The Abridged version:
- Pennisi’s Deli has permanently closed after 74 years in Downtown Sacramento.
- Opened by the Pennisi brothers in 1952, it later moved across J Street to make way for the Sheraton hotel.
- Bill Maragoulas, known to many as Bill Morris, purchased the deli in 1977 and was a constant presence at the sandwich counter until closing Pennisi’s.
Pennisi’s Deli, a favorite of Downtown Sacramento workers since 1952, has permanently shut down after 74 years, a member of the ownership family confirmed.
The sandwich shop at 1237 J St. was fully cleared out by Tuesday evening, its exterior signage and checkerboard floor the only remaining hints at what it was. On Google, Pennisi’s was listed as “permanently closed.”
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Two brothers, Leo and Vince Pennisi, founded their namesake business inside Downtown Sacramento’s former J Street Public Market in 1952. That lasted until 1977, when they sold it to Bill and Lynn Morris (now Bill Maragoulas and Lynn Hall).
Pennisi’s Deli relocated across J Street to its current location, making way for the Sheraton Grand Sacramento Hotel, in 1984, according to a Facebook post from Hall. Sitting kitty-corner from the SAFE Credit Union Performing Arts Center (and a block down J Street from competitor Tony’s Delicatessen & Catering), it was poised for a potential uptick in business amid state workers’ mandated return to offices beginning Wednesday.
Pennisi’s also ran a more upscale Downtown Sacramento café near the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament during the 1990s. Jordan Traverso, Maragoulas and Hall’s niece, bussed tables there and said the spinach salad with mandarins was a favorite of actress Jane Fonda, a frequent Capitol visitor as an activist.
Many other members of Traverso’s family worked at the deli, she said, including her mother and grandmother. But it was Bill Maragoulas who manned the sandwich shop’s counter nearly every day it was open for the past five decades, even after turning 86 years old earlier in June.
It was an old-fashioned deli in many ways, with hefty sandwiches, handwritten specials and the main menu on a peg letter board. Traverso had talked to Maragoulas over the years about potentially taking the deli over, but a transition was never quite in the cards, she said.
“I think he was just ready to have a clean break and not feel responsible for having somebody else take it on,” Traverso said. “… That’s a long time to be standing at a counter and selling sandwiches.”
Benjy Egel is the senior food editor at Abridged. Born and raised in the Sacramento region, he has covered its local restaurants and bars since 2018. He also writes and edits Abridged’s weekly food and drink newsletter, City of Treats.