A LOOK BACK -- Jerry Person

I stopped by one of our local bakeries the other day and ordered a piece

of apple pie. While eating it I thought back to Huntington Beach’s “pie

man,” and decided to make this our look back for the week.

Victor Hartwell began delivering fresh pies from the Los Angeles Pie

Company back in 1923.

Each morning at 5 a.m. Victor would leave his home in Long Beach for the

pie company, where he would load his truck with 300 to 400 pies each day

and travel down the coast from Long Beach, stopping at many of the small

cafes along the way until he reached the end of his route in Balboa. In

all the years he delivered pies, he never delivered fewer than 100 to

Huntington Beach cafes.

When “Victor the Pie Man,” as he was known here, came into Huntington

Beach, one of his first stops was Cecylle Olivers’ Coffee Cup Cafe at 416

Pacific Coast Highway.

He would then stop at Bill Hadley’s “Home of the Black Lily” cafe at 403

Walnut Ave. and the Moonlight Cafe on the coast.

Victor was born in China in 1897, where his father was a Methodist

Missionary. Victor’s sister became a missionary there when she grew up.

Victor first came to Huntington Beach in 1922 to work for Bill “Kill’em”

Keck at the Superior Oil Co.

He served in both world wars. During World War II, Victor delivered a

record 900 pies a day to feed Huntington Beach’s sweet tooth.

Victor saved his money and was able to buy his own airplane and also

helped his two children buy their new homes.

The Los Angeles Pie Company honored Victor with a special awards dinner

on his 30th anniversary with the company.

But for Huntington Beach, Victor’s greatest distinction was his stopping

at Bill Hadley’s lunchroom every day at noon for 18 years without a miss

to have a bowl of Hadley’s famous Huntington Beach chili.

Jerry Person is a local historian and longtime Huntington Beach resident.

If you have ideas for future columns, write him at P.O. Box 7182,

Huntington Beach, CA 92615.