his childhood memories of all the amateur Italian opera singers who used to serenade guests in Hollywood and interviewed 217 singers to find the 20 who work there now.

“Everyone I hired had to sing. I wanted as much opera as I could find. I wanted big voices—young, impressive voices.” Joe’s alma mater, Cal State Northridge, was an excellent resource for talent due to their great music program.  

Upon opening, for the first three months famous concert pianist, Gloria Mikialian, accompanied all the performers to help launch the restaurant.  Since then, many accomplished performers have traveled through.

Longtime singing waitress, Roberta Wall, was recently hired for Whoopi Goldberg’s Sister Act which opens on Broadway this February. Another singing waitress, Jennifer Naimo, has performed in The Full Monty, Jersey Boys on Broadway and Les Miserable in between waiting tables.

Head singing waiter, Robert Barker, who works with his wife, Catherine, has traveled all over the country singing together with Bonnie Raitt’s father, John Raitt, and was lead baritone in The Light Opera of Manhattan. Another singing waiter, Graham Fenton, will be leaving soon to perform with Jersey Boys Australia.

Joe always hires everyone back when their acting gigs are over, and that is why he is able to retain such great talent.

Wine and bar manager (as well as singing waiter), Kim Story, (Coach, Kate & Alley, Happy Texas, Babe: Pig in the City),  worked at the Studio City location for almost 14 years.

“Joe is the main reason I stay," Story said. "He gives us flexibility and security and is so dedicated to letting us perform our craft. If you have to work in a restaurant, there’s no other place I’d rather work than here.”  

A dedicated single parent, it’s not the success of his restaurant which Joe said is his biggest accomplishment, but his daughter who is a freshman at the University of Arizona. He lives in Toluca Lake within a four block radius of his mother and brothers where they have lived all their lives.