When Silvio Petoletti talks about the early days of the Bottle Inn, he reminisces about a dining scene that is almost unimaginable to Millennials. In 1974 Hermosa Beach had only about two dozen restaurants rather than the sixty-odd places that flourish now, and high-style Italian food was not a big draw.

“When we first opened it was tough to be just Italian, so we called it Bottle Inn Restaurant Continental Italian Cuisine,” Petoletti said. “We had escargot on the menu, and that made us Continental. Almost all of our wines were French, because we couldn’t get good Italian wines then. Eventually we just said, we’re Italian, we’re going to feature the real cooking of Italy.